The Old Maid

1939
A
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.1K

YOUR RATING

Bette Davis, George Brent, and Miriam Hopkins in The Old Maid (1939)

Play trailer2:52

1 Video

23 Photos

Drama

The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins total

Top cast32

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Bette Davis

Charlotte Lovell

Miriam Hopkins

Delia Lovell

George Brent

Clem Spender

Donald Crisp

Dr. Lanskell

Jane Bryan

Tina

Louise Fazenda

Dora

James Stephenson

Jim Ralston

Jerome Cowan

Joe Ralston

William Lundigan

Lanning Halsey

Cecilia Loftus

Grandmother Lovell

Rand Brooks

Janet Shaw

William Hopper

John
(as DeWolf Hopper)

Rod Cameron

Undetermined Secondary Role
(scenes deleted)

William A. Boardway

Wedding Guest
(uncredited)

Sidney Bracey

Charles - the Butler
(uncredited)

Marlene Burnett

Tina as a Child
(uncredited)

Frederick Burton

Mr. Halsey
(uncredited)

Director
- Edmund Goulding
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews47

Featured review

New Spin on an Old Maid

This film would be just another period melodrama: over-scored,sugar-coated, and glossy-slick (especially for a Warners' film) -- except for two things: Bette Davis and Bette Davis.

Bette is truly a revelation in this film, which required her to age twenty years in the flesh but many more than that in spirit - as she turned from a fresh, extremely sympathetic young girl to an "old maid" of forty or so, a bitter, intimidating woman.

Her ability to integrate completely disparate human traits into one cohesive character is amazing - a must see.

Videos1

Trailer 2:52

Trailer [EN]

Photos23

+ 15

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
There was a lot of bad blood between Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis, who had won an Oscar for "Jezebel", a role that Hopkins had played on Broadway and had expected to play in the movie. To make things worse, Davis had had an affair with Anatole Litvak, Hopkins' husband, while making "The Sisters".

Goofs
Society women such as portrayed here would never have their names printed (on the many invitations and announcements throughout) as "Mrs. Delia ... Mrs. Henrietta" etc. but as "Mrs." before their husbands' names and as long as they remained widows.

Quotes
Charlotte Lovell: She thinks I can't understand her. She considers me an old maid.
Delia Lovell Ralston: My dear.
Charlotte Lovell: A ridiculous, narrow-minded old maid. What else can she ever think of me?
Delia Lovell Ralston: Poor Charlotte.
Charlotte Lovell: Oh, but you needn't pity me. Because she's really mine. If she considers me an old maid, it's because I've deliberately made myself one in her eyes. I've done it from the beginning so she wouldn't have the least suspicion. I've practised everything I've ever had to say to her, if it was important, so that I'd sound like an old maid aunt talking. Not her mother.
Delia Lovell Ralston: Well, after all, darling, there isn't anything important to say to her now. She has every attribute of a modern successful woman - she's healthy, she's young, she's gay, she's attractive...