The Old Maid (1939) on Netflix
Delia Lovell is preparing to marry Jim Ralston when Clem Spender, her former fiancé, comes back after two years away. Her cousin Charlotte comforts him, and he enlists in the Union Army.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Set during the American Civil War, the story follows two cousins, Delia Lovell and Charlotte Lovell. Delia is about to marry Jim Ralston when Clem Spender, the man she was once engaged to, returns after an absence of two years. His reappearance throws the wedding day into confusion, though Delia marries Jim Ralston all the same. Charlotte comforts Clem, and he enlists in the Union Army.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Old Maid (1939)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Humphrey Bogart was originally cast as Clem Spender, but studio head Jack L. Warner thought he looked neither heroic nor romantic and had him fired after two days of filming. Bette Davis urged Edmund Goulding and producer Hal B. Wallis to replace him with George Brent, who accepted the small role.
- Miriam Hopkins resented Bette Davis winning the Best Actress Oscar for Jezebel, a role Hopkins had originated on Broadway, and believed Davis was having an affair with her husband, director Anatole Litvak, whom she was divorcing. Hopkins did everything she could to undermine Davis's performance in The Old Maid.
- Bette Davis disliked the part of Charlotte Lovell and proposed playing both Charlotte and Delia herself. The more colorful role of Delia instead went to Miriam Hopkins, whom Davis had known from George Cukor's stock company, where Hopkins was the star and Davis the ingenue.
- Cinematographer Tony Gaudio complained that Miriam Hopkins kept altering Perc Westmore's makeup so she would look considerably younger than Bette Davis in scenes where both were supposed to be aged. Both actresses cited illness for missing days on set, and the production fell eleven days behind schedule.
- The Old Maid was the first film in which Bette Davis had equal screen time with a female co-star.
