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Posted on 05/25/2025 2:03:42 PM PDT by Chickensoup
Ping the film mavens here please?
You know I have a b&w film in my brain. About an older man i. He is perhaps 40s who wants to marry an 19 year old girl after a whirlwind romance. Upper class.
He is about her mother’s age. Mother makes it clear to him that mother is dying and she is relieved that someone will be there for her young naive daughter and gives permission.
It was a bittersweet film. I cannot find it. It rings no bells. I do not know whether I
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Thank you very much and God bless you.
You know I have a b&w film in my brain. About an older man i. He is perhaps 40s who wants to marry an 19 year old girl after a whirlwind romance. Upper class.
He is about her mother’s age. Mother makes it clear to him that mother is dying and she is relieved that someone will be there for her young naive daughter and gives permission.
It was a bittersweet film. I cannot find it. It rings no bells. I do not know whether I
Ask AI. Recommend Claude or Gemini.
Rebecca 1940’ish?
Perhaps it is DARK VICTORY.
Judith “Judy” Traherne is a young, carefree, hedonistic Long Island socialite and heiress with a passion for horses, fast cars, and too much smoking and drinking. She initially ignores severe headaches and brief episodes of dizziness and double vision, but when she uncharacteristically takes a spill while riding and then tumbles down a flight of stairs, her secretary and best friend Ann King insists she see the family doctor, who refers her to a specialist.
Dr. Frederick Steele is closing his New York City office in preparation for a move to Brattleboro, Vermont, where he plans to devote his time to brain cell research and scientific study on their growth. He reluctantly agrees to see Judy, who acts coldly and is openly antagonistic towards him. She shows signs of short-term memory loss but dismisses her symptoms. Steele convinces her the ailments she is experiencing are severe and potentially life-threatening and puts his career plans on hold to tend to her.
When diagnostic tests confirm his suspicions, Judy agrees to surgery to remove a malignant glioma brain tumor. Steele discovers the tumor cannot be removed entirely and realizes she has less than a year to live. The end will be painless but swift; shortly after experiencing total blindness, Judy will die.
To allow her a few more months of happiness, Steele opts to lie to Judy and Ann and assures them the surgery was a success. As he is a poor liar, Ann is suspicious and confronts Steele, who admits the truth. Steele tells Ann “she must never know” she will die soon. She agrees to remain silent and continue the lie.
Geraldine Fitzgerald and Bette Davis, after “Judy” has lost her sight, in final minutes of Dark Victory
Judy and Steele become involved romantically and eventually engaged. While helping his assistant pack the office before their departure for Vermont, Judy discovers her case history file containing letters from several doctors, all of them confirming Steele’s prognosis. Assuming Steele was marrying her out of pity, Judy breaks off the engagement and reverts to her former lifestyle. One day, her stable master Michael O’Leary, who for years has loved her from afar, confronts her about her unruly behavior, and she confesses she is dying. Their conversation convinces her she should spend her final months happy, dignified, and with the man she loves. She apologizes to Steele, and they marry and move to Vermont.
Three months later, Ann comes to visit. Judy and she are in the garden planting bulbs when Judy comments on how odd it is she still feels the sun’s heat under the rapidly darkening skies. They both immediately realize she is losing her vision and approaching the end. Judy makes Ann stay mum, as Steele leaves that day to present his most recent medical findings—which hold out the long-term prospect of a cure for her type of cancer—in New York. Judy makes an excuse to remain home, helps him pack, and sends him off, telling him, “What we have now can’t be destroyed. That’s our victory, our victory over the dark. It’s a victory because we’re not afraid.”
Then, after bidding Ann, her housekeeper Martha (who has silently deduced the situation), and her dogs farewell, she goes to her bedroom. Martha follows Judy and, upon entering the room, pauses as she sees Judy kneeling briefly, apparently praying. Judy then lies down on the bed; Martha drapes a blanket over her, withdrawing quietly when Judy asks to be left alone.
Love in The Afternoon, Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn?
Hmmm. “Lolita” comes to mind.
Of course, my Lolita is Lolita Davidovich who is thank goodness, of age.
The mother never thanked Humbert Humbert for being attracted to her 12 year old (15 in the movie) daughter.
I was thinking Lolita, too.
No I know Lolita.
Thanks
I don’t think I know the film, but it sounds interesting.
Here are a few follow up questions. You may read or ignore as personal preference.
1. American or British Cast?
2. What was the setting; Farmtown, big busy city?
3.Were they rich, middle class or classic Blue Collar?
4. Any interesting soundtrack or theme music?
5. Did he marry the young girl?
6. Did he marry the terminally ill Mom, instead?
7. Was there some kind of ‘Test’ of love or sincerity?
i.e. romantic rival or a moral choice that had to be made?
There was no mother in that film
Only the dad Maurice Chevalier. But he was happy his young and innocent daughter went with the much older Gary Cooper. It was kind of creepy.
This was an innocent. I think DARK VICTORY must be it.
The girl had cancer not the mother.
Definitely creepy, but not unusual for novels from 1900s to the 1940s.
See above description of Dark Victory.
I am pretty sure this is it.
Not really creepy. Parents wanted their daughters to be well provided for with a man with financial stability. There was little safety net then and this was important.
By Jove, I think you’ve got it!
“Trailer Trash 2025. Florida Edition”?
There's a great B&W film about a woman who will die soon, whose very rich FATHER makes a deal with a man, to marry her, to give her last year some happiness. The young woman ( not 19, in her 20s ) doesn't know anything at all about the seriousness of her condition and the kicker is....the man actually loves her!
I don't think that that's the film you are asking about; however, INVITATION, made in the early 1950s, is a great movie. And it's the only one that I can think of, that is even remotely ( very remotely! ) close to what you're looking for.
Does the parent supply the house, servants, and keeps sending the daughter fur coats?
Does she supposedly have only ONE YEAR to live?
I think so.
Groked it after my post to you
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