All This, and Heaven Too (1940) - film review

In the 1840s, French teacher Henriette Deluzy arrives in America and finds work in a girls’ school.  When her pupils pick up on rumours of her recent past, she decides to tell them her story.  A few years ago, Henriette was engaged as governess to the aristocratic Praslin family.  The Duke, her employer, is impressed by the compassionate way in which she treats his three young daughters and his weakling son, and begins to fall in love with her.  Realising that the new governess is monopolising the interest of her husband and her children, the Duchess becomes consumed by a jealousy that will ruin all of their lives...

All This, and Heaven Too was one of the early block of films to be directed by Russian émigré Anatole Litvak during his fruitful period in Hollywood (having established his filmmaking credentials in France).  Like much of Litvak’s work, the film is ambitious in its scale and shot with a high aesthetic sense.  Lavish sets combine reality with fairytale (in a way that is reminiscent of 19th Century Russian literature), and the almost expressionistic photography skilfully mirrors the changing moods of the protagonists.

Although stylistically the film is impressive, it has some notable flaws on both the scripting and acting front.  Neither Bette Davis nor Charles Boyer are particularly convincing in their roles – Davis, as the morally unblemished nanny, has the handicap of playing against type and Boyer is far too comfortable in the role of the seductive lover.  Whilst they make an engaging screen couple, it is hard to warm to either of them.   However, it is Barbara O’Neil’s performance that really punctures the bubble of credibility – a totally over-the-top portrayal of female nastiness that has you constantly looking at the screen for sign of a broomstick.

One of the reasons why the performances aren’t quite up to the mark is the quality of the script.   Even for 1940s Hollywood, the dialogue sounds stilted and unbearably schmaltzy in places (and yet beautifully poetic in others).  The characters are too clearly delineated into good and bad, with the result that most end up as predictable caricatures.  There an no surprises – the way the characters behave, indeed most of the plot developments, are almost exactly as you would expect, and this robs the film of much of its dramatic impact.

And yet, despite these obvious faults, and despite the fact it is at least thirty minutes too long, All This, and Heaven Too is an engaging film, directed with great flair and beautifully shot.  It is a simple story of unrequited love told in a way that is naïve yet also rather endearing.

© James Travers 2007

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?