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Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Bonita Granville, Gladys Cooper ... see more see more... , Ilka Chase , John Loder , Lee Patrick , Franklin Pangborn , Charles Drake , Mary Wickes , James Rennie , David Clyde , Frank Puglia , Katherine Alexander , Tod Andrews , Yola d'Avril , Frank Dae , Donald Douglas , Claire Du Brey , Elspeth Dudgeon , Reed Hadley , Bill Kennedy , George Lessey , Lester Matthews , Tempe Piggott , Hilda Plowright , Constance Purdy , Georges Renavent , Dorothy Vaughan , Charlotte Wynters , Isabel Withers , Ian Wolfe , Mary Field , Corbet Morris , Bill Edwards , Janis Wilson , Katharine Alexander

Olive Higgins Prouty's popular novel was transformed into nearly two hours of high-grade soap opera by several masters of the trade: Warner Bros., Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, director Irving Rapper, an... read more read more...d screenwriter Casey Robinson. Davis plays repressed Charlotte Vale, dying on the vine thanks to her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper). All-knowing psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) urges Charlotte to make several radical changes in her life, quoting Walt Whitman: "Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Slowly, Charlotte emerges from her cocoon of tight hairdos and severe clothing to blossom into a gorgeous fashion plate. While on a long ocean voyage, she falls in love with Jerry Durrance (Henreid), who is trapped in a loveless marriage. After kicking over the last of her traces at home, Charlotte selflessly becomes a surrogate mother to Jerry's emotionally disturbed daughter (a curiously uncredited Janis Wilson), who is on the verge of becoming the hysterical wallflower that Charlotte once was. An interim romance with another man (John Loder) fails to drive Jerry from Charlotte's mind. The film ends ambiguously; Jerry is still married, without much chance of being divorced from his troublesome wife, but the newly self-confident Charlotte is willing to wait forever if need be. "Don't ask for the moon," murmurs Charlotte as Max Steiner's romantic music reaches a crescendo, "we have the stars." In addition to this famous line, Now, Voyager also features the legendary "two cigarettes" bit, in which Jerry places two symbolic cigarettes between his lips, lights them both, and hands one to Charlotte. The routine would be endlessly lampooned in subsequent films, once by Henreid himself in the satirical sword-and-sandal epic Siren of Baghdad (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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89% liked it

6,958 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

21 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Irving Rapper

Release Date: October 22, 1942

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DVD Release Date: November 13, 2001

Stats: 564 reviews

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Bette Davis & Gladys Cooper in Now, Voyager Now, Voyager Bette Davis and Paul Henreid Bette Davis in Now, Voyager Janis Wilson and Bette Davis bette davis Bette Davis in Now, Voyager Now, Voyager The quintessential 'nic-flic' The ugly duckling becomes a swan Gladys Cooper in Now, Voyager Gladys Cooper in Now, Voyager
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Flixster Reviews (564)

  • moonrivers
    September 16, 2011
    moonrivers
    Max Steiner's haunting score swells like a tidal current throughout this, the grand mal weeper to end all weepers. A young woman struggles valiantly against the overprotective will of her indomitable rock of a mother, herself made hard by life, to forge a life and love free of r... read moreestraint. Paul Henried is understanding, charming and loyal, Claude Rains is wise, insightful and patient, but Bette, scratching and clawing her way from ugly duckling to grace, gives the shimmering performance of a lifetime
  • ajv2688
    October 11, 2010
    ajv2688
    An interesting story for a drama, but I'm not very fond of this movie for some reason, I don't know why I don't like it, it's not a bad movie, it's actually pretty good. Maybe if there was a different cast?
  • groaningbitch
    April 10, 2010
    groaningbitch
    the GAYNESS in now, voyager...

    Chuck Kleinhans in "Rehearsal for a Theory of Subtextual Readings" notes on Now Yoyager:

    "Consider Now Voyager. The plot portrays the gradual emergence of repressed mousy spinster (Bette Davis) into a sexually active matture woman under the t... read moreutelage of a wise older man (Claude Rains). This emergent butterfly metaphor. while certainly being a universally understood pattern within our culture, has a special resonance for amany gay men who themselves have experienced or who are experiencing the conditions of discovering and exploring one's sexuality which has been repressed within the family and other insitutions. In other words, identification with the character and situation is very strong. This is visually enhanced because of the changes in the Davis character are signalled in changing dress, hair, style, and physical bearing - precisely those areas which gay men often publically present their resistance to dominant heterosexual norm."

    Andrew Ross' "use of camp" notes:

    "it was Davis' willed evasion of this fate that her fans saw reflected in the nervous and impetuous intensity with which she invests the celebrated "bitchiness" into her roles . . . While the wide range of her mannered repertoire is often reduced in camp caricature to the famously over-used cigarette, or her wildly rolling eyes, it is clear that the sense of irony she conveyed through such gestures was more of a performance about the performance of her roles, rather than one which comfortably interpreted these roles. In contrast to Joan Crawford's earnest control over her roles, Davis could separate voice and body, image and discourse, and play off one against the other. But Mae West is the star who most professionally exploits the ironies of artifice when, like a female drag queen, she represents a woman who parodies a burlesque woman, and then seems to take on the role for real, as a way of successfully fielding every kind of masculine response known to woman. West pioneered a new bold, no-nonsense, no-romance relation with sex, while the sexual ambiguities of Garbo, Dietrichm and Hepburn all produced variations of androgyny-as-spectacle: prince of passivity, bird of paradise, and go-getter."

    good to read some prestiged author announces bette is actually CAMPIER than joan...LOL. since joan is just "earnestly controlling" her roles. imagine now, voyager as a drag, gee, that would be fun!
  • flixsterman
    March 21, 2010
    flixsterman
    "Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find" -Walt Whitman

    Bette Davis is Charlotte Vale, a victim of verbal abuse from her tyrannical, over-bearing bitch of a mother. Thirty-something Charlotte still lives at home, convinced that she's an ugly duckling with no hope of a ... read moresocial life. Ah, but that's where the kind-hearted psychiatrist, Claude Rains, steps in. With the help of some relatives, he sends her on a cruise, a literal voyage of self-discovery. She returns as a beautiful, outgoing socialite on a collision course with the parent who so nearly ruined her life.

    Yes, its a little sappy, but its one of the best examples of the golden age of cinema and showcases Miss Davis unlike any other film before or since. A real Hollywood treasure.
  • bottcorecords1
    March 6, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    In High Society, Bette Davis undergoes crazy physical changes to make herself into the brokendown spinster daughter of a domineering woman. When Charlotte Vale (Davis) strikes out on her own to "find herself" and her own identity, it's a painful and sympathetic process. With th... read moree help of her doctor (Claude Rains) and the handsome man she meets on a cruise (Paul Henreid), she begins to experience an awakening personality. It's one of the best performances by Davis I've seen, and the material (falling in love with a married man) is risque (for it's time) yet mature. It may not be a happy ending in the traditional movie sense of the word, but for a woman who had nothing in her life, it's a beautifully romantic expression.
  • jennifxu
    June 15, 2008
    jennifxu
    It's SO melodrama - but I rather like being this shamelessly manipulated. Bette Davis's storytelling doe eyes alongside Victor Lazslo make for romantic tragedy to the max. Nothing made me happier than watching Davis step onto that ship with two-toned pumps and wide hat askew...th... read moreis is the ultimate ugly duckling transformation, and I could watch it again and again.

    Kind of makes me want to start smoking too.
  • harrycaul
    February 17, 2008
    harrycaul
    A terrific melodrama, the potentially trashy pitfalls of which are neatly sidestepped by way of classy production values and sensitive performances, not least from Bette Davis at her very best. She plays a highly-strung, ugly-duckling spinster who, cured of her neuroses by a psyc... read morehiatrist and newly preened, falls for a man trapped in a loveless marriage. Davis is ably supported by Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Gladys Cooper, as her psychiatrist, her lover and her formidable mother, respectively. A reminder of a more innocent time, when the lighting of two cigarettes could be an intimate, romantic, almost sexual gesture, rather than just a catalyst for litigation and lynch-mobs.
  • binky013
    February 4, 2008
    binky013
    I cannot imagine how it is that I've never seen this. A masterful performance of the phoenix-like Charlotte Vale character by the beautiful and very canny Bette Davis. I can see why she fought to get this plum part. Davis so inhabits this role that it is hard to tell where she... read more ends and Charlotte begins. Her wholehearted identification with her character is almost scary, especially since having to deal with mental illness is such a large part of Charlotte's life.

    I've never been a great fan of Paul Henreid, but his chemistry with Davis in the playing out of this seemingly impossible love match is intelligent and very true-to-life. A hearteningly literate and believable script no doubt helps this along.

    Gladys Cooper is most extraordinary as Davis' domineering mother. She is Oscar nomination worthy to be sure.
  • jjnxn
    March 27, 2007
    jjnxn
    ultra romantic
  • smith44
    June 5, 2006
    smith44
    "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.". Great Classic The strenght of the film lies both in the great love story and in the troubled childhood relationship with her mother and similar child.

View All Now, Voyager Reviews

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy
March 5, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

A superlative, juicy mother-daughter melodrama with top notch performance from Bette Davis, at the top of her form, and the rest of the cast. Full Review

Nell Minow
December 26, 2010
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

Lots of appeal for highly romantic teens. Full Review

Walter Chaw
June 28, 2010
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

If you can resist Bette Davis in fat suit, hideous dress, and monobrow, you're not as gay as you think you are. I guess I kind of liked it. Full Review

David Cornelius
March 27, 2010
David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com

It's all far more complicated than it needs to be, but then again, what would you cut? Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
October 18, 2008
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Compulsively watchable four-hankie weepie. Full Review

Steve Crum
June 29, 2005
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Classic to the max, and with Davis, Henried, and those two cigarettes.

Jeremiah Kipp
June 21, 2005
Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine

Now, Voyager remains a highly narcotic, swoon-inducing romance in the Bette Davis canon. Full Review

John J. Puccio
June 10, 2005
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

...romantic and romanticized, sudsy and sentimental...a throwback to an earlier age in Hollywood when movies didn't have to be loud or vulgar to sell a point. Full Review

Nick Davis
August 16, 2003
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

Consummate Warner Bros. melodrama, with Bette excellent as misfit and even better as reborn glamour-puss.

Ken Hanke
August 14, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Classic Davis soaper with Henreid doing the double cigarette bit.

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    • Charlotte Vale: Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.
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  • Which actress appeared in these 4 films? The Letter. Little Foxes. All this and Heaven Too. Now Voyager  Answer »
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