The Heiress (1949) pt.5/11

part five

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Olivia de Havilland
• Montgomery Clift
• Ralph Richardson
• Miriam Hopkins
• Vanessa Brown

[MSPIGGY78]

Can't blame the father for thinking he is after her money!

[n0iwont]

@RachelG1979 ....but for the puposes of the stage/film sets, it's easier and cheaper

if she visits W Squ.

[RachelG1979]

In the book Catherine's father goes to Mrs. Montgemory's house.

[queenat808]

Abusers must have someone to abuse....a victim! It wasn't about the money with her father, he was losing his punching bag. He could have easily arranged some sort of pre-nup agreement if he wanted to protect her money....gimmie a break!

[happybkwrm]

@luname82 Well, back in the "good old days", marriage and motherhood were considered the ONLY path for a woman of middle and upper class to take. In their eyes, the aunts were trying to do her a favor. (I think Cathy wanted to be a mother - she was very loving and caring.) And I think Elizabeth's thoughts were that Cathy might as well marry Morris because - could it be any worse than living with a father who beat her down? Her father didn't care if she was loved or not.

[happybkwrm]

@trw1501 He probably would have been "kind" as long as the money lasted. IMHO, it's a toss-up as to whether the "old" Catherine would have been happy with someone who ast least PRETENDED to love her.

And one site I went to stated that 10,000 then was equal to about 300,000 now! And that was every year! Wow.

[happybkwrm]

@princessluceval Eh. He's protecting his money from the fortune hunter. Notice how he never actually finds any good words for Catherine? He vaguely talks about her "fine qualities" - but can't actually NAME them, save that she's rich! In his eyes, she can never live up to the perfect image he has of his late wife. Never mind that she is gentle, kind, generous, thoughtful... She doesn't dazzle like his wife did, so she's nothing.

[happybkwrm]

@elizabetheowynbelle Not for him. He wanted Catherine to be her mother reborn. In his eyes, what good is kindness, loyalty, and caring as compared to beauty and vivaciousness?

[ohsnapitsme59]

@trw1501 I don't think she meant suicide. I think she meant she was closing a chapter on her life that she was never going to revisit. She would never be taken in again. She lost her naiveté. She was smiling as she walked up those stairs at the end. She was liberated. That's how I took it.

[elizabetheowynbelle]

@trw1501

Though I disagree about Morris, the rest of your post is right on the money. Dr. Sloper was a horrible father. So Catherine wasn't that pretty or vivacious? So what? Aren't there much worse things she could be? Wasn't it enough that she was kind, loving, and never gave him a moment's worry?