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The Old Maid
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The Old Maid (1939) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   940 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Edmund Goulding
Writers:
Edith Wharton (novel)
Zoe Akins (play)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Old Maid on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
2 September 1939 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
Vividly, unforgettably, a woman's love starved soul is revealed. All those strange secrets she locks in her heart ... moments of rapture and of heartbreak ... longings that no man can fathom. Of these has the year's finest picture been woven!
Plot:
Delia marries Jim, not Joe After Delia breaks her engagement to Clem and marries Jim, Clem promises to marry Delia's cousin Charlotte... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
New Spin on an Old Maid more
US TV Schedule:
Fri. July 244:15 AMTCM   

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Bette Davis ... Charlotte Lovell
Miriam Hopkins ... Delia Lovell Ralston
George Brent ... Lt. Clem Spender
Donald Crisp ... Dr. Lanskell
Jane Bryan ... Clementina
Louise Fazenda ... Dora
James Stephenson ... Jim Ralston
Jerome Cowan ... Joseph Ralston
William Lundigan ... Lanning Halsey
Cecilia Loftus ... Grandmother Henrietta Lovell
Rand Brooks ... Jim Ralston Jr.
Janet Shaw ... Dee Ralston Ward
William Hopper ... John Ward (as DeWolf Hopper)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
95 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Certification:
Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #5227) | Australia:PG

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Humphrey Bogart was originally cast as the male lead, but dismissed after four days' filming. more
Quotes:
Charlotte Lovell: She thinks I can't understand her. She considers me an old maid.
Delia Lovell Ralston: My dear.
Charlotte Lovell: A ridiculous, narrow-minded old maid. What else can she ever think of me?
Delia Lovell Ralston: Poor Charlotte.
Charlotte Lovell: Oh, but you needn't pity me. Because she's really mine. If she considers me an old maid, it's because I've deliberately made myself one in her eyes. I've done it from the beginning so she wouldn't have the least suspicion. I've practised everything I've ever had to say to her, if it was important, so that I'd sound like an old maid aunt talking. Not her mother.
[...]
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 24 people found the following comment useful:-
New Spin on an Old Maid, 10 February 2003

This film would be just another period melodrama: over-scored,sugar-coated, and glossy-slick (especially for a Warners' film) -- except for two things: Bette Davis and Bette Davis.

Bette is truly a revelation in this film, which required her to age twenty years in the flesh but many more than that in spirit - as she turned from a fresh, extremely sympathetic young girl to an "old maid" of forty or so, a bitter, intimidating woman.

Her ability to integrate completely disparate human traits into one cohesive character is amazing - a must see.

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most and least favorite scenes blueeyedbear
Notes on THE OLD MAID JSlack3
Funny sound glitch beamsamuel1
Whom Clem loved--was Charlotte right? roseytrebles
Better Than Dark Victory IMHO rockwell_lancer
What do you think about Clem? achal-1
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