Old Acquaintance (1943) in Color — Starring Bette Davis & Miriam Hopkins

Old Acquaintance (1943) — Buy This Classic in Color

Old Acquaintance (1943) is a sharp drama starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, directed by Vincent Sherman. Two women who have been friends since childhood become fierce rivals as one achieves literary fame writing serious fiction while the other finds spectacular commercial success with trashy bestsellers, and their tangled personal lives mirror their professional competition. This professionally colorized version brings the elegant wardrobes and sophisticated settings to vivid new life. Buy your colorized copy today for €15.00 and own this captivating classic movie in color.

Plot Summary

Kit Marlowe (Bette Davis) and Millie Drake (Miriam Hopkins) have been inseparable friends since childhood, but their relationship has always been built on an unstable foundation of jealousy, competition, and unspoken resentment. Kit is a serious, critically respected novelist whose thoughtful literary works earn glowing reviews but modest sales, while she lives a contented if unglamorous life in a New York apartment surrounded by books and intellectual friends. Millie, always envious of Kit’s effortless talent and poise, channels her competitive energy into writing a sensational romantic novel that becomes a massive bestseller, propelling her to instant fame, wealth, and the social spotlight she has always craved.

As the years pass and the two women’s careers develop along their divergent paths, their rivalry intensifies and infects every aspect of their lives. Millie suspects Kit of having an affair with her husband Preston (John Loder), a suspicion that is partly justified — Preston is indeed drawn to Kit’s warmth and intelligence, finding in her the genuine connection he lacks with the increasingly vain and self-absorbed Millie. The confrontation that follows is one of the most explosive scenes in 1940s cinema, culminating in the famous moment where Kit grabs Millie by the shoulders and shakes her violently in pure exasperation.

The story spans nearly two decades, following both women through marriages, divorces, literary triumphs and failures, and the changing fashions of New York society. When Millie’s grown daughter Deirdre (Dolores Moran) returns from school as a beautiful young woman and falls for Rudd Kendall (Gig Young), the same charming younger man that Kit herself has begun a tentative romance with, the tangled web of loyalty, jealousy, and love threatens to destroy their lifelong friendship once and for all. Kit must choose between her own happiness and her bond with Millie — and the generational echo of their rivalry in Deirdre adds a poignant new dimension to the story. This classic movie is a brilliantly acted battle of wits between two of Hollywood’s greatest stars, crackling with intelligence and emotional fire.

Cast & Crew

Director: Vincent Sherman

Stars: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Gig Young, John Loder, Dolores Moran, Phillip Reed, Roscoe Karns, Anne Revere, Esther Dale, Abigail Adams

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

This colorized version of Old Acquaintance reveals the glamorous New York apartments, the elegant wartime fashions, and the contrasting personalities of its two stars with stunning visual richness. Kit’s tasteful, understated wardrobe in muted blues, grays, and ivory reflects her intellectual seriousness, while Millie’s increasingly flamboyant ensembles — bold prints, fur stoles, dramatic hats, and glittering jewelry — chart her rise to flashy commercial success. The sophisticated Manhattan interiors evolve through the decades, from 1920s Art Deco elegance to wartime 1940s restraint, each period reflected in the furnishings, wallpaper, and table settings. The book-lined walls of Kit’s apartment glow with warm leather tones and soft lamplight, while Millie’s ostentatious penthouse sparkles with gilded mirrors and expensive artwork. The famous shaking scene gains extra impact as Davis’s controlled fury and Hopkins’s flustered outrage play across their reddening faces. The original black and white film captured every cutting remark and withering glance brilliantly, and the professionally colorized restoration brings the sophisticated interiors, the changing decades of fashion, and the emotional confrontations to life with frame-by-frame precision. Watch this restored classic film in gorgeous, dramatic color. Now also available in colour.

Buy Old Acquaintance in color today for just €15.00. Your DRM-free MP4 download is available for instant access.

Historical Significance

Old Acquaintance is famous not only as a superb drama but for the genuine real-life rivalry between its two stars — Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins truly disliked each other, and their mutual antagonism lends crackling, almost dangerous authenticity to every shared scene. Hopkins had been a major star before Davis’s rise and resented being eclipsed, while Davis found Hopkins’s scene-stealing tactics infuriating. Director Vincent Sherman reportedly had to mediate constant disputes on set. The famous scene where Davis grabs Hopkins by the shoulders and shakes her was, by several accounts, done with genuine feeling and required multiple takes because Davis kept shaking Hopkins harder than necessary. The film was adapted from John Van Druten’s successful Broadway play and examines themes of female friendship, artistic integrity versus commercial success, and the price of ambition with unusual sophistication for its era. The film was later remade as Rich and Famous (1981) starring Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, directed by George Cukor in his final film. Franz Waxman’s elegant score perfectly underscores the shifting moods of rivalry and reconciliation. The colorization adds elegant visual depth to this classic Hollywood drama.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4 digital download
• Resolution: HD restored
• Colorized: Professionally colorized from original black and white
• Audio: Original mono restored
• Runtime: Approximately 110 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes — watch on any device
• Instant download: Available immediately after purchase
• Price: €15.00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: Did Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins really rival each other?
A: Yes, their famous real-life feud — rooted in professional jealousy and personal antipathy — adds incredible authenticity to every scene of literary rivalry and jealousy. The on-set tension was reportedly palpable.

Q: Is this the complete version?
A: Yes, this is the full 1943 Warner Bros. theatrical release of Old Acquaintance at approximately 110 minutes, presented in its complete colorized version.

Q: Was this remade?
A: Yes, the film was remade in 1981 as Rich and Famous, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, directed by George Cukor. The original remains the definitive version.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: DRM-free MP4, compatible with virtually any device or media player.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: €15.00 for instant download. The colorization process ensures every scene looks stunning in color.

Q: Can I watch on multiple devices?
A: Absolutely. The file is DRM-free, so you can watch on your TV, tablet, phone, or computer.

Related Colorized Classics

• The Bride Wore Red (1937)
• Conquest (1937)
• Out of the Fog (1962)
• June Night (1940)
• The Champ (1931)