Featured Audience Ratings

• Universal D

  
  Max Steiner's haunting score swells like a tidal current throughout this, the grand mal weeper to end all weepers. A young woman struggles valiantly against the overprotective will of her indomitable rock of a mother, herself made hard by life, to forge a life and love free of… More
  Max Steiner's haunting score swells like a tidal current throughout this, the grand mal weeper to end all weepers. A young woman struggles valiantly against the overprotective will of her indomitable rock of a mother, herself made hard by life, to forge a life and love free of restraint. Paul Henried is understanding, charming and loyal, Claude Rains is wise, insightful and patient, but Bette, scratching and clawing her way from ugly duckling to grace, gives the shimmering performance of a lifetime

• AJ V

  
  An interesting story for a drama, but I'm not very fond of this movie for some reason, I don't know why I don't like it, it's not a bad movie, it's actually pretty good. Maybe if there was a different cast?

• Veronique K

  
  the GAYNESS in now, voyager... Chuck Kleinhans in "Rehearsal for a Theory of Subtextual Readings" notes on Now Yoyager: "Consider Now Voyager. The plot portrays the gradual emergence of repressed mousy spinster (Bette Davis) into a sexually active matture woman… More
  the GAYNESS in now, voyager... Chuck Kleinhans in "Rehearsal for a Theory of Subtextual Readings" notes on Now Yoyager: "Consider Now Voyager. The plot portrays the gradual emergence of repressed mousy spinster (Bette Davis) into a sexually active matture woman under the tutelage of a wise older man (Claude Rains). This emergent butterfly metaphor. while certainly being a universally understood pattern within our culture, has a special resonance for amany gay men who themselves have experienced or who are experiencing the conditions of discovering and exploring one's sexuality which has been repressed within the family and other insitutions. In other words, identification with the character and situation is very strong. This is visually enhanced because of the changes in the Davis character are signalled in changing dress, hair, style, and physical bearing - precisely those areas which gay men often publically present their resistance to dominant heterosexual norm." Andrew Ross' "use of camp" notes: "it was Davis' willed evasion of this fate that her fans saw reflected in the nervous and impetuous intensity with which she invests the celebrated "bitchiness" into her roles . . . While the wide range of her mannered repertoire is often reduced in camp caricature to the famously over-used cigarette, or her wildly rolling eyes, it is clear that the sense of irony she conveyed through such gestures was more of a performance about the performance of her roles, rather than one which comfortably interpreted these roles. In contrast to Joan Crawford's earnest control over her roles, Davis could separate voice and body, image and discourse, and play off one against the other. But Mae West is the star who most professionally exploits the ironies of artifice when, like a female drag queen, she represents a woman who parodies a burlesque woman, and then seems to take on the role for real, as a way of successfully fielding every kind of masculine response known to woman. West pioneered a new bold, no-nonsense, no-romance relation with sex, while the sexual ambiguities of Garbo, Dietrichm and Hepburn all produced variations of androgyny-as-spectacle: prince of passivity, bird of paradise, and go-getter." good to read some prestiged author announces bette is actually CAMPIER than joan...LOL. since joan is just "earnestly controlling" her roles. imagine now, voyager as a drag, gee, that would be fun!

• Randy T

  
  "Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find" -Walt Whitman Bette Davis is Charlotte Vale, a victim of verbal abuse from her tyrannical, over-bearing bitch of a mother. Thirty-something Charlotte still lives at home, convinced that she's an ugly duckling with no… More
  "Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find" -Walt Whitman Bette Davis is Charlotte Vale, a victim of verbal abuse from her tyrannical, over-bearing bitch of a mother. Thirty-something Charlotte still lives at home, convinced that she's an ugly duckling with no hope of a social life. Ah, but that's where the kind-hearted psychiatrist, Claude Rains, steps in. With the help of some relatives, he sends her on a cruise, a literal voyage of self-discovery. She returns as a beautiful, outgoing socialite on a collision course with the parent who so nearly ruined her life. Yes, its a little sappy, but its one of the best examples of the golden age of cinema and showcases Miss Davis unlike any other film before or since. A real Hollywood treasure.

• Devon B

  
  In High Society, Bette Davis undergoes crazy physical changes to make herself into the brokendown spinster daughter of a domineering woman. When Charlotte Vale (Davis) strikes out on her own to "find herself" and her own identity, it's a painful and sympathetic… More
  In High Society, Bette Davis undergoes crazy physical changes to make herself into the brokendown spinster daughter of a domineering woman. When Charlotte Vale (Davis) strikes out on her own to "find herself" and her own identity, it's a painful and sympathetic process. With the help of her doctor (Claude Rains) and the handsome man she meets on a cruise (Paul Henreid), she begins to experience an awakening personality. It's one of the best performances by Davis I've seen, and the material (falling in love with a married man) is risque (for it's time) yet mature. It may not be a happy ending in the traditional movie sense of the word, but for a woman who had nothing in her life, it's a beautifully romantic expression.

• Jennifer X

  
  It's SO melodrama - but I rather like being this shamelessly manipulated. Bette Davis's storytelling doe eyes alongside Victor Lazslo make for romantic tragedy to the max. Nothing made me happier than watching Davis step onto that ship with two-toned pumps and wide hat… More
  It's SO melodrama - but I rather like being this shamelessly manipulated. Bette Davis's storytelling doe eyes alongside Victor Lazslo make for romantic tragedy to the max. Nothing made me happier than watching Davis step onto that ship with two-toned pumps and wide hat askew...this is the ultimate ugly duckling transformation, and I could watch it again and again. Kind of makes me want to start smoking too.

• Stephen M

  
  A terrific melodrama, the potentially trashy pitfalls of which are neatly sidestepped by way of classy production values and sensitive performances, not least from Bette Davis at her very best. She plays a highly-strung, ugly-duckling spinster who, cured of her neuroses by a… More
  A terrific melodrama, the potentially trashy pitfalls of which are neatly sidestepped by way of classy production values and sensitive performances, not least from Bette Davis at her very best. She plays a highly-strung, ugly-duckling spinster who, cured of her neuroses by a psychiatrist and newly preened, falls for a man trapped in a loveless marriage. Davis is ably supported by Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Gladys Cooper, as her psychiatrist, her lover and her formidable mother, respectively. A reminder of a more innocent time, when the lighting of two cigarettes could be an intimate, romantic, almost sexual gesture, rather than just a catalyst for litigation and lynch-mobs.

• Lanning :

  
  I cannot imagine how it is that I've never seen this. A masterful performance of the phoenix-like Charlotte Vale character by the beautiful and very canny Bette Davis. I can see why she fought to get this plum part. Davis so inhabits this role that it is hard to tell where she… More
  I cannot imagine how it is that I've never seen this. A masterful performance of the phoenix-like Charlotte Vale character by the beautiful and very canny Bette Davis. I can see why she fought to get this plum part. Davis so inhabits this role that it is hard to tell where she ends and Charlotte begins. Her wholehearted identification with her character is almost scary, especially since having to deal with mental illness is such a large part of Charlotte's life. <p> I've never been a great fan of Paul Henreid, but his chemistry with Davis in the playing out of this seemingly impossible love match is intelligent and very true-to-life. A hearteningly literate and believable script no doubt helps this along. <p> Gladys Cooper is most extraordinary as Davis' domineering mother. She is Oscar nomination worthy to be sure.

• jay n

  
  ultra romantic

• Jeremy S

  
  "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.". Great Classic The strenght of the film lies both in the great love story and in the troubled childhood relationship with her mother and similar child.

• Audrey L

  
  One of Bette's finest.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings