Review of Old Acquaintance (1943) by Rick Q — 18 Dec 2011
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.
This review of Old Acquaintance (1943) was written by Rick Q on 18 Dec 2011.
Old Acquaintance has generally received positive reviews.
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