Now, Voyager

1942 • 117 minutes
4.8
198 reviews
91%
Tomatometer
Eligible
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About this movie

A tender love story, a taut psychological drama, an inspiring tale of physical and spiritual transformation. Now, Voyager is all three, as well as a Bette Davis career milestone, resulting in her sixth Best Actress Oscar nomination. She magically plays Charlotte Vale, a spinster who defies her domineering mother (fellow Oscar nominee Gladys Cooper) to discover love, heartbreak and eventual contentment.

More magic is generated by a top-notch ensemble, Max Steiner?s Academy Award-winning score and an improvised moment by Paul Henreid that became an instant classic: he lights two cigarettes at once and hands one to Davis. For the ultimate in romantic melodrama, it?s Now Voyager now, then and forever.

Ratings and reviews

4.8
198 reviews
Gaye walker rosser
April 24, 2014
This is one of my favorite Bette Davis' films. You can't help but fall in love with her and feel sympathetic to her plight! The score is wonderful, the romance is endearing and the love she has for the little girl is genuine. You must overlook the two light cigarette thing although it is a bit on the cheesy side. It certainly wasn't when the movie came out. I love movies like this. Bette is at her best. See All About Eve and one most have not seen A Catered Affair.
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Sarah H
September 28, 2019
I have seen a number of Bette Davis movies in which she portrays headstrong and even dislikeable protagonists. Her role in this film was so sympathetic and likeable - very unlike "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" or "Jezebel" or "Of Human Bondage." It wasn't just her acting talents which carried this film but the story line itself - a very original and unconventional love story. I would rather view a classic such as this one than any of the hogwash "romantic" films produced today.
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Don Hulbert
August 11, 2015
This is one of my favorite "classic" films; amazing to me that at that time the major studios were turning out so many films rapidly, and that so many were good! The film is a shameless tearjerker, but who can resist it? Haven't we all felt awkward at some point in our lives, and then we "find" ourselves? I've read the book, and the movie is an effective adaption, lifting a good portion of the dialogue intact. It's refreshing that the screenwriter didn't choose to entirely discard the work of Olive Higgins Prouty. The sets are gorgeous, the Oscar-winning score by Max Steiner is evocative and lush, and the costumes convey the characters beautifully. All the parts are cast perfectly -- there's a reason that both Bette Davis and Gladys Cooper received nominations. And to top it off, the Library of Congress selected this film for preservation in the US National Film Registry, and it ranks #23 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.
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