Just perfect...

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

In viewing the film, I first thought that Bette Davis was too old to play the part. As the film went on, I realized that Davis was needed to provide the necessary maturity for the part.In some respects, Bette, as Susan Grieve, reminded me of her portrayal of Charlotte Vale, 6 years before, in "Now, Voyager." Again, she plays a spinster at odds with her mother, who is about to embark upon a life without happiness. While she has her poetry in this film, she is consumed with the suicide death of her father and a mother who betrayed him.Along comes a war hero Slick Novak who is anything but slick. Everyone must have thought that as their love blossomed, he would confess to having a wife. This wasn't the case. I can imagine the amazement of the audience when he confessed that he had entertained thoughts since age 16 of becoming a priest.The picture ends on a high note as Davis does the right thing. She is not a cunning ingénue as was the case in so many of our films.The picture definitely picks up after both Slick and Susan confess their inner problems.

I agree with another commentator that this is not a good Bette Davis picture. Jim Davis was indeed a weird choice for his part. The ending was about as unsatisfactory as one can be.However, I found three elements fascinating: 1. John Hoyt was never better as the unctuous, insinuating friend to Bette's poetess. Whether or not he was supposed to be homosexual, as is implied by some critics, he was clearly also in a kind of overly-well-bred love with her. 2. Florence Bates, as always, was fine in an unusually subdued role for her (remember her over-the-top self in "Rebecca"!) 3. I just love the cat painting in Bette's apartment that Jim Davis refers to! Isn't it creepy and interesting??? If anyone out there knows who painted it or how to get a copy, I'd love to know.

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.

Stories of emotional restraint between two people who meet on a chance encounter and have a shaky chance of developing have been done numerous times with fantastic success. Acting styles in more recent times have allowed actors to convey their passions brimming just beneath the surface with minimal dialogue than to talk without pauses and have the background music express more dramatizing than a Beethovian concerto.WINTER MEETING is one of these earlier efforts. It tells the story of war hero Slick Novak (Jim Davis of "Dallas" fame) who returns to American soil and is introduced to famed poet Susan Grieve (Bette Davis), a woman who is faintly cynic about relationships. Though at first she seems indifferent to Novak, once he stays over it becomes clear that both share an attraction to each other. The following day they drive off to Connecticut where she used to live and on the way they discover their inner baggage.What should have been a better movie is reduced to a flat drama that starts off well during the first thirty minutes (and this includes Janis Paige stealing her scenes as Peggy Markham who is also attracted to Slick Novak) but slows down to a standstill once Susan and Slick start interacting on their own (and they're the only ones on screen for much of the film). A scene inside Susan's kitchen, though trying to convey commonplace events, just doesn't feel right. However both actors have an unspoken chemistry that in the hands of a less stagy and more cinematic director would have brought out better, more involved performances. I think of the possibilities of Susan telling her tragic story as the camera maintains a constant movement and ice rain falls, or if more hints on Novak's ultimate intentions would have been peppered throughout. Or if less on screen talk and more body language would have been shown, incorporating synchronized cuts and long takes during key moments, all leading to a crescendo which would make the viewer really care for the characters. For this, the actors would have had to been of the type who would smolder even when repressing their emotions and neither of the Davises were known for this kind of screen presence. Also, this kind of film would only surface about 10 years later under the form of Hiroshima MON AMOUR and used to perfection as IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. As such, WINTER MEETING remains confined to its stage and production values and while it's far from perfect, it has more pluses than minuses.