dbdumonteil
Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in "Old Acquaintance" in which she shakes Hopkins hard.(Wikipedia).She also wrote that her co-star (with whom she also made "the old maid") felt insecure and that there was a good dose of rivalry between her and "Millie" .As the story is thoroughly the depiction of a rivalry (as writers,as lovers and even as mothers -Kit is also Deirdre's mom in her heart ),everything works out fine.The first sequences may be deceptive :Kit appears as the superstar with a fan club in her friend's home town and people are led to believe that she's got an inflated ego and that good housewife Millicent has done the right choice.But actually the desperate housewife is eaten with envy and she too wrote a book (Harlequin romance style).Time will show the wiser although the last sequence tends to show that,all in all,friendship survives everything ..
bkoganbing
Old Acquaintance started as a Broadway play by John Van Druten and ran 170 performances during the 1940-41 season. It is the quintessential star vehicle and two Broadway legends, Jane Cowl and Peggy Wood played the rival women on stage. On screen the film version stars Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins and in this instance it really helped to have two women who positively loathed each other in real life. Helped enormously with their performances.The two are childhood friends and rival authors, Bette is a writer of seriously acclaimed classics that just don't sell and Miriam is the Jacqueline Susann of the pair, a writer of potboiler trash fiction that the public eats up. For reasons never explained by the film, Miriam nurses a pent up jealousy over Bette which Davis patiently bears throughout most of the film which takes place over a twenty year period in their lives. Davis rightly can't figure it out, Miriam is the one with the husband and child both of whom she smothers with her overbearing personality. The Broadway play which took place in only one setting, the Davis character's apartment was considerably expanded for the screen and I will say that the play's stage origins are barely noticeable. The play and the film are strictly vehicles for the two stars, the other players would dare not intrude even if their parts permitted. Old Acquaintance in the hands of players less capable of Davis and Hopkins would be a disaster. But with the two of them it is one camp treat.
Bucs1960
There is no contest here.....the Star, Davis runs off with the film while "the star", Hopkins rants like a drunken fishwife and makes herself look like a contestant at amateur night. I have never been a Hopkins fan and this film validates my opinion........she is shrill and over the top.The film is another of those "women's pictures" so popular in the 30s and 40s and holds up well in that genre. I won't repeat the plot as it has been covered in other reviews. Davis is looking good as the professional woman that she portrays and although she does her typical schtick with cigarettes and hand gestures, she is a little more subdued than usual. You can almost believe her affair with the boyish Gig Young and her sorrow as it ends. You, however, can never believe that the elegant John Loder could have been married to Hopkins.......he belonged with Davis but it was not to be. My favorite scene has to be when Davis shakes the snot out of Hopkins and since it has been reported that they didn't like each other, I'm sure it was Bette's favorite scene as well.If you like soap operas and sacrifice, then this film is for you. It's not as bad as it appears initially.
FilmOtaku
Long before "Beaches" and "The Turning Point", there was the film "Old Acquaintance" (1937?). Focusing on the familiar theme of longtime friendship that is tainted by jealousy and competition, one of the most remarkable things about it is that Davis actually plays the "nice" one this time around. "Old Acquaintance" begins with Kit (Davis), a writer who turns out books that appeal to female intellectuals, returns home to visit her old friend Millie (Hopkins). Kit and Millie basically grew up together, and despite Kit's seriousness and drive and Millie's concern for all things material, the two have forged a friendship that is pretty tight. When we first meet the two, Millie, married and pregnant with her first (and only) child, decides that she too can become an authoress, only she is going to write what she thinks the public wants; torrid potboilers (ala Danielle Steel) that are high on the sappy melodrama, and low on the substance meter. When Millie finds eventual success and becomes extremely wealthy, churning out book after book, her husband Pres (Loder), and child, Didi begin to feel neglected and eschewed, thanks to Millie's highly materialistic and "queen bee" attitude. They both turn to Kit, who has managed to stick around through all of this, Pres falling in love with her, and Didi looking to Kit as a surrogate mother. Despite Kit having reciprocal feelings for Pres, she insists that they can never come to fruition since Millie is her best friend, so he divorces Millie and leaves. Years later, still a success, Millie finds out that Kit and Pres were in love at one point, and despite the fact that neither followed through with their feelings, Millie blames Kit, now an accomplished and respected playwright, eventually turning Didi, now in her late teens, against her. The drama is further heightened when Kit finally agrees to marry Rudd (Young), her younger lover, right when he meets and falls in love with Didi, causing further conflict and heartache until Kit and Millie are left with the prospect of only being left with the other, despite their serious issues over the years.I really enjoyed "Old Acquaintance" because it had all of the elements of a great melodrama; back-stabbing, unrealized and tragic love, Bette Davis. Whether she is playing the good soul or the evil one (most likely the latter), Davis does drama the best, and "Old Acquaintance" is a fine example of her work. Hopkins, who I previously have seen playing fairly harmless and airy characters in ("The Heiress") as well as endangered and misunderstood (the wrongfully accused school teacher in "These Three") really rolls up her sleeves and digs into this part with obvious relish. She is fantastic, and while you spend most of the movie hating her, you can't help but admire how well Hopkins performs the role. The supporting cast of Loder and Young are fairly solid, and Loder in particular is great as the put-upon, romantic and downtrodden husband. Part of you wants to smirk and call him a wuss and part of you wishes you could date him.The story itself is full and solidly carries itself well from the beginning of the film until the end. Coupled with good acting and a couple of great slaps courtesy of La Davis, "Old Acquaintance" was a good, meaty film that I watched with great relish, wondering where it had been for the last 20 years I have spent watching all things classic film, and in particular, Bette Davis. There was nothing stupendous about "Old Acquaintance" that made me speak in tongues or anything, but it is a wonderful film that has fallen into relative obscurity over the years that deserves to be seen and enjoyed. 8/10 --Shelly
