MovieChat Forums > Old Acquaintance (1943) Discussion > I think Miriam Hopkins steals the show, ...

I think Miriam Hopkins steals the show, here...


I think Bette Davis is a fantastic actress, and she gives a very secure performance here. The fact is, though, her character isn't all that interesting. And Davis is creamy, poised, smooth, intelligent, etc., as Kit, but she doesn't do anything here she doesn't do in other movies. Plus, it's kind of hard to feel bad for her character at all, when she's been pushing guys she loves away from her for the entire story.

Hopkins, however, is a hoot! What a f-ing infuriating firecracker! I don't mean to imply she's a BETTER actress than Davis...but in this movie she's a lot more fun to watch!

It's interesting that the two seem to be in different movies - Davis is playing a sincere drama while Hopkins is playing for comedy. But at the same time, they're completely believable as friends. (It also says something that Davis was actually a fan of Hopkins' work, despite their personality clash.)

Maybe part of the problem is, for me, it's hard to appreciate these movies as they were intended for their original audiences. But to modern eyes, for these 2 hours, anyway, I think Hopkins is a LOT more fun to watch.

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EDIT: Oh! I just listened to Vincent Sherman's audio commentary and he feels the same way!

VINCENT SHERMAN: "[Hopkins] knew exactly what she was doing. And there's no question now that you look at the picture, Miriam really steals the picture in so far as performance is concerned. Bette gives an honest performance and is very dignified about it and gives a very good performance of a very difficult and not a colorful role. But Miriam, colorful...Miriam's role was very colorful and she took advantage of it. In fact, an old friend of mine, Kazan, was out at the studio one day and Blankey" [?] "wanted to show him some rushes of what I was doing with the girls, and he said to me afterwards, he said 'How did you get Miriam to do all those things? My god, she's wonderful!' But, you know, she must have known that I...I said, 'I just told her what to do and she did it.' Well, she knew that I was staging it for her, to become the temperamental, completely different character. I had been watching them, you know, as they walked around in the scene and I said, 'Well, move where you feel like moving, and we'll go on from there.' And I didn't want to impose moves unless they came from something inside, what the actors were playing. Well, that was a mistake, because Miriam immediately, you know, began inventing reasons why the camera should always be on her and not on Bette! When I said something about it, Miriam said, 'Oh, well I was only trying to cooperate, you see.' She was cooperating, alright!"

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Well said. Bette is fine, but Miriam provides the big draw along with some of the guys in their lives, such as John and Gig.

But on the other hand, "Old Acquaintance" probably marks Bette's most humane film performance, not overly-dramatic, not overly self-serving, not overly scary, not overly overdone. Some say that she behaves her nicest and most polite here than in just about any film since "Three on a Match."

Miriam (whether or not stealing a show can be said of one of its two headlining stars) certainly does hold her own for one of her finest hours. Hopkins' fans likely comment that she's great in everything, which, of course, she does excel at her acting talents.

But here, Miriam certainly does shine far beyond dispute.

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She clearly relished her character, and gave a great performance. I watched for Bette, but I'm now interested in seeing Miriam's work. Both gave great performances, they raised the film because the story itself was so-so, and Bette's character was rather flat, she did a lot to infuse some spark and emotion.

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I loved the spit take:

Millie Drake: "If he's not going to marry you, who is he going to marry?

Kit: "Deirdre."


Hilarious!

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She was hilarious. I love the scene where Bette and Miriam's husband start talking to her like she's an infant, "now Millie be good!" And Millie goes ape sh-at! Loool

And when she calls Kit a "blushing bride of 42" lol

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I tend to disagree with the general view here.

First of all I thought Davis's character was rather difficult to perform, with a fair degree of complexity. while the general concept of Kit choosing not to consummate the love interest between her and Millie's husband is plausible, I think it took a fine performance on her part to make it as convincing as it is. The ups and downs of her friendships with Millie and even Deidre were also difficult challenges, I think. Perhaps most appealing was the ambivalence Kit showed about her career. Davis pulled off all of it and also showed how well she could play charming (something she did somewhat more than she gets credit for, imo - think of the early Petrified Forest, and the often overlooked A Stolen Life. Others include her immensely appealing character in Now, Voyager, and the socialite in Dark Victory certainly grows on the audience).

Second, to my notion the concept of "stealing the picture" should depend more on performance than merely being cast into the more or most flamboyant role. Here it is clearly the role of Millie who has the greater range of emoting. It is to Hopkins's credit that she performs the role quite well, but I think it an overstatement to say she stole the film.

Speaking of parts as written, I can't make up my mind about the role of Preston Drake. I suppose one can accept his changing view of his marriage, particularly the way he drank in order to help make acceptable the period between Millie's achievement of success and his eventual departure. But I am not so sure the character's acceptance of Kit's denials fits with him staying married to Millie. One would think it likely he would at least consider an earlier divorce frorm Millie, with the hope that such a move would help Kit overcome her objections to him.

I also felt Delores Moran was excellent as the older Deidre. She is always great whenever I have seen her, such as the French wife in To Have and Have Not. Her role here was another great performance. I'd like to see more of her films.

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Glad to see this discussion, and I really appreciated your post.

I found overall that Davis was simply more believable as a person in her role, while Hopkins ACTED all over the place. I say "overall" because in the early scenes Davis struck me as almost as mannered as Hopkins, but she seemed to settle into the character as an adult.

Occasionally their styles are so disparate you'd think they were i two different pictures!

But hey - it's still a fun flick.

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I tend to agree with the above post. I think Miriam's acting is dated and histrionic: one of Rock Hudson's favorite films, it's been said.


Even larks and katydids are, supposed by some, to dream

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I agree, monterey59. There are two films in which I thought Miriam Hopkins gave stunning performances: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and These Three (1936). In "Jekyll", I was terrified for her and in "These" my heart broke for her impossible situation. I did not think that she even came close to giving, not only a good performance, but also a believable performance in OA. Her shrieking and scenery chewing made me turn down the volume several times as her voice became more and more grating.

I'm not saying that she is not a good actress, I'm simply saying that she went way overboard. A great director can handle things like this pretty easily, and I think it could have happened in this case. I also think that the extreme contrast between Bette and Miriam's character (Bette was so subdued and restrained) made such a duet of opposite range and style feasible. I don't know.

Bette is asked a very important question in the movie - Why are she and Miriam still friends. Bette gives a vague response dealing with their past friendship complete with illustrative stories.

I still can't figure out why they were still friends! :-D



It's too late... too late. There's no bringing her back.

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I guess it's a bit telling at the end, where Millie tells Kit about the book she's writing, and Kit tells her to call it "Old Acquaintance". I've been friends with my best friend since we were 6, and I would never refer to her as an "acquaintance". I think maybe it was habit rather than real closeness. Kit hung around to give the daughter a positive female role model, and probably fearsome vicarious child rearing.
Here I am attributing motivation to fictional characters. Oh well.

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Won't let me edit-- *for some* not fearsome. Autocorrect.

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Yes, but you see the Davis character evolving throughout the film, which is more interesting to watch. The Hopkins character is basically the same throughout.

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