Devotion

Romanticized account of the life of the Brontes with particular emphasis of course on older sisters Charlotte and Emily. It's slow moving at times and should not be relied upon for historical accuracy but, of its kind, it's fairly well done and entertaining. Olivia de Havilland (looking very pretty) is the imperious and ambitious Charlotte, aggressively courting literary success, while Ida Lupino, as Emily, remains at home, engaging in fanciful reverie and harboring a secret passion for the local clergyman. Both offer strong, capable performances. (It's been said that de Havilland, who had been fighting with Warner Brothers over better scripts, was given third billing as punishment by studio chief Jack Warner. By the time the film was released, in 1946, she had successfully sued the studio for release from her contract and would go on to win two Oscars as Best Actress). Nancy Coleman has the thankless role of younger sister Anne, Arthur Kennedy is their dissolute brother Branwell (his self-destructiveness is never adequately explained and simply becomes tedious after a while) and Paul Henreid is the Reverend Arthur Nichols, the object of Emily's unrequited affection (a contrivance thought up by the screenwriter). With Sydney Greenstreet as the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray and Montagu Love, Ethel Griffies, Victor Francen, Odette Myrtil and Dame May Witty.

If you want a generalized account of the Bronte Family, DEVOTION is not bad - but it is not really good history. Basically in the 1810s to 1830s Reverend Patrick Brunte (which he changed to Bronte) was in charge of the parsonage of Haworth in Yorkshire. He and his wife had six children: five girls and a son. Most people forget there were two older sisters than Charlotte, Emily, and Anne (and their brother Bramwell) but the two older daughters died prematurely of lung problems (which would bedevil all the Brontes).

In that isolated parsonage, the Bronte children entertained themselves by making up stories about a fabulous place called "Great Glass Town" that was ruled by England's superhero of the day, the Duke of Wellington. As they grew older, they would write down their stories about this wonderful place - and soon they were also writing down poetry. All that is but Bramwell. He was very bright and promising, and it was hoped he would develop his considerable talents as a draftsman and artist. He was even sent to a boarding school. But Bramwell developed a love for drinking, and the early promise of his brilliance eventually dissipated. He would also be the first of the better remembered children to die.

Before Bramwell died he would live to see the success of his three sisters. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne joined together to publish a volume of poetry called POEMS BY CURRER, ELLIS, & ACTON BELL. The reason for the pseudonyms was that in 1839 it was very unusual for woman to write fiction or poetry. So the girls figured it would not hurt to pretend they were men. The poetry worked well, and soon Charlotte and Emily sent into London the manuscripts of their two novels JANE EYRE and WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Again both were under the pseudonyms. The two novels were acclaimed, as was a novel by Anne called THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (published as Acton Bell). The novels gained the attention of William Thackeray, and he wrote a glowing review of them - especially of JANE EYRE. Charlotte wrote to Thackeray, and arranged a trip to meet him in London. Then he learned that these three novelists and poets were women.

Thackeray became their greatest booster. It's nice to know that Emily was aware of this, because she died shortly after Bramwell did - after nursing him. Anne wrote a novel AGNES GRAY, and then her health failed too and she died. Now Reverend Bronte found only one child of his six was still alive. Charlotte wrote her "problem of England" novel called SHIRLEY. In 1853 a third novel, VILLETTE (which most critics consider better than JANE EYRE) was published. Charlotte married the Reverend Arthur Bell Nichols in 1854, and within a year she died giving birth to a still born child. A posthumous novel (actually an early version of VILLETTE called THE PROFESSOR) was published. So was a small fragment called EMMA. Reverend Bronte died in 1861, having survived his six children (but knowing that at least three were remembered as writers). Charlotte's husband Reverend Nichols died in 1901.

For a family that has maintained popular interest from their heyday to today, the total literary output of seven novels and a book of poetry is small. But eventually their fans would also have the dozens of surviving notebooks of their childhood fantasies of "Great Glass Town" as well, and even Bramwell's etchings and attempts at painting retain interest. For all it's tragedy of early death, the Brontes retain our fascination as an unexpected blossoming of genius that was cut too short.

DEVOTION, as I said earlier, was close to an outline of the story. It showed some of the biographical background that would shape Charlotte's (Olivia de Haviland's) and Emily's (Ida Lupino's) fiction: Emily's love for the wild moors, which would translate into her imagery for Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw in HEIGHTS; and Charlotte's infatuation with a foreign tutor she knew in Belgium (a nice performance by Victor Francken) which is used in creating the character of Paul in VILLETTE. But the fiction is tied to a ruthless streak in Charlotte at her more talented sister's expense, especially over Reverend Nichols (Paul Henreid). Actually Emily never yearned for Nichols, or any man Charlotte liked. Bramwell (Arthur Kennedy) is closer to Emily, and tries to support her - but he's undermined by his drinking and declining health. Anne Bronte (Nancy Coleman) is (unfortunatley typically) given short shrift beside her two better known sister novelists.

Thackeray is played by Sidney Greenstreet, who physically and intellectually matches the rotund genius who gave us BARRY LYNDON, VANITY FAIR, and HENRY ESMOND. He shows an appreciation of Charlotte and shepherds her around London (guarranteeing her social success). But he also realizes - good novelist and critic that he is - that Emily's writing has a raw power that Charlotte's politer writing lacks. But the movie misses that Thackeray's interest in Charlotte and JANE EYRE may have been based on the figure of Rochester's mad wife in the attic (Bertha). It seems Thackeray also had an insane wife. However his social snobbery is deliciously given when he sneers at some street urchins ("Not my public!"), and when he warns Charlotte against an author they pass - Charles Dickens.

DEVOTION is a entertaining film, and a good way to get an audience to look into the Brontes and their literary work. At very least, it leads one to view some movie version of JANE EYRE or WUTHERING HEIGHTS.

The story of the Bronte Family with all their problems certainly bears little resemblance to the true facts, but nevertheless Warner Brothers have made a fine entertaining film, with an excellent cast of actors headed by Olivia de Havilland as Charlotte, Ida Lupino as Emily and Nancy Coleman as Anne. Paul Henreid is in support, but Arthur Kennedy as Branwell is the standout. The mood of the time and place is very well captured and the photography and background music are superb. Not a lot of emphasis is given to the wonderful books, "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" by Emily & Charlotte, but rather the main story revolves around the girls' love lives. This film has been panned by many critics, but I feel it deserves a far better reception than it has received - Warners had themselves to blame as they delayed its release for a couple of years simply because of the fight with Miss de Havilland - incidentally she won it!

The literary Bronte sisters struggle to get their lives in order in the midst of a dour old house, a severe father, and moody rolling moors.

These Gothic costume dramas usually show the old studios hitting on all eight cylinders. Just check out the exterior sets here. It's obviously not the real outdoors the sisters hike along. But who cares because they're so artistically done—the crags, the waterfall, the hilly moors. They're all real eye-catchers, establishing just the right Gothic mood. Warner's production crews did a bang-up job, showing that you don't need digital to get the right effect.

Of course, I like anything with the great Ida Lupino. Here she does more of a hardened type than the soft, dreamy types of High Sierra (1941) or Deep Valley (1947). But that too is okay since her real feelings are kept below the surface, which we only detect now and again. It's fitting that the depth of those feelings finally surface in Emily's (Lupino) great romantic novel Wuthering Heights, and smoldering they are.

Speaking of romance, I really can't see the girls getting all hot and bothered over a couple of stiffs like Henreid and Francen, especially Francen who acts like someone's randy old grandfather. But you do have to hand it to Arthur Kennedy. He gets to pull out all stops as the self-destructive Branwell, managing to make a drunken scene wherever he goes. As a result and thanks to him, I'll think twice about my next beer.

All in all, it takes about 90-moody minutes for the sisters to straighten things out. But in the meantime they've given me a number of memorable scenes that have lasted for years since I first saw the movie. Yes indeed, there's a lot to be said for those old Hollywood dream factories.

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.