Devotion (1946)

In Victorian England, literary siblings Emily and Charlotte Bront vie for the affection of the Reverend Arthur Nichols. Along with their sister Anne, Emily and Charlotte also try to help ... See full summary »

Director:

Curtis Bernhardt

Writers:

Theodore Reeves (story), Keith Winter,

Stars:

Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, Olivia de Havilland

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ida Lupino	...	Emily Bronte
Paul Henreid	...	Rev. Arthur Nicholls
Olivia de Havilland	...	Charlotte Bronte
Sydney Greenstreet	...	William Makepeace Thackeray
Nancy Coleman	...	Anne Bronte
Arthur Kennedy	...	Branwell Bronte
Dame May Whitty	...	Lady Thornton
Victor Francen	...	Constantin Heger
Montagu Love	...	Rev. Bronte
Ethel Griffies	...	Aunt Branwell
Edmund Breon	...	Sir John Thornton
Odette Myrtil	...	Mme. Heger
Doris Lloyd	...	Mrs. Ingraham
Marie De Becker	...	Tabby
Eily Malyon	...	Mrs. Thornton's Friend at the Ball

Storyline

In Victorian England, literary siblings Emily and Charlotte Bront vie for the affection of the Reverend Arthur Nichols. Along with their sister Anne, Emily and Charlotte also try to help their tormented brother Branwell, a gifted artist whose life is being destroyed by alcohol.

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Plot Keywords:

alcoholic | authoress | love | victorian era | writer | 

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Taglines:

It tells ALL about those Brontë sisters!...They didn't dare call it love- they tried to call it Devotion

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Afosiosis

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed between November 11, 1942 and mid-February 1943, the movie premiered on April 5, 1946 at the Strand Theater in Manhattan. While it is partly possible that the release had been delayed while Olivia de Havilland, after completing Government Girl on loan to RKO, successfully sued Warner Bros. to terminate her contract without providing the studio an extra six months to make up for her time on suspension, it is far more likely that its release was delayed because it was a costume drama and unlikely to do well at the height of WW2. Warner Bros would not have realistically shelved an expensive film like this, purely to spite an actress who was in litigation with the studio.

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Goofs

When Emily enters her brother's sickroom and doesn't completely shut its door, a hand and arm very obviously reaches out from outside the room and shuts it.

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Quotes

Charlotte Bronte: I know nothing. I understand nothing. And yet, I have dared to write 200,000 words about life!
[tosses manuscript on floor]

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Connections

Featured in Between Two Worlds: Erich Wolfgang Korngold (2001)

User Reviews

A rarely seen enjoyable film

Although not historically accurate, this is a very enjoyable romantic view of the Bronte sisters and their devotion to each other and to their drug addicted brother. I am surprised that it has not been shown as often as the overwrought versions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering heights which were made around that time.

The performances are excellent, even more so because they are quietly underplayed for the times. The attention to detail is good, except for the scene where Charlotte returned to find Emily on her deathbed but left the front door wide open! Growing up on the Yorkshire moors about 10 miles away from Haworth, I know that no one would ever leave the door open on a cold stormy night. I kept wanting to shout in Yorkshire dialect "Put t'wood in't hoile!" (Shut the door, in English)

The Bronte sisters have been the subject of vastly more scholarly print than their combined output, but this film skims over the heartbreak and hardship they endured. One has to see the bleakness of the Haworth parsonage and the moors to begin to grasp what it must have been like for them. Death was a constant companion, taking all of them away in their early adulthood. Death from drink, tubercolosis and in Charlotte's case, childbirth, were the norm for those who survived infancy. Their lives were bleak, but their imagination was rich.

Picky picky details aside, this films deserves to be shown more often.