Old Acquaintance (1943)

78% of users liked it
(385 ratings)

After the box office success of The Old Maid, Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins were reunited for this catty drama. Kitty Marlowe (Davis) is a well-respected author who returns to the small town of her birth, where she becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend Millie Drake (Hopkins). While Millie… More After the box office success of The Old Maid, Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins were reunited for this catty drama. Kitty Marlowe (Davis) is a well-respected author who returns to the small town of her birth, where she becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend Millie Drake (Hopkins). While Millie is happy as a wife and mother and loves her husband Preston (John Loder), she's envious of Kitty's success, and Kitty's visit prompts Millie to sit down at the typewriter herself. Millie turns out a sexy potboiler that, with Kitty's help, attracts the attention of a publisher. To the surprise of them both, Millie's book is a runaway bestseller, and a decade later she's one of the most successful authors in America, easily eclipsing Kitty's more highbrow work. Preston finds himself growing disenchanted with Millie once success begins to go to her head, and he finds himself attracted to Kitty; while Kitty tries to dissuade Preston's advances, a scorned Millie believes that her old friend has been trying to steal her husband away from her. Old Acquaintance was remade in 1981 as Rich and Famous. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Vincent Sherman
Written By: John Van Druten, Lenore J. Coffee
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Nov 27, 1943 Wide
On DVD: May 30, 2006

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Crowd pleasing women's pic.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Featured Audience Ratings

William D

How did I go so many years without someone telling me that I had to see "Old Acquaintance"? It's just a melodrama, but it's one of the best, most satisfying, and most unique that Bette Davis made in her heyday, the 1940s. Davis plays a serious, high-minded… More
How did I go so many years without someone telling me that I had to see "Old Acquaintance"? It's just a melodrama, but it's one of the best, most satisfying, and most unique that Bette Davis made in her heyday, the 1940s. Davis plays a serious, high-minded novelist, and Miriam Hopkins plays a deliciously petulant, semi-educated, narcissistic writer of pulp fiction. The two have a life-long friendship with many ups and downs and subtle cross-currents of rivalry and devotion. In the last half-hour, there are some surprising twists that had my head spinning. And the final message is to some degree a celebration of women remaining unmarried, which I loved. I had a rip-roaring good time watching this classic, and I'm sad that its reputation has faded over the years. It deserves to be better known.
jay n

bette & miriam are a hoot together!
Laura C

Another film where the lead performance (Bette) is far stronger than the film itself. I am admiring her talent more and more. Loving her menswear inspired costumes!

Cast

            Bette Davis as Katherine "Kittie" Marlowe

            Miriam Hopkins as Millie Drake

            Gig Young as Rudd Kendall

            John Loder as Preston Drake

            Dolores Moran as Deirdre Drake

            Phillip Reed as Lucian Grant

            Roscoe Karns as Charlie Archer

            Anne Revere as Belle Carter

            Esther Dale as Harriet

            Ann Codee as Mademoiselle

            Joseph Crehan as Editor

            Pierre Watkin as Mr. Winter

            Marjorie Hoshelle as Margaret Kemp

            George Lessey as Dean

            Ann Doran as Saleslady

            Gordon B. Clark as Usher

            Jimmy Conlin as Photographer

            Frank Darien as Stage Doorman

            Creighton Hale as Stage manager

            Sam Harris as Army officer

            Charles Jordan as Bootlegger

            Lucille Lamarr
            
            Leona Maricle as Julia Brondbank

            Frank Mayo as Officer

            Jack Mower as Army officer

            Kathleen O'Malley as College girl

            Virginia Patton as College girl

            Herbert Rawlinson as Chairman

            Charles Sullivan as Cab driver

            Philip Van Zandt as Clerk

            Abigail Adams
            
            Dorothy Schoemer as College Girl
See full cast