NOW, VOYAGER (1942)

Bette Davis delivered one of her most versatile performances in this moving, intelligent romance that captured the spirit of American women audiences during the first year of World War II. Charlotte Vale (Davis) is the repressed, unattractive daughter of a powerful New England matriarch (Gladys Cooper). After a nervous breakdown sends her to a sanitarium, she emerges a new woman, ready to face the world. Her growing independence mirrored the status of women on the home front—who were running their families and taking factory jobs—while the men were off fighting the war. Oddly, Davis had to fight for the role. Although she, like Charlotte, was a New Englander who had developed an independent spirit, producer Hal Wallis was looking at other actresses until Davis used her clout to land the part. It brought her glowing reviews, record box-office, and her fifth consecutive Oscar nomination. She lost, but as she famously says in the movie: “Don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.”

d. Irving Rapper, 118m, DCP

Courtesy of Warner Brothers Classics.