Classic Movie Man’s Guilty Pleasure: “Devotion”

In 1943, Warner Brothers set out to film an account of the Brontë siblings, focusing mainly on the lives of authors Charlotte (Jane Eyre) and Emily (Wuthering Heights). In the 1930s and 1940s, the studio produced many successful historical biographies. Film versions of both Wuthering Heights (1939) and Jane Erye (1943), produced by rival studios, hit box office gold, so wouldn’t a movie on the lives of the authors and real-life sisters be a hit too?  That was part of the thinking behind Devotion, a production that seemed to be doomed from the beginning, but succeeds in spite of itself.

Lupino and DeHavilland Set To Star
Before production started, Warner Brothers had hoped that movie star sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia DeHavilland would play Emily and Charlotte respectively. Fontaine wasn’t available, so Warner Brothers replaced her with Ida Lupino, who was already under contract to the studio, as was DeHavilland. Nancy Coleman played youngest sister Anne, and Arthur Kennedy played Branwell, the only boy in the Brontë brood. The cast was rounded out with Paul Henried as the Reverend Arthur Nicholls, Sydney Greenstreet as William Makepeace Thackery, and Montagu Love, in his last film role, as Rev. Brontë, patriarch and widowed father of four gifted and complex children.

From left to right: Olivia DeHavilland, Ida Lupino, Nancy Coleman

Top Production
The studio employed some of its top talent for the film’s production. Curtis Bernhardt (Possessed, 1947) was tapped as the director. Oscar-winner, Ernest “Ernie” Haller (Gone With The Wind, 1939) was assigned the cinematography duties, and Perc Westmore was on hand for makeup. The lush score was composed by Erich Wolfgand Korngold who won an Academy Award for scoring The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Don't Know Much About History
One of the major criticisms of the film is that it plays fast and loose with the facts, although Hollywood biographies of the period were hardly known for their absolute accuracy. As is often noted, the Brontë sisters were not famous for their attractiveness, but Lupino, DeHavilland, and Coleman are all quite beautiful in the movie. But come on, it’s Hollywood where there are no plain Janes.

For “poor” girls, they sure have some great clothes!

Poor, But Nicely Dressed
The Brontë’s weren’t wealthy by any stretch; in fact, they were quite poor. Jane Erye’s Lowood school was partly based on the four older sisters’ experiences at the Clergy Daughter’s School at Cowan Bridge, where the eldest Brontë daughters, Maria and Elizabeth became ill and died. Charlotte and Emily returned to Howarth, England, and were homeschooled by their father. The movie version hints at their lower economic circumstances, but the sisters Brontë are always beautifully, if simply, dressed and coiffed.

In the film, older sister Charlotte, as portrayed by DeHavilland, is somewhat self-centered and a bit snobby compared with Lupino’s more cerebral and serious portrayal of Emily. As the youngest sister Anne, Coleman doesn’t have much to go on. Her character has minimal screen time and no real story line to follow. Kennedy’s Branwell is a tortured self-destructive soul. The real Branwell struggled with drugs and alcohol, so Kennedy’s portrayal does seems close to the truth.

Lupino and Paul Henried starred together
in In Our Time (1944)

A Faithful Setter Dog?
As melodrama, Devotion is quite satisfying. Lupino and DeHavilland obviously took their roles seriously and give excellent performances, as does Kennedy. Henried is fine as Nichols, although some critics at the time didn’t find him at his best. Bosley Crowther in his New York Times review said, “Paul Henreid plays Arthur Nicholls with the air of a faithful setter dog.” In the broader context of his review, that was actually a compliment, since Crowther didn’t like the film overall. But Crowther and many other critics couldn’t get past the liberties the screenwriters took with the facts.

A Love That Never Was
In the film, Emily and Charlotte are both in love with Nicholls; however, there is no evidence that Emily was involved with her father’s curate or even had any feelings for him. Charlotte eventually married Nicholls, but she refused his first proposal and some Brontë historians believe Charlotte, although fond of Nichols, was never really in love with him. In the film Charlotte is infatuated with Professor Heger while studying in Brussels. Again there is no evidence that any romance took place. Events are out of order, which bothered purists like Crowther, but for lovers of classic film, Devotion is fun to watch.

DeHavilland starred with John Lund in Too Each His Own,
at Paramount after she successfully sued Warner Brothers.

Loving Lupino and DeHavilland
I love Lupino’s brooding, wistful Emily. When she shows Nicholls the moors and the house in the distance that she calls Wuthering Heights, with Korngold’s score at full tilt, it’s wonderful. Emily’s dream sequences are artfully done, too. The dark mysterious man on horseback haunting Emily looks quite spectacular on the screen. DeHavilland’s snobby and bossy Charlotte can be obnoxious, but she’s far from unlikable. When she professes her love for Profesor Heger, she’s convincing and sincere. Who cares if it didn’t really happen? It’s effective filmmaking.

Three Years on the Shelf

When the film wrapped, Warner Brothers held back its release. There are a few stories explaining their decision. Some say the studio delayed the release because they felt a costume drama wouldn’t play well during the height of World War II. The studios were sensitive about showing too much opulence on the screen during the war years, but rival Twentieth Century Fox released Jane Eyre in 1943 to great reviews and good business. The other, and more intriguing explanation, involves DeHavilland and her lawsuit against the studio. During the studio era, stars signed long-term contracts, typically for a period of seven years. Under that system, actors were paid a weekly salary and expected to perform in movies assigned them. If a star refused a role, they were put on suspension without pay until production of the film they refused to star in was completed. In addition to not paying the star’s salary, studios added time spent on suspension to their contracts, potentially extending them almost indefinitely. DeHavilland was fighting this practice in court.

Banned From the Premier
The story goes that so angry was the studio with DeHavilland that they refused to promote her career during the litigation. Whether or not their anger would go so far as to shelve a big-budget movie like Devotion to make a point, seems over the top. However, movie moguls from the period could be vindictive and spiteful. When the film was finally released, DeHavilland was under contract to Paramount. Warner Brothers wouldn’t let her attend the premier. Even worse, they gave her third billing behind Henried, which would never have happened had she been in the good graces of the brothers Warner. Considering how hot DeHavilland’s career was after she left Warner Brothers, it would have made sense, from a business perspective, to have let her participate in the film’s publicity. Hard to tell if we’ll ever really know the story behind Devotion’s delayed release, but it’s fun speculating.

The Classic Movie Man’s Verdict
Devotion may not be an accurate portrayal of the lives of the most famous of the Brontë sisters, but as film entertainment, it’s a lot of fun. Lupino, DeHavilland, Henried, and the rest of the cast are such pros, they make you care about their characters. Would it have been a better film if they spent more time on historical accuracy? Perhaps, but did audiences complain that both the 1939 version of Wuthering Heights and the 1943 version of Jane Eyre left out major plot points and characters? Hardly. That’s one of the reasons Devotion remains one of my favorite guilty movie pleasures.

What do you think? Is there a classic movie that you love, but the critics hate? Please feel free to share your favorite guilty movie pleasures here.

Bogart, Bergman, and Henreid...none wanted to be in "Casablanca"

Today, Casablanca is one of the best-loved movies of all time, so it's hard to believe that its three main stars didn't want to be in it.

Bergman, still relatively new to Hollywood, had her sights set on the role of Marie in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.  Gary Cooper and Vera Zorina had been cast, which disappointed Bergman who had been author Hemingway's choice to play Maria. For Bergman, filming Casablanca was an ordeal to get through as quickly and pleasantly as possible. Although she had no real conflicts with Bogart, Bergman didn't sense any real camaraderie with her chain-smoking costar. Another problem for Bergman and the other actors was that the script wasn't completed when filming started. No one knew what was happening, which caused Bergman some anxiety. She didn't know which actor she would end up with in the end. She assumed it would be Bogart because he had the male lead, but we all know how that turned out.

Zorina dropped out of For Whom the Bell Tolls, so Bergman eventually got the role she wanted, the one she thought was the role of a lifetime.  For Whom the Bell Tolls was a big hit and one of the biggest productions of 1942, and Bergman received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance, but it hasn't weathered the years nearly as well as Casablanca. For years, the popularity of Casablanca alluded Bergman until she finally viewed the film objectively for herself. She realized that it really was a great film and audiences had been right to praise it as such

Henreid started out his career in America as Paul Von Henreid, appearing in Goodbye Mr. Chips and several other films under his given name. By 1940, he was being billed as Paul Henreid and earnestly pursuing a career in Hollywood as a leading man. When he was offered the role of Victor Lazlo, Henreid thought playing the second male lead would do nothing for his career, especially after all the buzz from his costarring performance opposite Bette Davis in Now Voyager. It was Davis, a close friend of Henreid's, that convinced him to take the role. Davis convinced him there was more to the role than what was written in the script and it would be good for his career. Henreid finally agreed with Davis, but only after the studio promised him star billing equal to that of Bogart and Bergman. Davis's advice was confirmed after the film's release and Henreid went on to play male leads opposite some of Hollywood's most popular leading ladies.

Bogart's reasons are not as clear as Bergman's and Henreid's, but from all accounts, Including Bergman's, he wasn't thrilled with the idea of playing Rick. Bogart, who was just emerging as a major star in his own right, could not have anticipated the impact Casablanca would have on his career. Almost overnight, he became a romantic lead, something that had seemed impossible with his far-from-handsome face and years spent playing second leads and gangsters killed in the second reel. It didn't hurt that he had Bergman, arguably one of the screen's great beauties, convincingly acting as if she really loved him. After Casablanca, Bogart went on to become one of the biggest movie stars of all time. He is ranked number one male movie star of all time by the American Film Institute, topping fan favorites Cary Grant, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Spencer Tracy.

Only during the golden age of Hollywood could a film, regarded as just another movie that its contract players had to endure, remain so popular over 65 years after its initial release.

"Casablanca" next "Meet Me at the Movies" feature

The Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance (PDNA) invites you to "Meet Me at the Movies," Friday October 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Sherwood Conservatory recital hall, 1312 S. Michigan Ave.

An American film classic

Casablanca, the 1942 classic directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid is the third film to be shown in this continuing monthly series. Winner or three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Casablanca has become part of the American consciousness, its dialogue ("Here's looking at you kid.") part of our lexicon.

Just another movie?

What started out as just another movie during Hollywood's golden age, turned into an instant classic. It made  Bogart a credible leading man, and pushed him out of the shadows of fellow contract players James Cagney, George Raft, and Edward G. Robinson. Bergman in only her fourth American film, became a superstar and one of the most popular movie actresses of the 1940s. For Hungarian-born director Curtiz, Casablanca was his only Best Director win in a career that spanned more than four decades.

Click here to see the original movie trailer.