Winter Meeting (1948)

• Directed by Bretaigne Windust.

This is the first of only 6 films Windust – primarily a director on Broadway, then later of episodic television – directed in his career. Another of the six is JUNE BRIDE – which, like WINTER MEETING, also came out in 1948 & also starred Bette Davis.

• Screenplay by Catherine Turney, from a novel by Ethel Vance (aka: Grace Zaring Stone – who was responsible for the novels on which two – and only two – other films have been based: THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1932) & ESCAPE (1940)…both of which, somewhat miraculously, have been covered on this blog.)

• Our first starring Davis, Jim, plays Lieutenant Slick Novak – a war hero who, an introductory news item tells us, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his fatally valiant war heroism…only to later be discovered alive. (Huzzah!) To begin our film, he is visiting New York City on some sort of…goodwill charity press tour? (Whatever, that part doesn’t really matter.)

• Our second starring Davis, Bette, plays the decently successful poetess Susan Grieve – who I suppose we can let provide her own character description:

“Oh, I dare say you have me properly pigeonholed,” she jests with drop-in visitor-pal Stacy Grant (John Hoyt). “Well-to-do, Yankee spinster…no emotions worth mentioning. I really should have a cat.”

(Both Stacy & Susan agree that the painted cat on her wall only partially counts, in this regard.)

• Stacy, earlier in the day, happened across Lieutenant Novak at a mutual acquaintance’s party – and in an impromptu style that we get the impression is classic Stacy – he’s invited Lt. Novak out on a double date tomorrow evening – hoping to pair him up with Stacy’s beautiful, flirty assistant Peggy (Janis Paige), while Susan serves as Stacy’s “extra girl” companion for the evening.

• Ha! Well, instead of taking a shine to flirt-eyed, ‘Will you sign my autograph book?’ Peggy, the Hero Lieutenant – in a move that stuns the incredulous masses – takes an interest in “Extra Girl” Susan.

Oops?

(The sequence that finds the Lieutenant exiting the group’s taxi outside Spinster Susan’s apartment – doing so wordlessly & without any acknowledgment to either of the two other parties still seated in the back – to accompany Susan not just to her door…but also all the way up & inside to a chair in her living room (without a word to her, either) is stellar.)

• Susan’s quiet, somewhat-unsure-of-herself demeanor (not when she’s, like…interacting with the world, I mean – but definitely while in the presence of an eligible hunk of man like Hero Lieutenant Novak) is very Charlotte Vale-ish…that is, in the period post-Dr. Jaquith, before she’s become romance-involved with Jerry. (If you’ve seen NOW, VOYAGER (1942), this comparison/description will make perfect sense – Susan, like Charlotte, is supremely closed-off, defensive, & disbelieving of her own romantic worth).

Lieutenant Novak, on the other hand, is no Jerry – though I like the Davises’ pairing; Novak is looser, untethered, & more abrupt…& purposely uncareful in the way he acts toward Susan.

And hey, you know what?

It works.

• Physically speaking, the contrast between the Davises is very compelling, in an odd sort of way. J. Davis is this solidly powerful, towering figure – while B. Davis’s figure fits the personality of her character: small, quiet, constrained. Again, this works.

• Ugh. Lame Toast Alert! Susan & Novak (that’s what she’s calling him, by the way – just “Novak”) take a spontaneous, snowy drive to the country house her family owns (/left her? I think they might all be dead) – and soon after arriving, they drink a toast with the cider Mr. Castle (the house’s caretaker, played by Walter Baldwin) has given them. And I mean – all of this is fine & dandy, whatever – but their toast? Their toast is:

“To us.”

?!? That’s it?!

Bleh. Lamesville.

(Also, yes – Tom & George totally would have rejected that suggestion in roughly one second flat for being “bad taste.”)

To us. Ugh. I can’t believe it.

• What…the shit.

A late-night, nervous, ‘I have a secret to tell you’ announcement from Novak:

“All my life, I’ve wanted and planned to become a priest”  – – backed by the most tensely dramatic string-orchestra music imaginable (yo, what’s up Max Steiner)???

…To which Susan reacts with a pure rage-fire, complete with the ripping (by hand!) of her nightgown & a disappointedly frustrated banging of her fist on a nearby set of shelves?

What the fuck is this movie!

A…priest?

(Is this…greatly offensive…?)

Oh, sorry, I mean – OH GOD, NOOOOOOOOO! Burn the Connecticut ice town to the goddamn ground, everyone’s lives are CURSEDLY & IRREVOCABLY ruined now!!!!!!!

…?

• (I just don’t fucking get it. So the dude wants to become a priest & can’t sleep with Spinster Susan! So the fuck what! She met him 36 hours ago & already has a great, established life as a well-to-do, quaint-ass spinster! GalPal & Music Man Max need to chill; this is dumb, small news that is being treated like he has 6 secret families & runs a meth farm.)

• Okay. Okay. No one panic (Susan the Ragist, you may have overreacted a little) – turns out, Priesty Novak has given up on this particular dream path of his – – as he has recently discovered that the shipload of Navy brethren he sacrificed himself to save during the war actually wound up being no-survivor exploded a short time after he floated away on his hero raft into (attempted) oblivion – – and he believes this news was (at least in part) God punishing him for being too prideful (fact check: he was not prideful at all), in the aftermath of his heroism.

Bette Davis is like, ‘Well, that‘s bullshit. I’m not religious – but even I know that God’s not that much of a jackass. Stop being a dope, Manly Priestkins!’

• Tsk, tsk. After this late night journey to Confessionton, Lieutenant Priesty makes his exit from snow country Early Morning Scoundrel styles, without a word to poor Susan. (Bette Davis plays Susan’s reactionary sadness exquisitely.)

• I really like the relationship that exists between Stacy & Susan. When Susan gets back to the city & they meet up for drinks?

“Really, I’m dazzled,” Stacy comments to Susan, regarding her sassily glamorous dinner attire (a black dress, stylishly asymmetrical black hat, & diamond, collar-style necklace). “I can’t quite believe that this is all for me – I’m awfully afraid it isn’t – anyway, I love it. We must have a wonderful chat.”

Their dynamic reminds me quite a bit of the Julia Roberts/Rupert Everett pal-ship in MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING (1997); there’s a quick, sharp, fearless honesty between them that is a treat to absorb.

The way Stacy anger-facedly downs his cocktail & yells “Waiter!” to have another one immediately brought to him, in protest of the news that the Priest Lieutenant abandoned his BFF in Snowsville? Ha! Glorious. I absolutely adore it.

• (Slightly off-kilter) Bit o’ Wisdom, courtesy Stacy:

“People make much too much fuss about love. So many things are more interesting! Society? Gardening? A good murder mystery? Even snails in garlic butter!”

• Plus?! Then King Stacy lays down the fucking iceflames on Lieutenant Priesty’s head when he (& Peggy!!! WTF, bro?!) saunter into the same restaurant as Susan & Stacy.

My God. Get you a friend like that!

• I hate to say it, because the man was The Ultimate Film Score Champion – but Max Steiner’s music is a bit over-the-top in this – most noticeably in the ‘Priest Secret’ fireside scene…and then again in the “I know I had to come back” scene, in which Lieutenant Priesty comes to Susan’s place & Susan tearfully chews him out for leaving her as he did. The latter is for sure meant to be a high-emotion scene – but I wish we were allowed to get there on our own, based on the performances & the screenplay, instead of having such an aggressively toned ‘FEEL SOMETHING’ cue/instruction forced down our eardrums.

Like…in what world is Bette Davis’s acting not going to get us there? And trust me – I understand the potential emotional enrichment music can provide, when right – but this? Here? It drowns out & overwhelms the performances almost completely.

• Susan, on the several happy days she & Novak spent together:

“I’ve been very harshly trained not to expect much. I see now that I was too happy.”

Woof.

• There’s this whole bit at the end about forgiveness (Lieutenant Priesty semi-directly alters Susan’s perspective of hatred toward her habitually unfaithful, runaway mother)(who Susan has, for many years, held responsible for the emotional deterioration & eventual death of her beloved, suicidist father)(sorry, long story from earlier that I left out) & about Novak needing to believe in his power to help other people…even when he has no belief in himself that is really quite lovely – and the movie ends with Susan calling Momma McGuire, while she watches Lieutentant Priesty walk away down the snowy street below, headed for (we assume) the fulfillment of his dreams in Holy Town and/or Godsville.

• This is a weird, quiet little film…and I didn’t hate it. I have a huge appreciation for the unique, complex characters & character relationships it’s able to build – and I really like how the narrative follows a roadmap that is entirely its own. It was a bit too sobby in parts (I mean, look – I’m in total support of a good MovieWorld cry – it just has to be warranted & not every 5 minutes because the characters don’t have access to a good therapist, you know?) for me to unabashedly sing the film’s praises & say I loved it – however, I definitely respect it & the filmmakers who created it.