Rent Now, Voyager (1942)

A precious antic film - Now, Voyager review by CSF

Maybe an old film and an old story but even today, we still have parents who crush their children. The subject of this old film still exist. It should be watched by children too. It is the story of a woman who has to build her life and her freedom despite her mother keeping her in a cage and making her believe that it is for her own good. The film is not the expected cliché. The so-called psychiatric residence is not a nasty one, the doctor is not the selfish money maker. It shows how compassion can transform someone's hell into a decent, and even a happy life.

Bette Davis is the usual outstanding actress. The actors are OK.

Medical melodrama. - Now, Voyager review by Steve

This is Bette Davis' signature role- as an inhibited, lonely spinster who escapes from the persecution of her mother and blossoms into a confident, independent woman. It's pure escapism for the women on the homefront in WWII. She is freed from domestic duty and escapes to a liaison onboard a ship to Rio with an attentive but troubled architect (Paul Henreid).

This is a medical melodrama which draws on Hollywood psychiatry. Bette's initial neurosis is swiftly treated, mostly with wisdom, by Claude Raines' fatherly doctor. The homely girl blossoms into a stylish and wealthy Bostonian. Curiously, the film doesn't give us completion; her love isn't consummated because the man cannot be free of his diabolical wife.

But, they mustn't ask for the moon, when they have the stars. So Davis takes care of the architect's daughter who is mentally tortured by her own mother. And so the film becomes about sacrifice, a common theme in the war years. OK, this is a soap and some of the situations are unrealistic, but Davis does create an impression of a whole person.

Henreid is too lightweight to stand up to the vortex of Davis' performance. The best of the support cast is Gladys Cooper as the domineering mother.  Now, Voyager is also remembered for Max Steiner's legendary love theme. And for Henreid's trick of lighting two cigarettes simultaneously. It's one of the great Warner Bothers melodramas and the ultimate Bette Davis vehicle.

“Banana trees!” - Now, Voyager review by LJ

While some of the actions in this drama are dubious by today’s standards, it is a far more positive story than I anticipated so pleasant in its way.