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Aug 17, 2016mswrite rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Montgomery Clift is said to have worried during the making of "The Heiress" that his performance as Morris Townsend was too "modern" (that is, too out of step with the classical performances of Ralph Richardson and Olivia de Havilland). I am not sure he was right, though watching the film I think (I think) I see what he means. Perhaps costume melodrama was simply not Clift's forte. Still, he is wonderful to watch. I would argue that though his character comes across as callow and slightly off-balance, he is supposed to: Morris is a social outsider. He is also quite spoiled and used to getting by on his considerable charm and dazzling youthful beauty. And Clift brings just enough ambiguity to the role that in the shattering final scene, as he pleads and pounds at that locked door, we can't help feeling some pity for Morris. His high-flown dreams and expectations are disintegrating before his eyes. As the wily Dr. Sloper, Richardson is brilliant in his cold and autocratic cruelty. Miriam Hopkins is touching as the rather ditzy, hopeless romantic Aunt Lavinia. She is so eager for Catherine's happiness and so charmed by the charismatic Morris that she allows him to make her a (mostly unwitting) partner in his maneuverings. In the end, Lavinia is very nearly as shattered as Catherine by his deception. All that said, "The Heiress" belongs to the marvelous de Havilland. She is heartbreaking in her shy naiveté and breathless hope in the first part of the film and majestic in her bitterness--as cold and unreachable as her father--by the film's climactic end.