"The Heiress" (1949)

While the genius of a film like The Heiress (1949) could send me raving for hours (and with such an undeniable classic, where to even begin heaping praise?!), part of the reason I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen was because I so thoroughly didn't know what to expect. This was certainly an instance where suspense was advantageous.

So, because I want you to have an equally satisfying viewing experience, my lips are sealed. But I beg of you: read nothing more about it. Just please - go see this film.

Then come back and we can mutually rave about it together.

In case you have already seen "The Heiress" and have come back to rave, scroll down for my spoiler-heavy review.

*Spoilers below*

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Once Morris Townsend walked back into the room with a mustache, it was alllll over.

The mustache cued my irrational protests at the TV. It was at this point in the film that we've just spent almost two hours hoping against hope, alongside our heroine, Miss Olivia de Havilland, that Mr. Townsend, played by the fascinating Montgomery Clift, would pull a Mr. Darcy and return gallantly with some unfathomable, iron-clad excuse for his seemingly abhorrent behavior.

Could it be? Could the couple reunite and spend the rest of their days together, wealthy and content?

But then there was the mustache. That's when I knew how this was going to go down. Because there was no way that anyone would put a mustache on Montgomery Clift's handsome face if it wasn't to help us realize that this man was an irredeemable scoundrel.

I am not sure if I've ever hated anyone more than Morris Townsend.

For the entire film, you have an underlying feeling that something isn't right about Mr. Townsend, that Catherine Sloper's father is right to create obstacles for their union. But the romance scenes are filmed so lavishly (which imdb commented was partially done because of the studio's insistence that Clift be used for his capabilities as a romantic leading man) that you have to hope - and start to believe - that he can't possibly be lying.

Wyler has planted many little moments which make you doubt Morris's affections, but he deftly sprinkles them into the film in a way which makes you explain those foreboding moments away. Just as you're rooting for Morris to find a way to see Catherine, you remember how he cornered her by the sliding door into the parlor, blocking her way with his arm just a little too invasively. As Morris talks about his plans to see Catherine after her time away in Europe, he looks at her home a little too possessively.

All of the things which Catherine feels about Mr. Townsend, we feel right alongside her. When she believes in him, we believe. But when she seeks vengeance, you just have to watch, wide-eyed, and see how she will get it.

These moments make the film just as much mystery and a drama as it is a romance. The first half of The Heiress is Pride & Prejudice and the second half is Wuthering Heights. I love that I didn't have a clue how this was going to end. Something dark lurks beneath all the lavish romance, which only makes this film more disturbing and memorable. What might we believe if we were told by a pretty face?