An excellent drama of psychotherapy, based on the classic novel NOW, VOYAGER (1941), written by the female American poet, novelist and philanthropist Olive Higgins Prouty (who was a close frind of the famous poet and writer Sylvia Plath). The novel was the 3rd in a saga of 5 VALE NOVELS written in 1936-1947 by Higgins (who had neurotic personal experiences before and after the completion of the book). She also wrote the novels CONFLICT (1927) and the 4 Vale Novels: THE WHITE FAWN (1931), LISA VALE (1938), HOME PORT (1947), and FABIA (1951)
The title NOW, VOYAGER was inspired by the poem THE UNTOLD WANT written in 1871 by Walt Whitman in SONGS OF PARTING and published in his collection LEAVES OF GRASS: the moral is to live according to the verses of Walt Whitman "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,/
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find".
The 2 lines of the poem note the importance for people to both grow and develop without constraints of space, so that their lives should be allowed to sail, to go places, explore and experience life.
The philosophy of CASCADE (the "sanatorium" in the book and movie) is based on the real-life Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where the author had sought treatment. It was notable at the time for its focus on physical activity, occupational therapy, daily talk therapy sessions, and eschewing lobotomies and other drastic medical treatments of the time.
The novel was adapted for the wide screen by the American journalist, director, producer -and screenwriter- Kenneth Casey Robinson. The script, here (
https://subslikescript.com/movie/Now_Voyager-35140).
It seems that the directors Edmund Goulding and Michael Curtiz had an important contribution to the adaptation and forming of the screenplay at the first stages of the movie (it is worth noting that Curtiz was the director of CASABLANCA and Robinson its uncredited screenwriter, whereas the next day the filming of NOW, VOYAGER ended, Henreid made his entrance in the filming of CASABLANCA).
THE GREAT STAR of the film is Paul Henreid, the double (or doppelganger) of the philosopher Albert Camus.
The film was produced by the legendary American film producer Hal B. Wallis (Harold Brent Wallis or Aaron Blum Wolowicz/Wolovitz, of Jewish descent).
The movie was directed by the British-American actor and director Irving Rapper (of Jewish descent, he also directed Henreid and Davis in DECEPTION).
The main love theme from the score was published as the hit song "It Can't Be Wrong".
Music by the Austrian-American composer and conductor Max Steiner (Maximilian Raoul Steiner, of Jewish descent).
Filmed entirely in landscapes of California and Massachusetts.
The movie was adapted for the radio, starring Paul Henreid and Ida Lupino and it was produced and presented in 1943 by Cecil B. de Mille for the Lux Radio Theater (see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Glm8oJlDg).
In 1946, the novel NOW, VOYAGER was adapted for the Lux Radio Theater, produced by William Keighly, starring Bette Davis and Gregory Peck (See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgI0Lq8dcnM).
The movie is considered as ''the definition of a Woman's Picture''.