I say her dad....at least with Morris you could always question his motives. her dad was pure evil.
"the best that you can do is fall in love"
Cad? Who uses that word nowadays?
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HRH Darth Madonna of Minas Tirith, servant of Eywah
Well, Ralph Richardson who played Austin, improvised a lot to out shine Olivia de Havilland. Maybe he took his character a bit too far. I don't know how he was in the novel and play, but Morris character was toned down, made less cruel, to fit more Montgomery Clift. Nevertheless, I liked Richardson's acting a lot.
shareBoth are terrible. Morris knew how to manipulate Catherine and what she wanted to hear. He was just using her for money and would have given her misery if they married.
The doctor is worse simply because if he would have raised her different Morris could have been avoided. Its no wonder why she fell in him arms so easily. Her dad withheld affection and would always cut her down even when giving a complement. To compare her to his wife (I'm sure wasn't as perfect as he made her sound. No one is that perfect) destroyed her self esteem. To expect her to live up to unrealistic perfection isn't going to make her confident, especially considering he was socially ignorant himself. He has no value in his daughter and then he wonders why she holds herself so cheaply. You cant always tear down someone their whole life and then expect them to fell good about themselves. It was so easy for Morris to manipulate her because she wanted to be appreciated and loved for herself rater than some unrealistic ideal of what another person wanted. I'm sure he realized this especially after meeting the DR. The way he made her fell was new felling she had so desperately wanted from her dad, but never got so its no wonder she was willing to believe his lies. If Dr Sloper would have built up her strength rather then tearing her down at ever turn Catherine would have flourished so much better, and would not have fallen pray to a gold digger like Morris so easily.
Morris is a cad.
Dr. Sloper is an abusive, manipulative narcissist.
Had Dr. Sloper raised Catherine with genuine warmth and guidance, instead of sly, constant humiliation (mixed with the hope that one day he will actually say something approving and mean it, rather than building her up briefly just to knock her down), she might have been a confident young woman who saw right through Morris.
Ralph Richardson is amazing in this film -- he captures the totally egotistic personality type perfectly.