Winter Meeting
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bretaigne Windust
Bette Davis
Janis Paige
James Davis
John Hoyt
Florence Bates
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After an accidental meeting with poet Susan Grieve, New York socialite Stacy Grant invites her to be his date at a small dinner party for returning war hero Lieutenant Slick Novak, but warns her that Novak does not fit the popular image of a hero. Stacy has invited his beautiful secretary, Peggy Markham, to be Novak's date, but Novak is much more interested in Susan. At the end of the evening, Novak accompanies Susan to her apartment, leaving Stacy to take Peggy home. When Susan offers to make coffee, Novak asks about her family. Susan speaks proudly of her wealthy grandfather, but is curiously abrupt about her mother, who was born Maggie Maguire. Novak attempts to kiss Susan and, at first, she rebuffs him, but after he suggests that she give in to her Maguire side, she returns his kisses. The next morning, Novak returns and, after some awkward conversation, he and Susan decide to take a drive in the country. On the way, Susan confesses that she has a house in the country which she has not visited for five years, and Novak suggests that they spend the remaining five days of his leave at the house. That evening, Novak tells Susan that he has not gone home to Kansas because he is not the man his family and neighbors would expect to see, but will not elaborate on his statement. Because he senses that the house has bad memories for Susan, he encourages her to talk about them. Susan reveals that her clergyman father lived there, completely mad, for three years and finally killed himself, after her mother left him for another man. Novak advises Susan to try to see her mother's side of the story and accuses her of having no compassion. At first, Susan is angry, but their quarrel is short-lived. The next morning, on a sleigh ride, Susan tells Novak that she has fallen in love with him. That night, a tortured Novak tells Susan that he has wanted to be a priest from age sixteen, but his experiences during the war caused him to doubt his calling. Although he rescued eight men and got them back on their ship, injuring himself in the process, he later learned that a week after the rescue the ship was sunk with all hands on board. Susan argues that no God would be so cruel as to kill all those people just to punish him for his pride, but in the morning, Novak has returned to the city. When Susan returns home, she finds a letter waiting from her mother, who is in the hospital and wants to see her daughter. After reading the letter, Susan throws it into the trash. Later, Stacy takes a brokenhearted Susan to dinner at the same restaurant where she first met Novak, and they encounter Novak and Peggy together. After Stacy tells Novak exactly what he thinks of him, he and Susan leave. The following day, Novak once again visits Susan's apartment. She demands to know why he left as he did, and he suggests they try to make their relationship work. Susan is unwilling to do this, however, and points out that whatever his doubts, Novak helped her to forgive her mother. He agrees to rethink his decision about the priesthood and, after he leaves, Susan phones her mother in the hospital to try to mend the rift between them.
Director
Bretaigne Windust
Cast
Bette Davis
Janis Paige
James Davis
John Hoyt
Florence Bates
Walter Baldwin
Ransom Sherman
William Grant Sherry
Hugh Charles
George Taylor
Mike Lally
Doug Carter
Harry Mckee
Joseph Minitello
Lois Austin
Robert Riorden
Harry Lewis
Laura Treadwell
Ezelle Poule
Russ Clark
Cedric Stevens
Paul Maxey
Crew
Harry Barndollar
Lou Baum
Henry Blanke
Edward Carrere
Carl Combs
Jack Daniels
Leo F. Forbstein
Murray Gutter
Ernest Haller
John Holden
H. F. Koenekamp
Robert B. Lee
Fred M. Maclean
Owen Marks
Sherry Shourds
Max Steiner
Catherine Turney
Perc Westmore
Videos
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Trailer
Film Details
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Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was Strange Meeting. According to an undated press release in the file on the film at the AMPAS Library, Bette Davis' husband at the time, William Grant Sherry, played a bit part as a sailor in a subway scene. This was Davis' first film after the birth of her daughter. In a modern source, Davis laments the changes censorship made in the story as it was filmed: "We were not allowed to be honest about the differences of opinion between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. It was, therefore, a dull and meaningless film."
