Even though Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis were constantly feuding off-screen, they sure made one great gem of a movie in 1942-"Old Acquaintance."It's essentially a story of a haughty woman (Hopkins) who really ruined Davis's life, her best friend, for after splitting with her husband of 9 years, Davis would not go with him (John Loder) out of respect for her dear friend.The movie starts out with comic overtones with everything going wrong when Davis visits Hopkins.I could have seen Hopkins and Davis reverse their roles and the film would have been fine.If that isn't enough, imagine years later, when Davis's fiancé, Gig Young, 10 years younger than her, changes his mind about marrying Davis since he falls for Hopkins's daughter, Deidre.The film concludes with the two women apologizing to each other and basically settling down to their work and lives alone.Hopkins is bitter and abusive whereas Davis is kind and understanding.

Old Acquaintance started as a Broadway play by John Van Druten and ran 170 performances during the 1940-41 season. It is the quintessential star vehicle and two Broadway legends, Jane Cowl and Peggy Wood played the rival women on stage. On screen the film version stars Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins and in this instance it really helped to have two women who positively loathed each other in real life. Helped enormously with their performances.The two are childhood friends and rival authors, Bette is a writer of seriously acclaimed classics that just don't sell and Miriam is the Jacqueline Susann of the pair, a writer of potboiler trash fiction that the public eats up. For reasons never explained by the film, Miriam nurses a pent up jealousy over Bette which Davis patiently bears throughout most of the film which takes place over a twenty year period in their lives. Davis rightly can't figure it out, Miriam is the one with the husband and child both of whom she smothers with her overbearing personality. The Broadway play which took place in only one setting, the Davis character's apartment was considerably expanded for the screen and I will say that the play's stage origins are barely noticeable. The play and the film are strictly vehicles for the two stars, the other players would dare not intrude even if their parts permitted. Old Acquaintance in the hands of players less capable of Davis and Hopkins would be a disaster. But with the two of them it is one camp treat.

The film follows the relationship between Kit (Bette Davis) and Millie (Miriam Hopkins) who are both friends and authors with different styles. We span 20 or so years of their lives and their relationships with Millie's husband Preston (John Loder), Millie's daughter Deirdre (Dolores Moran) and Kit's partner Rudd (Gig Young). The film explores the avenues of career woman vs family woman.The film starts badly with the men being portrayed as comedy/ineffectual numbskulls and Miriam Hopkins's screeching voice irritating the hell out of the viewer. The film is boring - it gets better in the 2nd half but it's all still a load of tosh. Bette Davis is good, though, apart from her awful habit of saying "Dahling". You want to shout out "Oi....Davis....the word is Darling!"This is a film for women. It's not bad, it's just boring.

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins reunite after being together in "The Old Maid!" It sets practical but lonely Bette against flighty but happy Miriam. Bette plays Kit Marlowe..a single, successful author coming home to the small town she grew up in. She meets up again with childhood friend, Millie Drake played by Miriam Hopkins. There's always been a bit of a rivalry between the two, even though they've been friends. Millie has a daughter, a husband and love. Kit has a successful career but no one really to love in her life. Kit's visit triggers jealously in Millie, so she decides to become a successful author like Kit. She writes a steamy, sexy book and Kit helps it along with her connections. Lo and behold, the book becomes a best seller, starting Millie on a career eclipsing her old friend's career, but she loses her husband along the way when she lets success go to her head.The subplots swirl around these two women...Millie's envy of Kit and then Kit's help turns Millie into a success but she loses her husband who becomes infatuated with Kit. Preston professes his love for Kit, but she in turn tells him no because of Millie and her daughter. Kit falls in love with a younger man, but she finds herself unwilling to commit because of his age. He in turn falls in love with Millie's daughter. When Kit finally realizes what she has and wants to be with him, he admits to her how he has fallen for another woman..the daughter Kit never had..the daughter of her best friend. The threads weave in and out of these two women keeping them bound together. When Millie finds out Preston was attracted to Kit long ago, she sets this scene up which is one of the funniest I've seen from Bette Davis. Millie admits to Kit that she told her daughter Kit and Preston were having an affair. She goes off on a self-pitying tirade at Kit. Kit tries to reason with her to no avail. Finally, Kit leaves the apartment only to come right back again. She walks over to Millie and then shakes the life out of her and throws her down on the couch.After reading interviews by Ms. Davis about some of her frustration at some roles she has endured, it was a revealing look at how she wanted to shake the life out of some producers and directors. Ms. Hopkin's hair and shoulders were just shaking with it, and you have to wonder how many takes it took for this one.The end finds them there in Kit's apartment drinking champagne and watching the fire. They've shared more than just a friendship now. They're shared the loss of love but have kept their friendship intact.This is a delightful movie, and one worth watching. It reminds us how friends alway stick no matter what. No one is perfect and each have faults and good qualities. It is true "old acquaintances" can accept both good and bad and stick to the end!