The Heiress Script Pdf

The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz Based on the novel Washington Square by Henry James. Compared to her mother, the heiress Catherine Sloper seems dull and lifeless, or at least that's what her father believes. With her lack of confidence Catherine becomes easy prey for fortune hunter Morris Townsend who deserts her on finding out she h. DIVIDING THE ESTATE i 53 show me her grave. Well, he died before he could, and so I want to go out there now to the colored cemetery and find her grave.

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Synopsis: In Frank Capra's acclaimed romantic comedy, spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) impetuously marries the scheming King Westley, leading her tycoon father (Walter Connolly) to spirit her away on his yacht. After jumping ship, Ellie falls in with cynical newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who offers to help her. September 11, 1950. CBS net origination, AFRS rebroadcast. A love story about a plain but very wealthy girl and the only man that ever loved her. A moving portrait of loneliness. AFRS program name: 'The Broadway ' The story was produced on The Lux Video Theatre on September 23, 1954. File: Lux Radio Theater 50-09-11 (711) The.

Director:William Wyler

Written by:Henry James (Novel), Augustus Goetz (Theatre Play), Ruth Goetz (Screenplay), Augustus Goetz (Screenplay)

Script Synopsis:Dull and plain Catherine lives with her emotionally distant father, Dr. Sloper, in 1840s New York. Her days are empty -- filled with little more than needlepoint. Enter handsome Morris Townsend, a dashing social climber with his eye on the spinster's heart and substantial inheritance.

The Heiress Script Resources:

The Heiress Script PDF - [Continuity] at Script Fly ($)
The Heiress Script PDF - CONTINUITY 10/24/49 at Script City ($)
The Heiress Transcript at scripts.com

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The Heiress
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	William Wyler
Screenplay by	Ruth and Augustus Goetz
Based on	The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz
Starring
Music by	Aaron Copland
Cinematography	Leo Tover
Edited by	William Hornbeck
Color process	Black and white
Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
December 28, 1949
115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.6 million
Box office	$2.3 million (US rentals)^[1]

Plot[edit]

In 1850s New York City, Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) is a plain, painfully shy woman whose exacting and emotionally detached father, physician Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), makes no secret of his disappointment in her. He is terribly bitter about losing his charming and beautiful wife, whom he feels fate replaced with a simple and unalluring daughter. However, Catherine is devoted to her father and too innocent to fully comprehend his mistreatment or its reasons. Catherine enjoys quiet pursuits, such as caring for her father and embroidery, and seldom ventures out socially.

Catherine's gregarious Aunt Lavinia Penniman (Miriam Hopkins) moves into the household after becoming widowed and attempts to prod Catherine into being more social and find a husband. When she meets the handsome Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift) at a ball, Catherine is taken by the attention he lavishes upon her, attention she's never received before and desperately wanted, and flourishes under his affections. Catherine falls madly in love with Morris, and they plan to marry.

Catherine is of age, receiving $10,000 a year from her mother's estate, and is expected to receive an additional $20,000 per year on top of this after her father's passing. Dr. Sloper believes Morris, being far more attractive and charming than Catherine, but poor and with few prospects after he wasted his own inheritance, is an idler courting Catherine only to get her sizable income. Aunt Lavinia favors the match regardless, being both romantic and pragmatic enough to view this as Catherine's chance at a happy married life since Morris seems somewhat genuinely fond of Catherine's honesty and kindness, despite his largely monetary motivations.

A frank discussion with Morris's sister confirms Dr. Sloper's opinion of Morris as a gold digger. The doctor tells the young couple he believes Morris is attempting to dupe plain and gullible Catherine. The doctor takes his daughter to Europe for an extended time to separate them. Still, she cannot forget her betrothed, especially since he frequents the house to visit Aunt Lavinia in their absence, who enables the two to keep in contact. When they return to New York, Dr. Sloper threatens to disinherit his daughter if she marries Morris, and they have a bitter argument in which the doctor makes his disdain and distaste for her abundantly clear. She realizes how poorly he views her.

Catherine and Morris make plans to elope with the help of Aunt Lavinia. Still, Catherine tells Morris about her desire to disinherit herself from her father and never see him again, likely guaranteeing that she will not inherit $20,000 a year from him. Catherine is impatient to cut off all contact with her father and desperate to prove him and Aunt Lavinia incorrect: someone does love her, and not her money, and she has not been stupid to think so.

According to their plan, Catherine eagerly packs her bags and waits for Morris to come and take her away to happiness. She waits all night. He never comes. She drags her luggage back upstairs and puts her belongings away.

Catherine is heartbroken and grows colder, now painfully aware of her father's opinions of her, but trapped caring for him nonetheless. Soon afterward, Dr. Sloper reveals he is dying. To cause him distress, she vengefully tells her father she still loves Morris and dares him to change his will if he is afraid they will waste his money after he dies. He does not alter the will and dies, fretful, leaving her his entire estate. Catherine refuses to see him on his death bed.

Years later, Morris returns from California, poorer, having made nothing of himself, and fewer prospects for his efforts. Aunt Lavinia arranges for Morris to visit Catherine. He finds Catherine wealthy and unmarried and is more attracted to her (and possibly her fortune) than before. He claims that he left her behind because he could not bear to see her destitute and is quick to re-proclaim his love for her and his desire for her affections. Aunt Lavinia is thrilled for her niece, thinking this is Catherine's great chance. Catherine ignites Morris's hopes when she requests that Morris recreate their previous plan to elope. She gives Morris a gift of ruby buttons that she had bought for him in Paris. Morris eagerly promises to come back for her that night, and she tells him she will start packing her bags.

After Morris leaves, Catherine informs her aunt that she does not believe his renewed protestations of love and that she has no intention of offering her love to him. Her aunt asks her if she can be so cruel, and Catherine coldly responds, 'Yes, I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters.' When Morris arrives later that night with the promised carriage and rings the bell, Catherine calmly orders the maid to bolt the door, leaving Morris locked outside, shouting her name and repeatedly banging on the locked door. The film fades out with Catherine silently ascending the stairs while Morris' despairing cries echo unanswered in the darkness.

Cast[edit]

Olivia de Havilland as Catherine Sloper
Montgomery Clift as Morris Townsend
Ralph Richardson as Dr. Austin Sloper
Miriam Hopkins as Lavinia Penniman
Vanessa Brown as Maria (pronounced Mariah)
Betty Linley as Mrs. Montgomery
Ray Collins as Jefferson Almond
Mona Freeman as Marian Almond
Selena Royle as Elizabeth Almond
Paul Lees as Arthur Townsend
Harry Antrim as Mr. Abeel
Russ Conway as Quintus
David Thursby as Geier

Production[edit]

After seeing The Heiress on Broadway, Olivia de Havilland approached William Wyler about directing her in a screen adaptation of the play. He agreed and encouraged Paramount Pictures executives to purchase the rights from the playwrights (Ruth and Augustus Goetz) for $250,000 and offer them $10,000 per week to write the screenplay. The couple were asked to make Morris less of a villain than he was in their play and the original novel in deference to the studio's desire to capitalize on Montgomery Clift's reputation as a romantic leading man.^[6]

The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Ralph Richardson would later reprise the role of Austin Sloper in a London production of the play.

Reception[edit]

The Heiress received universal critical acclaim and won four Academy Awards.

Bosley Crowther, in his review for The New York Times, wrote that the film 'crackles with allusive life and fire in its tender and agonized telling of an extraordinarily characterful tale' and added, 'Mr. Wyler ... has given this somewhat austere drama an absorbing intimacy and a warming illusion of nearness that it did not have on the stage. He has brought the full-bodied people very closely and vividly to view, while maintaining the clarity and sharpness of their personalities, their emotions and their styles ... The Heiress is one of the handsome, intense and adult dramas of the year.'^[7]

The Brooklyn Eagle found the film 'an intensely satisfying drama that holds a high level of interest throughout, building relentlessly to a moving climax.' Praise for the principals lauded de Havilland especially: 'the transformation of Catherine Sloper from a pathetically shy girl to a cold, handsome woman' being 'handled with finished skill.'^[8]

The Philadelphia Inquirer praised the Goetzes for a skillful transformation of their stage version, finding it 'in almost every way...superior.' Prospects of an Academy Award for de Havilland were judged 'thoroughly reasonable' as well.^[9]

TV Guide rates the film five out of a possible five stars and adds, 'This powerful and compelling drama ... owes its triumph to the deft hand of director William Wyler and a remarkable lead performance by Olivia de Havilland.^[10]

Time Out London calls the film 'typically plush, painstaking and cold.... highly professional and heartless.'^[11]

Channel 4 says of the performances, 'de Havilland's portrayal ... is spine-chilling ... Clift brings a subtle ambiguity to one of his least interesting roles, and Richardson is also excellent.'^[12]

In popular culture[edit]

In 1975, the twenty-first episode of the eighth season of The Carol Burnett Show featured a take-off of the film called 'The Lady Heir', with Carol Burnett as Catherine and Roddy McDowell as Morris.^[13]

In 1992, the film has made its Philippine adaptation titled Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal. The adaptation was written by Raquel Villavicencio, produced by Armida Siguion-Reyna, and directed by Carlos Siguion-Reyna. The film stars Maricel Soriano and Richard Gomez as Adela and David.

Awards and nominations[edit]

Awards^[14]