All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Rachel Field (novel)
Casey Robinson (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 July 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | French | False Accusation | France | Melancholy

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
Charles Boyer	...	Duc de Praslin
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Henry Martyn Field
Barbara O'Neil	...	Duchesse de Praslin
Virginia Weidler	...	Louise
Helen Westley	...	Madame LeMaire
Walter Hampden	...	Pasquier
Henry Daniell	...	Broussais
Harry Davenport	...	Pierre
George Coulouris	...	Charpentier
Montagu Love	...	Marechal Sebastiani
Janet Beecher	...	Miss Haines
June Lockhart	...	Isabelle
Ann E. Todd	...	Berthe (as Ann Todd)
Richard Nichols	...	Reynald

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6089)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Bette Davis' 37 costumes cost $1,000 each.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the very last frame of the movie, the window shot, the snow stops falling completely.

Quotes:

Duc de Praslin: Why are you smiling? May I share whatever pleases you so?
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes: You will think I am very silly I'm afraid, but standing here like this with the snow falling reminds of something I used to know. Do you remember a little round glass globe that...
Duc de Praslin: Oh yes, I know, with a snow scene inside. We had a paper weight on a desk at home like that. You shook it and the snow whirled around out from nowhere in a blinding storm.
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes: Yes, that's exactly what I mean.
Duc de Praslin: And if you looked closely enough the whole world seemed to be obliberated and shut out.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The War of the Roses

The Murder that Helped Topple a Monarchy

This excellent period drama is based on a popular novel of 1939 by Rachel Field. It told a version of the story of the murder, in Paris in 1847, of Fanny Sebastiani Choiseul-Praslin, Duchesse and wife of Theobald, Duc de Choiseul-Praslin. Fanny was the daughter of Marachal Horace Sebastiani, one of the leading political and social figures in the July Monarchy or Orleans Monarchy of France, under King Louis Phillippe (1830 - 1848). This was a middle-class supported monarchy, and was far more liberal than it's predecessor monarchy under King Louis's cousins the Bourbons. But by 1847 it had grown corrupt, and it was suffering a series a serious scandals. The murder of Duchesse Fanny by her husband was the last real blow. Supposedly the marriage had collapsed due to the growing relationship between Theobald and the children's governess, Mlle. Helene Deluzy-Desportes. The actual relationship between the governess and the Duc remains questioned, although most believe she was his lover. Rachel Field, a descendant of Fanny and her later husband, Rev. Martyn Field, presented the governess as the victim of circumstances (working in a household that was falling apart). Finally, whatever the cause, Theobald beat Fanny to death, and tried to make it look like a burglar did it. Instead the Surete was not fooled, and Theobald was arrested. But while under arrest he took poison, and he died denying his guilt and denying the involvement of the governess. Fanny came to America, where she taught school and married into the Field family (her brother-in-law Cyrus was a financier who laid the Atlantic Cable, and her brother-in-law Stephen was an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court). As for the French, they blamed the government for allowing the Duc to escape justice, and within a year the July Monarchy was overthrown. Marachel Sebastiani (Montague Love in the film) died prematurely in 1851 - the last victim of the crime.

The film, except for the pro-Deluzy-Desportes slant, is excellent with a fine, restrained performance by Davis, an intense one by Boyer (who finally explodes in one scene where he shows his thorough hatred for his wife), and a marvelous performance by Barbara O'Neill as Fanny. I would thoroughly recommend this one for movie fans - a fine example of the best of Warner's historical films.