All This, and Heaven Too

For the album by Andrew Gold, see All This and Heaven Too (album).
All This, and Heaven Too

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Anatole Litvak
Produced by David Lewis
Anatole Litvak
Screenplay by Casey Robinson
Based on All This, and Heaven Too (1938 novel) 
by Rachel Field
Starring Bette Davis
Charles Boyer
Barbara O'Neil
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography Ernie Haller
Edited by Warren Low
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • July 4, 1940 (1940-07-04)
Running time
 141 minutes
Country United States
Language English

All This, and Heaven Too is a 1940 American drama film made by Warner Bros.-First National Pictures, produced and directed by Anatole Litvak with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was adapted by Casey Robinson from the novel by Rachel Field. The music was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Ernie Haller. The film stars Bette Davis and Charles Boyer with Barbara O'Neil, Jeffrey Lynn, Virginia Weidler, Helen Westley, Walter Hampden, Henry Daniell, Harry Davenport, George Coulouris, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher and June Lockhart.

Rachel Field's novel is based on the true story of Field's great-aunt, Henriette Deluzy Desportes, a French governess who fell in love with the Duc de Praslin, her employer. When Praslin's wife, the Duchesse, was murdered, Henriette was implicated. It was a real-life scandal that brought down France's King Louis-Philippe in 1847.[1][2]

Plot

Screenshot of Charles Boyer and Bette Davis from the film's original trailer

Mademoiselle Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (Bette Davis), a French woman, starts teaching at an American girls school. She is confronted by the tales and gossip about her that circulate among her pupils and, thus provoked, she decides to tell them her life story.

Deluzy-Desportes is governess to the four children of the Duc de Praslin (Charles Boyer) and the Duchesse de Praslin (Barbara O'Neil) in Paris during the last years of the Orleans monarchy. As a result of the Duchesse's constantly erratic and temperamental behavior, all that remains is an unhappy marriage, but the Duc remains with his wife for sake of their children.

Her warmth and kindness wins her the love and affection of the children and their father, but also the jealousy and hatred of their mother. She is forced to leave and the Duchess refuses to give her a letter of recommendation to future employers. The Duc confronts his wife and she invents alternate letters taking opposite attitudes, which in fact she has not written and does not intend to write. Her account enrages him and, at the breaking point, he kills her.

The Duc de Praslin is in a privileged position; as a peer his case can only be heard by other nobles. He refuses to confess his guilt or openly to admit his love for Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, to protect her from any suspicion of complicity in the murder. Ultimately the Duc takes poison to prevent himself confessing the truth to the authorities; however, he lives long enough to reveal it to another of his servants, Pierre (Harry Davenport), a kindly old man who had warned the governess to leave the de Praslin household. She is released by the authorities.

Deluzy-Desportes had been recommended for the teaching position "in the land of the free" by an American minister, Rev. Henry Field (Jeffrey Lynn), to whom she had expressed a loss of faith while in prison. He proposes marriage; she accepts.

Cast

Reception

The film was positively reviewed by critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that film-goers willing to sit through the long running time "will find the film a source of much emotional satisfaction; others of less Spartan stamp will certainly protest that it wears out their patience in the telling of a comparatively uncomplicated tale. For the Warners are here handing out a tear-laden old-fashioned drama—and a very heavy one, too."[3]

Variety called it "film theatre at its best ... Casey Robinson in the scripting captured the quaintness of the manners and customs of Paris, in 1848, and succeeded admirably in retaining both spirit and characters of the novel, despite the necessity for much deletion of material."[4] Film Daily's headline announced: "Dramatically powerful, beautifully mounted and superbly cast; film should be one of year's strongest box-office attractions."[5] Harrison's Reports wrote: "A powerful drama, with a strong appeal for women. The production is lavish, and the direction and performances are of the highest order."[6] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that Litvak had swung the viewer into the historical setting "with all the romantic, profuse gusto at his command. I think a few of the scenes of governess and children might have been elided, for, with the sinister doings in the background, we can't forever sustain a nursery mood. In general, though, the long picture seems short, which, of course, is something very much in its favor."[7]

All This, and Heaven Too placed fifth on Film Daily's year-end nationwide poll of 546 critics naming the best films of 1940.[8]

Awards and nominations

A successful but expensive costume drama,[9] it was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture; O'Neil was nominated for Best Supporting Actress; and Ernest Haller for Best Cinematography.

References

  1. ↑ "All This, and Heaven Too (1940) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Henriette Desportes Field (1813-1875)". findagrave.com. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  3. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (July 5, 1940). "Movie Review - All This, and Heaven Too". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ "All This, and Heaven Too". Variety (New York: Variety, Inc.). June 12, 1940. p. 14.
  5. ↑ "Reviews of the New Films". Film Daily (New York: Wid's Films and Folk Folk, Inc.): 13. June 17, 1940.
  6. ↑ ""All This, and Heaven Too with Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn and Barbara O'Neil". Harrison's Reports: 98. June 22, 1940.
  7. ↑ "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker (New York: F-R Publishing Corp.). July 6, 1940. p. 46.
  8. ↑ "'Rebecca' wins Critics' Poll". Film Daily (New York: Wid's Films and Folk Folk, Inc.): 1. January 14, 1941.
  9. ↑ Glancy, H. Mark. "Warner Bros film grosses, 1921-51", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (March 1995); accessed December 16, 2015.

External links

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