Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, and directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty.
Prouty borrowed her title from the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want", which reads in its entirety,
In 2007, Now, Voyager was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film ranks number 23 on AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Passions, a list of the top love stories in American cinema. Film critic Steven Jay Schneider suggests the film continues to be remembered for not only its star power, but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.
Plot
Charlotte Vale is a drab, quiet woman whose life is brutally dominated by her mother, an aristocratic Boston dowager whose verbal and emotional abuse of her daughter has contributed to Charlotte's complete lack of self-confidence. Mrs. Vale had already brought up three sons, and Charlotte was an unwanted child born to her late in life. Fearing that Charlotte is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her sister-in-law Lisa introduces her to psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith, who recommends that she spend time in his sanitarium.
Away from her mother's control, Charlotte blossoms, and at Lisa's urging, the transformed woman opts to take a lengthy cruise instead of going home immediately. On the ship, she meets Jeremiah Duvaux Durrance, a married man traveling with his friends Deb and Frank McIntyre. From them, Charlotte learns of how Jerry's devotion to his young daughter Christina (Tina) keeps him from divorcing his wife, a manipulative, jealous woman who does not love Tina and keeps Jerry from engaging in his chosen career of architecture, despite the fulfillment he gets from it.
Charlotte and Jerry become friendly, and in Rio de Janeiro, the two are stranded on Sugarloaf Mountain when their car crashes. They miss the ship and spend five days together before Charlotte flies to Buenos Aires to rejoin the cruise. Although they have fallen in love, they decide it would be best not to see each other again.
Charlotte's family is stunned by the dramatic changes in her appearance and demeanor when she arrives home. Her mother is determined to destroy her daughter once again, but Charlotte is resolved to remain independent. The memory of Jerry's love and devotion helps give her the strength she needs to remain resolute.
Charlotte becomes engaged to wealthy, well-connected widower Elliot Livingston, but after a chance meeting with Jerry, she breaks off the engagement, about which she quarrels with her mother. During the argument, Charlotte says she did not ask to be born, that her mother never wanted her, and it has "been a calamity on both sides". Mrs. Vale has a heart attack and dies. Guilty and distraught, Charlotte returns to the sanitarium.
When she arrives at the sanitarium, she is immediately diverted from her own problems when she meets Jerry's 12-year-old daughter Tina, who has been sent to Dr. Jaquith by her father based on Charlotte's recommendation. Tina greatly reminds Charlotte of herself; both were unwanted and unloved by their mothers. Shaken from her depression, Charlotte becomes interested in Tina's welfare, and with Dr. Jaquith's permission, she takes her under her wing. When the girl improves, Charlotte takes her home to Boston.
Jerry and Dr. Jaquith visit the Vale home, where Jerry is delighted to see the change in his daughter. His initial concern for Charlotte, believing her to be sacrificing her freedom, proves wrong. Dr. Jaquith has allowed Charlotte to keep Tina there to understand that her relationship with Jerry will remain platonic. She tells Jerry that she sees Tina as his gift to her and her way of being close to him. When Jerry asks her if she is happy, she replies: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the Moon. We have the stars."
Cast
Bette Davis as Charlotte Vale
Paul Henreid as Jeremiah "Jerry" Duvaux Durrance
Claude Rains as Dr. Jaquith
Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Windle Vale
Bonita Granville as June Vale
John Loder as Elliot Livingston
Ilka Chase as Lisa Vale
Lee Patrick as "Deb" McIntyre
Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Thompson
Katharine Alexander as Miss Trask (as Katherine Alexander) James Rennie as Frank McIntyre Mary Wickes as Nurse Dora Pickford Janis Wilson as Tina Durrance (uncredited)