Old Acquaintance

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Old Acquaintance
DVD cover for Old Acquaintance based on original film poster
Directed by	Vincent Sherman
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Written by	John Van Druten Lenore Coffee Edmund Goulding
Starring	Bette Davis Miriam Hopkins Gig Young
Cinematography	Sol Polito
Editing by	Terry O. Morse
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	27 November 1943
Running time	110 min
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Old Acquaintance is a 1943 film drama made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer from a screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmund Goulding based on Van Druten's play.

The film starred Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins with Gig Young, John Loder, Dolores Moran, Roscoe Karns and Anne Revere.

1 Background
2 Plot
3 Cast
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Background

The play on which the film is based had its premiere at the Morosco Theatre, New York City on 23 December 1940 in a production staged by Auriol Lee and designed by Richard Whorf. The play starred Jane Cowl, Peggy Wood and Kent Smith. It ran for 170 performances.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kitty Marlowe (Bette Davis), a well-respected author returns to the small town of her birth, where she becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend Millie Drake (Miriam 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 their surprise, Millie's book becomes a 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.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Cast

Bette Davis - Katherine "Kittie" Marlowe
Miriam Hopkins - Millie Drake
Gig Young - Rudd Kendall
John Loder - Preston Drake
Dolores Moran - Deirdre Drake
Phillip Reed - Lucian Grant
Roscoe Karns - Charlie Archer
Anne Revere - Belle Carter

[edit] Notes

The film was remade in 1981 as Rich and Famous, with Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen.
Bette Davis personally requested the casting of Norma Shearer in the role of Mildred Drake. Shearer refused the role and the part went to Miriam Hopkins.