"Winter Meeting" was released in 1948 -- the waning years of Bette Davis Warner Brothers career. Davis plays Susan, a wealthy, cosmopolitan New Yorker. She has never married, choosing to focus on a life of having a career and mixing with like-minded friends, such as Stacy (John Hoyt). She meets a military guy whom she calls Novak (Jim Davis), a man fresh from WWII and a war hero. For whatever reason, he woos her and the two begin an odd relationship. After all, she is New York City all the way, he is an awkward, small-town guy. The two escape to the country, where both are forced to confront their own demons. Davis' demons have to do with her parents; her mother abandoned her father, causing his later suicide. Novak's are he always wanted to be a priest! Yikes -- this after leading Susan on throughout the entire movie. This movie, although unfairly maligned, has lots of problems. The biggest problem is the choice of Jim Davis to play Novak, the war hero. He seems out of place and acts it too. Being fair, his part is also terribly written, so I don't know what actor could have pulled this off with any credibility. Bette Davis fares better -- she never steps out of her character as Susan, a woman who has shut herself off from even the possibility of love until she meets this man. This part shows why Bette Davis was a real star; the script wasn't great, and it shows, but she shines regardless. There are two good supporting performances -- John Hoyt as Davis' friend, a man who clearly enjoys the good life, is terrific and adds some life to a film that drags a bit at times. We assume he is gay, although obviously this wouldn't be uttered in a 1948 film. A young Janis Paige plays a somewhat loose and bitchy woman, upset that the spinster Susan snared the war hero for herself. She seems to steal every scene she is in. Sadly, this film flopped when it opened. By this time, audience tastes had changed, and Bette Davis wasn't given better scripts as she aged at the studio. She would leave Warner Brothers the following year. But what a legacy of films she left behind.

The first thirty minutes may repel some.It's very talky ,it's filmed stage production style.This is a film which grows on you,you 've got to be patient for the "action" is minimal,and most amazing thing, in what is pure psychological drama ,there's not the easy way out : the flashbacks.Another director -it's the first film I've seen by Bretaigne Windust-would have at least enlivened things by introducing two very long flashbacks dealing with the two characters' past.Both have a secret to conceal .This is the very long conversation between them which reveals us that the poetess was demanding,idolizing her father,displaying no compassion for a mother who did not live up to her /their expectations;the soldier is a hero but someone told him something that has completely changed his way of seeing things .People who expect a mushy romance ,a melodrama ,a love triangle (with the secretary) will be disappointed."Winter Meeting" shows the way to compassion for the others,be they hopeless.

Hmm, where have I seen this before? A lonely spinster blossoms after finding love, but nobly sacrifices it in the end. Unfortunately, "Winter Meeting" is no "Now Voyager". I don't care how many cigarettes Bette Davis smokes! At first I was intrigued by how mismatched Susan (Bette Davis) and Slick (Jim Davis) are. She's a cosmopolitan intellectual, very much in control of her emotions, her every movement purposeful. He's a small-town boy, speaking bluntly, quick to indulge his feelings and impulses, and towering over her with his gangly, awkward frame. It could've been an interesting story of opposites attracting, and learning from each other - each supplying what the other lacks. Except, I never quite believed his attraction to her, and it seems she was the one who did most of the learning and changing. Sure, he got something out of their affair too - but it was primarily the knowledge that he helped *her*, thus giving him the confidence to become a priest and help other people. I don't think that counts.I disliked the scene where Slick lectured Susan on her inability to forgive her mother. If MY mother cheated on my father with countless men, then left my dad and literally drove him to madness and suicide - well, gee, I don't think I'd forgive her either! For someone accused of lacking compassion, Susan is surprisingly forgiving of Slick, however. She's only a little offended that this man she just met is judging her and blaming her for supposedly driving her mother away - You see, Susan wasn't as loving and tolerant as she "should" have been. (Reminiscent of "The Philadelphia Story", where a daughter is held responsible for her father's philandering, and has to learn to forgive his failings and give him more affection so he won't feel the need to stray. I didn't like this twisted "moral" in that movie, and I don't like it here either).Besides, where does this guy get off being so high and mighty and, well, *preachy* when he's far from perfect himself? If he was so dedicated to becoming a priest and abstaining from sex/marriage, he shouldn't have pursued this woman so aggressively and led her on. Big dumb oaf. Slick's feelings don't appear to run very deep, so I just can't see this movie the way we're meant to - as a bittersweet tale of soulmates who can't be together - oh what a tragedy! Rather, Slick had a nice holiday/sex-spree ...um, I mean, crisis of faith... before knuckling down to work. He's not hurting. Susan on the other hand... should be feeling very used. I worry about her. After all, heartbreak-induced insanity and suicide *does* run in her family.Bottomline: Slow, soapy, unsatisfying romance drivel.

"Winter Meeting" is a film that doesn't add anything to Bette Davis' distinguished career in the movies. The melodrama is undermined by a completely miscast Jim Davis, who makes the picture worse than it deserved to be. The part of Slick Novak should have gone to another actor that could have added a few more sparks to the movie.As directed by Bretaigne Windust, "Winter Movie" is a dull attempt to bring the novel in which it's based to the screen. The adaptation leaves a lot to be desired.The basic problem with the film is one of credibility. We don't believe, for one second, Slick Novak, the hero Navy lieutenant would even look at Susan Grieve at all, let alone be romantically involved with her. It's easy for us to understand why Susan would make a fool of herself in letting Slick come into her life. After all, plain Susan was no competition for gorgeous Peggy, who is all over Slick at the night club, and clearly wants him. Stacy Grant, the man about town, kept reminding us of a subdued Waldo Lydecker, from "Laura", in the way he tries to get Susan under his influence. He wants to expose her to a society that she doesn't care to belong. This role was one of the ways Hollywood dealt with the subject of homosexuality in those days. Everyone knew about them, but the movie making people wanted to keep Stacy and his ilk in a permanent closet.Bette Davis underplays Susan with mixed results. Obviously, Ms. Davis had no influence for getting out of this second class melodrama unworthy of her talent. Then again, one questions her wisdom in letting a light weight actor like Jim Davis play opposite her, when it's clear he is not in her league.The wonderful John Hoyt makes the best out of Stacy Grant and Florence Bates, one of the best character actresses of that era, is fine as the housekeeper who knows a lot about the mistress of the house. Janis Paige, in all her beauty and youth, doesn't have much to do.This is a film to be seen as a curiosity more than a Bette Davis signature vehicle.