Winter Meeting
Encyclopedia
Winter Meeting is a 1948
American
drama film
directed by Bretaigne Windust
. The screenplay
by Catherine Turney is based on the novel of the same title by Grace Zaring Stone
, writing under the pseudonym
Ethel Vance.
naval hero Lieutenant Slick Novak at a Manhattan
restaurant where a dinner party is being held in his honor. He is more interested in Susan than his blind date Peggy Markham and offers to take her home at the end of the evening. The two become better acquainted over coffee in Susan's apartment, and she initially resists but then succumbs to his charms when he tries to kiss her.
The following day, Slick returns to see Susan, and she spontaneously invites him to spend the remainder of his leave with her at her country house. In this setting, the two share secrets about each other, Susan telling him about her clergy
man father's descent into insanity
and eventual suicide
, and how it estranged her from her mother, he confessing his longtime desire to become a priest
and revealing the guilt he feels about surviving the war while others died in battle.
Slick returns to the city alone, and Susan later accidentally runs into him and Peggy in the restaurant where they first met. The following day, he visits Susan's apartment and suggests they try to make their relationship work, but she urges him to reconsider the priesthood and the two part ways. Susan, having learned her mother has been hospital
ized, then calls her in the hope they can reunite.
introduced his wife Bette Davis
to the novel Winter Meeting and suggested it as a possibility for her next film. Davis enlisted her friend Catherine Turney to write a screen adaptation and stayed in close touch with her throughout the process, sending her memos about sequences that concerned her. "I am very rested and very ambitious to do something really outstanding - and I don't feel this, the way it is, answers the requirements," the actress noted at one point. She later recalled, "Winter Meeting was a great book . . . We should never have tried to make it. This is where censorship
really hurt us. We were not allowed to be honest about the differences of opinion between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. It was, therefore, a dull and meaningless film." Davis spoke at length about the censorship problems with Winter Meeting in a later interview with Thomas M. Pryor of the New York Times, insisting the original story "would have made an engrossing film drama, but unfortunately much of the novel had to be bowdlerized to meet production code requirements."
The casting of Slick Novak proved to be problematic. Richard Widmark
tested well, but studio executives were concerned his portrayal of a sadistic killer in the previous year's Kiss of Death
would make it difficult for audiences to accept him in a sympathetic role. Thirteen additional actors were considered, and of them all Davis thought James Davis
was best suited for the part. New York theatrical director Bretaigne Windust had been assigned the film because of his intimate knowledge of the Manhattan social scene, but Davis felt he ultimately was responsible for her leading man's lackluster performance. "Because of the overanalytical approach of Bretaigne Windust," she later observed, "Jim Davis never again during filming showed any signs of the character he portrayed in the test that made me want him for the part. No help I tried to give him could offset the effect of the detailed direction of Windust. He was lost and openly admitted it."
The film cost $1,927,000 but earned only $1,083,000 at the box office. It was Davis' first film to lose money and commercially her least successful Warners release. As a result, Jack L. Warner lost confidence in Davis as an asset to the studio, and Winter Meeting marked the beginning of her final days as a Warners star.
opined, "Of all the frustrating experiences that Bette Davis has had in films . . . [this] is clearly the most bewildering, not only for her but for us . . . No doubt, the people at Warners thought they were doing Miss Davis a good turn by putting her in this situation which would tax the composure of a lady Job . . . But actually [their] generosity is Miss Davis' misfortune in this case and her manner of handling the situation is much better than that of the script . . . she actually catches at times some sense of a woman's deep disturbance at a most puzzling turn in an affair of love. And never, let's say to her credit, does she nibble the scenery as of yore. However, the explanation may be that she's so busy speaking lines — endless lines of completely tedious dialogue — that she has no time for anything else . . . Catherine Turney, who assembled this rhetoric . . . should be made to sit through Winter Meeting about twenty-five or thirty times — which is the number of times you are likely to feel you've sat through it when you've seen it once."
Time
observed, "The best thing that can be said about Winter Meeting is that its attempt to articulate Ethel Vance's obscure theme is a thoroughly honest failure and that Bette Davis's talents are great enough to be sometimes apparent even in the midst of such unrewarding mediocrity."
Variety
noted, "Miss Davis tries hard, but the script and the part and its treatment are against her, and the role assigned [James] Davis opposite her is too much for him."
TV Guide
stated, "This one has more talk than a Senate
filibuster
and is only a tenth as interesting. Bette Davis is one of the great 'sufferers' of the silver screen and she does it again here, but the audience suffers just as much in this overblown drama."
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Bretaigne Windust
Bretaigne Windust
Bretaigne Windust was a French-born theatre, film, and television director.-Early life:He was born Ernest Bretaigne Windust in Paris, France, the son of English violin virtuoso Ernest Joseph Windust and singer Elizabeth Amory Day from New York City...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Catherine Turney is based on the novel of the same title by Grace Zaring Stone
Grace Zaring Stone
Grace Zaring Stone was an American novelist and short story writer. She is perhaps best known for having three of her novels made into films: The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Winter Meeting, and Escape. She also used the pseudonym of Ethel Vance.-Biography:Stone was the great-great-granddaughter of...
, writing under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Ethel Vance.
Synopsis
Disenchanted poet Susan Grieve, escorted by her friend Stacy Grant, meets embittered World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
naval hero Lieutenant Slick Novak at a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
restaurant where a dinner party is being held in his honor. He is more interested in Susan than his blind date Peggy Markham and offers to take her home at the end of the evening. The two become better acquainted over coffee in Susan's apartment, and she initially resists but then succumbs to his charms when he tries to kiss her.
The following day, Slick returns to see Susan, and she spontaneously invites him to spend the remainder of his leave with her at her country house. In this setting, the two share secrets about each other, Susan telling him about her clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man father's descent into insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
and eventual suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, and how it estranged her from her mother, he confessing his longtime desire to become a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and revealing the guilt he feels about surviving the war while others died in battle.
Slick returns to the city alone, and Susan later accidentally runs into him and Peggy in the restaurant where they first met. The following day, he visits Susan's apartment and suggests they try to make their relationship work, but she urges him to reconsider the priesthood and the two part ways. Susan, having learned her mother has been hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
ized, then calls her in the hope they can reunite.
Production
William Grant SherryWilliam Grant Sherry
William Grant Sherry was a painter and artist.Born in Amagansett, New York, on Long Island, Sherry studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and at Heatherley's School of Art in London....
introduced his wife Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
to the novel Winter Meeting and suggested it as a possibility for her next film. Davis enlisted her friend Catherine Turney to write a screen adaptation and stayed in close touch with her throughout the process, sending her memos about sequences that concerned her. "I am very rested and very ambitious to do something really outstanding - and I don't feel this, the way it is, answers the requirements," the actress noted at one point. She later recalled, "Winter Meeting was a great book . . . We should never have tried to make it. This is where censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
really hurt us. We were not allowed to be honest about the differences of opinion between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. It was, therefore, a dull and meaningless film." Davis spoke at length about the censorship problems with Winter Meeting in a later interview with Thomas M. Pryor of the New York Times, insisting the original story "would have made an engrossing film drama, but unfortunately much of the novel had to be bowdlerized to meet production code requirements."
The casting of Slick Novak proved to be problematic. Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...
tested well, but studio executives were concerned his portrayal of a sadistic killer in the previous year's Kiss of Death
Kiss of Death (1947 film)
Kiss of Death is a 1947 film noir movie directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer from a story by Eleazar Lipsky. The story revolves around the film's protagonist, a former robber, and the antagonist, the ruthless, violent Tommy Udo...
would make it difficult for audiences to accept him in a sympathetic role. Thirteen additional actors were considered, and of them all Davis thought James Davis
Jim Davis (actor)
Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
was best suited for the part. New York theatrical director Bretaigne Windust had been assigned the film because of his intimate knowledge of the Manhattan social scene, but Davis felt he ultimately was responsible for her leading man's lackluster performance. "Because of the overanalytical approach of Bretaigne Windust," she later observed, "Jim Davis never again during filming showed any signs of the character he portrayed in the test that made me want him for the part. No help I tried to give him could offset the effect of the detailed direction of Windust. He was lost and openly admitted it."
The film cost $1,927,000 but earned only $1,083,000 at the box office. It was Davis' first film to lose money and commercially her least successful Warners release. As a result, Jack L. Warner lost confidence in Davis as an asset to the studio, and Winter Meeting marked the beginning of her final days as a Warners star.
Cast
- Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
..... Susan Grieve - Jim DavisJim Davis (actor)Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
..... Slick Novak - Janis PaigeJanis PaigeJanis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
..... Peggy Markham - John HoytJohn HoytJohn Hoyt was an American film, stage, and television actor.-Early life:Hoyt was born John McArthur Hoysradt. Before becoming an actor with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, the Yale University graduate worked as a history instructor, acting teacher and even a nightclub comedian...
..... Stacy Grant - Florence BatesFlorence BatesFlorence Bates was an American character actress who often played grande dame characters in her films.Born Florence Rabe in San Antonio, Texas, the second child of Jewish immigrants, Bates showed musical talent as a child, but a hand injury inhibited her from continuing her piano studies...
..... Mrs. Castle
Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
opined, "Of all the frustrating experiences that Bette Davis has had in films . . . [this] is clearly the most bewildering, not only for her but for us . . . No doubt, the people at Warners thought they were doing Miss Davis a good turn by putting her in this situation which would tax the composure of a lady Job . . . But actually [their] generosity is Miss Davis' misfortune in this case and her manner of handling the situation is much better than that of the script . . . she actually catches at times some sense of a woman's deep disturbance at a most puzzling turn in an affair of love. And never, let's say to her credit, does she nibble the scenery as of yore. However, the explanation may be that she's so busy speaking lines — endless lines of completely tedious dialogue — that she has no time for anything else . . . Catherine Turney, who assembled this rhetoric . . . should be made to sit through Winter Meeting about twenty-five or thirty times — which is the number of times you are likely to feel you've sat through it when you've seen it once."
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
observed, "The best thing that can be said about Winter Meeting is that its attempt to articulate Ethel Vance's obscure theme is a thoroughly honest failure and that Bette Davis's talents are great enough to be sometimes apparent even in the midst of such unrewarding mediocrity."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
noted, "Miss Davis tries hard, but the script and the part and its treatment are against her, and the role assigned [James] Davis opposite her is too much for him."
TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
stated, "This one has more talk than a Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
and is only a tenth as interesting. Bette Davis is one of the great 'sufferers' of the silver screen and she does it again here, but the audience suffers just as much in this overblown drama."