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Now, Voyager Quotes

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Now, Voyager

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale: No member of the Vale family has ever had a nervous breakdown.

Dr. Jasquith: Well there's one having one now.

Charlotte Vale: Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

Dr. Jasquith: Remember what it says in the Bible, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

Charlotte Vale: How does it feel to be the Lord?

Dr. Jasquith: Not so very wonderful, since the Free Will Bill was passed. Too little power.

Charlotte Vale: I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid, mother. I'm not afraid.

Charlotte: A maiden aunt is an ideal person to select presents for young girls.

Charlotte: An architect! I could cry with pride.

Jerry: Are you one of the Vales of Boston?

Charlotte: One of the lesser ones.

Jerry: Is it Miss, or Mrs.?

Charlotte: It's Aunt.

June: Got the shakes, Aunt Charlotte?

Charlotte: Go on! Make fun of me! You think it's fun making fun of me!

Mrs. Vale: Charlotte is no more ill than a moulting canary.

Charlotte Vale: "Some girls aren't the marrying kind."

Charlotte Vale: I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born either. With a calamity on both sides.

Charlotte Vale: Dr. Jasquith says that tyranny is sometimes expression of the maternal instinct. If that's a mother's love, I want no part of it.

Charlotte: "We can only hope that someone will tenderly put away our toys."

Mrs. Vale: I will not countenance deceit against one of my own flesh and blood, but neither will I countenance any more of Charlotte's nonsense. [To Charlotte] Lisa tells me that your latest peculiarities, your fits of crying, your secretiveness indicate that you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Is that what you're trying to achieve? Believe me, I'm trying to help. Dr. Jaquith has a sanitarium in Vermont, I believe. Probably one of those places with a high-wire fence and yowling inmates.

Dr. Jaquith: I wouldn't want anyone to have that notion. Cascade is where people go when they're tired. Like you go to the seashore.

Mrs. Vale: The very word 'psychiatry,' Dr. Jaquith, doesn't it fill you with shame, my daughter, a member of our family?

Dr. Jaquith: There's nothing shameful or frightening about it. It's simple, what I do. People come to a fork in the road. They don't know which way to go. I put up a signpost: "Not that way. This way."

Dr. Jaquith: You know, there's nothing like these old Boston homes anywhere...you see them standing in a row like bastions, firm, proud, resisting the new, houses turned in upon themselves hugging their pride.

Charlotte: Introverted, doctor.

Dr. Jaquith: Well, I wouldn't know about that. I don't put much faith in scientific terms. I leave that to the fakirs and writers of books.

Dr. Jaquith: My dear Mrs. Vale, if you had deliberately and maliciously planned to destroy your daughter's life, you couldn't have done it more completely.

Mrs. Vale: How? By having exercised a mother's rights?

Dr. Jaquith: A mother's rights, tawdle. A child has rights, a person has rights, to discover her own mistakes, to make her own way, to grow and blossom in her own particular soil.

Mrs. Vale: Are we getting into botany, doctor? Are we flowers?

Jerry: [pointing at Charlotte in the picture] Who's the fat lady with the heavy brows and all the hair?

Charlotte: A spinster Aunt.

Jerry: Where are you? Taking the picture?

Charlotte: I'm the fat lady with the heavy brows and all the hair. I'm poor Aunt Charlotte and I've been ill. I've been in a sanitarium for three months and I'm not well yet. [She breaks down in tears] Forgive me.

Jerry: Feeling better?

Charlotte: Much. Thanks to you. Oh, many, many thanks to you.

Jerry: Thanks for what?

Charlotte: Oh, for sharing my carriage today and for walking my legs off sight-seeing. And for lunch and for shopping, and for helping me feel that there were a few moments when I - when I almost felt alive. Thank you.

Jerry: Thank you who?

Charlotte: Thank you, Jerry.

Jerry: [as Charlotte tries to leave] Please, don't yet.

Charlotte: Well, I'm not going to struggle with you.

Jerry: That's right. No telling what sort of primitive instincts you might arouse. Isn't it beautiful? [He puts two cigarettes in his mouth, lights them both and then hands one to Charlotte.] Do you believe in immortality?

Charlotte: I don't know. Do you?

Jerry: I want to believe that there's a chance for such happiness to be carried on somehow somewhere.

Charlotte: Are you so happy then?

Jerry: Close to it. Getting warmer and warmer as we used to say as kids. Remember?

Charlotte: Look out or you'll get burned we used to say.

Jerry: Are you afraid of getting burnt if you get too close to happiness?

Charlotte: Mercy, no. I'm immune to happiness and therefore to burns.

Jerry: You weren't immune that night on the mountain.

Charlotte: Do you call that happiness?

Jerry: Only a small part. There are other kinds.

Charlotte: Such as?

Jerry: Having fun together, getting a kick out of simple little things, out of beauty like this. Sharing confidences we wouldn't share with anybody else in all the world. Charlotte, won't you be honest and tell me if you are happy too? Since the night on the boat when you told me about your illness, I-I can't get you out of my mind - or out of my heart either. If I were free, there would be only one thing I want to do - prove you're not immune to happiness. Would you want me to prove it Charlotte? Tell me you would. Then I'll go. [She turns toward him and buries her head in his chest.] Why darling, you are crying.

Charlotte: I'm such a fool, such an old fool. These are only tears of gratitude - an old maid's gratitude for the crumbs offered.

Jerry: Don't talk like that.

Charlotte: You see, no one ever called me darling before. [they kiss]

Charlotte: I hate goodbyes.

Jerry: They don't matter. It's what's gone before.

Charlotte: No, it's what can't go after.

Jerry: We may see each other - sometime.

Charlotte: No, we promised. We are both to go home.

Jerry: Will it help you to know I'll miss you every moment?

Charlotte: So will I, Jerry, so will I. Goodbye.

Charlotte: Mother - I don't want to be disagreeable or unkind. I've come home to live with you again here in the same house. But it can't be in the same way. I've been living my own life, making my own decisions for a long while now. It's impossible to go back to being treated like a child again. I don't think I'll do anything of importance that will displease you, but Mother, from now on, you must give me complete freedom, including deciding what I wear, where I sleep, what I read...Mother, please be fair and meet me halfway.

Mrs. Vale: They told me before you were born that my recompense to having a late child was the comfort the child would be to me in my old age, especially if she was a girl. And on your first day home after six month's absence, you behave like this.

Mrs. Vale: And you expect me to pay for articles charged to me of which I do not approve?

Charlotte: Well, I could pay for it myself. I have saved quite a little money. I have about five thousand dollars.

Mrs. Vale: Five thousand dollars won't last very long, especially if your monthly allowance were to be discontinued.

Charlotte: Oh. Mother, I want to ask you something. When father set up the trust for the two boys, why didn't he make one for me too?

Mrs. Vale: Because you were a mere child and he wisely left your affairs to my own better judgment. I'm sure you've always had everything in the world you want.

Charlotte: I haven't had independence.

Mrs. Vale: That's it. That's what I want to talk about - independence. To buy what you choose, to wear what you choose, sleep where you choose, independence. That's what you mean by it, isn't it?

Charlotte: Dr. Jaquith says that - that independence is reliance upon one's own will and judgment.

Mrs. Vale: I make the decisions here, Charlotte. I'm willing you should occupy your own room until I dismiss the nurse. She will occupy your father's room for the time being, and will perform a daughter's duties as well as a nurse's. That will give you a good chance to think over what I've said. I'm very glad to give a devoted daughter a home under my roof, and pay all her expenses, but not if she scorns my authority.

Charlotte: Well, I could earn my own living, Mother. As a matter of fact, I've often thought about it. I'd make a very good head waitress in a restaurant or...

Mrs. Vale: You may think that very funny, but I guess you'll be laughing out of the other side of your face if I did carry out my suggestion.

Charlotte: I don't think I would. I'm not afraid, Mother. (in close-up) I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid, Mother.

Mrs. Vale: Charlotte, sit down. I want you to know something I've never told you before. It's about my will. You'll be the most powerful and wealthy member of the Vale family - if I don't change my mind. I advise you to think it over.

Charlotte: I knew you were married and I walked right in with my eyes wide open. But you said it would make you happier.

Jerry: And it has. I've got back my work, and that's due to you.

Charlotte: I've been hoping you'd say that.

Charlotte: Shall I tell you what you've given me? On that very first day, a little bottle of perfume made me feel important. You were my first friend. And then when you fell in love with me, I was so proud. And when I came home, I needed something to make me feel proud. And your camellias arrived, and I knew you were thinking about me. Oh, I could have walked into a den of lions. As a matter of fact, I did, and the lions didn't hurt me.

Charlotte: Elliott and I have broken our engagement.

Mrs. Vale: Why have you done that?

Charlotte: Because I don't love him.

Mrs. Vale: Have you no sense of obligation to your family or to me? Here you have the chance to join our name Vale with one of the finest families in the city, Livingston, and you come in here to tell me that you aren't in love. You're behaving like a romantic girl of eighteen.

Charlotte: I don't doubt it.

Mrs. Vale: And what do you intend to do with your life?

Charlotte: Get a cat and a parrot and live alone in single blessedness.

Mrs. Vale: STOP ROCKING. You've never done anything to make your mother proud, or to make yourself proud either. Why, I should think you'd be ashamed to be born and live all your life as Charlotte Vale. Miss Charlotte Vale.

Charlotte: Dr. Jaquith says that tyranny is sometimes an expression of the maternal instinct. If that's a mother's love, I want no part of it. [Rising vehemently and walking away] I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born either. It's been a calamity on both sides.

[Mrs. Vale suffers a fatal stroke and heart attack]

Charlotte: Oh mother, let's not quarrel. We've been getting along together so well lately. It was a horrid...thing to say...

Tina: I'm ugly and nobody likes me...I'm not pretty in the least. You know I'm not.

Charlotte: Well, whoever wants that kind of prettiness, Tina? There's something else you can have if you earn it. A kind of beauty.

Tina: What kind?

Charlotte: Something that has nothing to do with your face. A light shines from inside you because you're a nice person. You think about it. Someday, you'll know I'm right.

Tina: Will they like me then?

Charlotte: Who are they?

Tina: Everybody. All the kids at school, Miss Trask, and the nurses and the doctors. Oh, there must be something awfully wrong with me.

Charlotte: Do you like them, Tina? The kids at school, and Miss Trask and the nurses and the doctors?

Tina: No. I hate them.

Charlotte: Shhh. That's something else you've got to grow up with. If you want people to like you, you've got to like people.

Tina': Why are you so good to me?

Charlotte: Because somebody was good to me once when I needed somebody.

Jerry: I can't go on forever taking, taking, taking from you and, and giving nothing, darling.

Charlotte: Oh, I see. Forgive me, Jerry, it's your pride, isn't it? Let me explain. You will be giving. Don't you know that to take is sometimes a way to give - the most beautiful way in the world if two people love each other. You'll be giving me Tina, every single day I'll be taking and you'll be giving.

Jerry: It's very kind of you to put it that way.

Charlotte: Some man who'll make me happy? Oh, so that's it. So that's it. Well, I've certainly made a great mistake. Here I have been laboring under the delusion that you and I were so in sympathy - so one - that you'd know without being asked what would make me happy. And you come up here to talk about some man. Apparently, you haven't the slightest conception of what torture it is to love a man and to be shut out, barred out, to be always an outsider, an extra.

Jerry: Charlotte, let me -

Charlotte: Why, when Tina said she wanted to come home and stay with me - well, it was like a miracle happening. Like having your child, a part of you. And I even allowed myself to indulge in the fantasy that both of us loving her and doing what was best for her together would make her seem actually like our child after a while. But I see no such fantasy has occurred to you. Again, I've been just a big sentimental fool. It's a tendency I have.

Jerry: Wait a minute. I was afraid you were keeping Tina out of pity. But there was no note of pity in your ridicule of me just now. Now I know you still love me, and it won't die, what's between us. Do what we will - ignore it, neglect it, starve it - it's stronger than both of us together.

Charlotte: Please, let me go.

Jerry: Charlotte -

Charlotte: Please, let me go. Jerry, Dr. Jaquith knows about us. When he said I could take Tina, he said, "You're on probation." Do you know what that means? It means that I'm on probation because of you and me. He allowed this visit as a test, and if I can't stand such tests, I'll lose Tina, and we'll lose each other. Jerry, please help me.

Jerry: Shall we just have a cigarette on it?

Charlotte: Yes.

Jerry: May I sometimes come here?...

Charlotte: Whenever you like; it's your home too. There are people here who love you.

Jerry: ...and look at you and Tina? Share with you peace and contentment?

Charlotte: Of course, and just think, it won't be for this time only. That is, if you will help me keep what we have, if we both try hard to protect that little strip of territory that's ours. We can talk about your child -

Jerry: Our child.

Charlotte: Thank you.

Jerry: And will you be happy, Charlotte?

Charlotte: Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars. Note: bolded line is ranked #46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Charlotte Vale: My mother didn't think that Leslie was suitable for a Vale of Boston. What man is suitable, Doctor? She's never found one. What man would ever look at me and say, "I want you"? I'm fat. My mother doesn't approve of dieting. Look at my shoes. My mother approves of sensible shoes. Look at the books on my shelves. My mother approves of good, solid books. I'm my mother's well-loved daughter. I'm her companion. I'm my mother's servant. My mother says. My mother! My mother! My mother!

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale: Charlotte was a late child. There were three boys, then after a long time, this girl. "A child of my old age," I've always called her. I was well into my forties, and her father passed on soon after she was born. My ugly duckling. Of course it's true that all late children are marked. Often such children aren't wanted. That can mark them. I've kept her close by me always. When she was young, foolish, I made decisions for her. Always the right decisions.

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale: Could we try to remember that we're hardly commercial travelers? It's bad enough to have to associate with these tourists on board without having to go ashore with them.

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“Now, Voyager”: Why the 1942 screen classic with Bette Davis and Paul Henreid will never age

“Box office dynamite—that’s ‘Now, Voyager’.” Those are the first words of Naka ‘s “Now Voyager” Variety film review, as published August 19, 1942. Continuing in the very same review: ‘Here is drama heavily steeped in the emotional tide that has swept its star, Bette Davis, to her present crest, and it’s the kind of drama that maintains Warners’ pattern for box office success. (…) It affords Miss Davis one of her superlative acting roles, that of a neurotic spinster fighting to free herself from the shackles of a tyrannical mother. (…)  For Henreid, perhaps, this is his top role in American pictures; he neatly dovetails and makes believable the sometimes underplayed character of the man who finds love too late.’

The film tells the story of Boston heiress Charlotte Vale (in the beginning unglamorously portrayed by Bette Davis), a sheltered, frumpy, and middle-aged neurotic who is driven to a nervous breakdown by her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper), but with the help of a soft-spoken idealized therapist (Claude Rains), she is transformed into a modern, secure and attractive young woman. During an ocean voyage to South America, she meets a suave man, Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid), and blooms as a woman. Durrance, unhappily married to a woman he dares not to hurt, has a young daughter Tina (played by the then twelve-year-old promising juvenile actress Janis Wilson in an uncredited role). She is an emotionally depressed child victimized by the insecurity of their unsettled home. Ultimately, Charlotte Vale and Jerry Durrance end up in a platonic relationship in which she keeps Tina, who in the meantime, is in the process of recovering, while Henreid stays with his unwanted wife.

“Now, Voyager” is an unabashed first-rate soap opera—or a woman’s picture, if you wish—and as such, it’s one of the very best of its kind, thanks to Warner Bros. expertise. At the same time, the powerful drama is backed by Max Steiner’s lush and Academy Award-winning musical score which is almost as much a part of the film as the actors. Bette Davis, one of Hollywood’s queens in the 1940s, made the film’s heroine a touching, dignified, and truly believable woman.

Miss Davis was not the first choice to play the role of Charlotte Vale, though. Irene Dunne, along with Charles Boyer, her co-star in “Love Affair” (1939), were considered to be perfect for the leading roles. Producer Hal B. Wallis also offered the female lead to Norma Shearer, and although she was fond of it, she had already made up her mind to retire from the screen after George Cukor’s “Her Cardboard Lover” (1942), due to her eye problems. When Irene Dunne heard that the script had also been discussed with Norma Shearer, she declined as well, fearing that both actresses were played against each other. Then Ginger Rogers was offered the part. She liked it, but weeks passed by for her to reply, and even after Wallis sent her a wire while she was on her ranch on the Rogue River, she did not respond, so finally the part went to Bette Davis, who was eager to play it.

One of the most famous and landmark scenes of the film is when Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes simultaneously and gallantly hands one of the cigarettes to Bette Davis, thereby starting a new custom (in an era when people obviously weren’t aware of the danger of smoking). The film became highly successful: “Now, Voyager” was Warner Bros.’s fourth biggest grossing film of 1942.

Compared to the then-established two-time Academy Award-winner Bette Davis, Mr. Henreid only had a few years of experience in Hollywood. After leaving Austria in the mid-1930s, he first settled in London and then moved on to the West Coast. So, although pretty much a newcomer in Hollywood when “Now, Voyager” was made, his performance was well-received. The New York Herald Tribune wrote, ‘Paul Henreid achieves his full stature as a romantic star’ while Time praised him as ‘Hollywood’s likeliest leading man who acts like a kind and morally responsible human being.’

In his autobiography “Ladies Man” (1984), Paul Henreid remembers Bette Davis as ‘a solid master of her craft’: “I found her a delight to work with, and we got along famously. In fact, a very close friendship started between us, and she remained a dear, close friend—and always a very decent human being.” The atmosphere on the set was amiable and supportive, although Miss Davis did have problems with her co-star Bonita Granville (who played the part of Charlotte’s young niece June Vale). “She was bitchy in the film and off. I don’t remember the details, but she struck me as flighty and gossipy,” she told Boze Hadleigh in his interview book “Bette Davis Speaks” (1996).

Principal photography of “Now, Voyager” began on the Warner lot on April 7, 1942, and ended on June 23, with retakes on July 3. The film was released in the U.S. on October 31, 1942. “Casablanca,” another Hal B. Wallis production, also starring Paul Henreid and Claude Rains (a frequent performer in Wallis’ pictures), was released a few months later on January 23, 1943, and was almost shot simultaneously at Warner Bros., from May 25 until August 3. Over the years, “Casablanca” gained a more popular following than “Now, Voyager” did; in 1998, a novel entitled “As Times Goes By,” written by Michael Walsh for Warner Books, follows the characters of Rick, Ilsa, Victor (Paul Henreid), Sam, and Louis (Claude Rains) after they left Casablanca.

When originally scheduled to direct “Now, Voyager,” filmmaker Edmund Goulding wrote a treatment for the film, but he fell ill and was unable to direct the film. Michael Curtiz then was assigned as director, as soon as he had finished shooting another Wallis production called “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942) with James Cagney. Still, from the very start, it became clear that Curtiz and Bette Davis couldn’t get along. Finally, producer Hal B. Wallis decided to go with a new director, London-born Irving Rapper. “He was a pleasant, amusing Englishman. He liked Bette, and she liked him,” Wallis recalled in “Starmaker,” his 1989 mémoires . Irving Rapper was a vocal coach, dialogue director, and assistant director in the 1930s who, prior to “Now, Voyager,” had directed only three features, including “One Foot in Heaven” (1941) starring Fredric March and Martha Scott, and “The Gay Sisters” (1942) with Barbara Stanwyck. In the end, just like Bette Davis, he was not the first choice by all means, but he turned out to be the right one.

Four years later, Irving Rapper and his three leading actors from “Now, Voyager”—Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains (Davis’ favorite co-star)—were reunited with the drama “Deception,” also made at Warner Bros. (this one without Hal B. Wallis). In 1964, Paul Henreid directed Bette Davis (playing twin sisters) in the crime drama “Dead Ringer,” with his daughter Monika Henreid playing a supporting role.

Irving Rapper and Bette Davis later worked together again in “The Corn Is Green” and “Another Man’s Posion’ (1951). “Irving has directed some of my best pictures,” she said in later interviews.

Author Olive Higgins Prouty wrote four novels about the wealthy Vale family in Boston (“Now, Voyager” being the third). She sold the “Voyager” rights to Wallis for $35,000 in October 1941, and made several suggestions. She preferred Technicolor to be used, with the flashbacks shown in subdued colors as if seen through a veil, and she had laid down a scheme for particular sequences. Wallis decided to go ahead and ignore them completely, but after she had seen the film in her New England home with twenty-five friends, ‘all of them applauded,’ Wallis wrote in his autobiography. She wrote him a letter, saying that ‘the plot follows very closely that of my book and the personalities of the various characters have been carefully observed and preserved.’

Finally, film director Irving Rapper, born in 1898 in London, passed away at age 101 in 1999 in Woodland Hills, California, of natural causes. Never really in the spotlights, there’s not too much written about him. Authors Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg did include him in their interview book “The Celluloid Muse: Hollywood Directors Speak” (1969), a collection of fifteen interviews with film directors who spent most of their careers working in Hollywood. In their introduction of the Irving Rapper interview, they describe his whereabouts at the time of the interview: ‘Irving Rapper’s apartment is set high in a glistening white building in the very heart of Hollywood. Only a stone’s throw from Hollywood Boulevard, with its seedy spangle of light-signs,  its driven restless sixties people, and its ever-skulking hustlers, Rapper inhabits a seemingly sealed-off forties world. As so often in Hollywood, fantasy and reality seem one, so that as you enter the hall, where a super-efficient blonde announces your arrival directly from the reception desk to the host’s telephone, you could easily be in a scene from a vintage Bette Davis picture, and you half expect to see her charge stormily at any moment through the glass window doors, ready for an argument with David Brian or Bruce Bennett—those lost figures of Hollywood’s past. Chez Rapper, the atmosphere of that past exists. Comfortably plump and relaxed, with an elegant and cultivated personality, he is utterly unlike the brisk new generation of grey-suited, fiercely efficient Hollywood men. (…) Like so many Hollywood talents, he has been put firmly—and one hopes only temporarily—on the shelf by the newest generation, but looking round his apartment, you see the compensations: Chinese lampstands ‘fit for a museum,” magnificent paintings crowded tightly up of a wall, a louvered cocktail recess, an atmosphere of spacious, glossy luxury. And beyond the great windows and the penthouse balcony, the whispering traffic, the horn-bleeps and the diamond shine of an ocean of lights: Los Angeles.’

Just for the record, even though “Now, Voyager” isn’t mentioned in AFI’s list of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time, the film ranks at #23 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time, while Bette Davis’ closing line, ‘Oh, Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon… we have the stars!’ is at #46 in AFI’s Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time. In 2007, “Now, Voyager” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.’

“Now, Voyager” (1942, trailer)

NOW, VOYAGER (1942) DIR Irving Rapper PROD Hal B. Wallis SCR Casey Robinson (novel ‘Now, Voyager’ [1941] by Olive Higgins Prouty) CAM Sol Polito MUS Max Steiner ED Warren Low CAST Bette Davis ( Charlotte Vale ), Paul Henreid ( Jerry Durrance ), Claude Rains ( Doctor Jaquith ), Gladys Cooper ( Mrs. Vale ), Bonita Granville ( June Vale ), John Loder ( Elliott Livingston ), Ilka Chase ( Lisa Vale ), Mary Wickes ( Dora Pickford ), Janis Wilson ( Tina Durrance )

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WATCH THE BEST OF CLASSIC CINEMA

Jay's Classic Movie Blog

• Jul 27, 2021
• 16 min read

67. NOW, VOYAGER, 1942

A stellar melodrama about personal transformation, filled with hollywood magic.

“Now, Voyager” is not a landmark film, nor did it change the face of cinema. However, this delectable melodrama is a gripping textbook example of the magic that was Hollywood. This film earned three Academy Award nominations - including one for its dazzling performance by the grande dame of classic Hollywood, Bette Davis. A longtime audience favorite, it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the 23rd Greatest Love Story of All-Time and its cherished status is evident by the fact that more people have asked me if “Now, Voyager” will appear on my blog than any other film.

“Now, Voyager” is the Cinderella-ish story of “Charlotte Vale”, the repressed, ugly duckling daughter of a cruelly dictatorial mother. The emotional abuse caused by her tyrannical mom has put her on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and the film opens as “Dr. Jaquith” (the country’s foremost psychiatrist) visits her home for a mental assessment. With his help (and a stay at his sanitarium), she transforms from matronly spinster into striking socialite. Along the way she falls for an unhappily married man named “Jerry" (who happens to have an ugly duckling daughter of his own) and the two struggle to not give in to their love for one another. All of this is the delicious candy-coating on a story of substantial depth about overcoming obstacles and feelings of inadequacy, and finding courage to make our own choices - all in the name of becoming oneself. The title was taken from a poem by Walt Whitman :

“The untold want by life and land ne’er granted,

Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find”

Its impeccably executed storytelling and unusual subject of inner growth turn this melodrama into enthralling entertainment to which everyone can relate.

It is often said that movies and movie stars from the Hollywood studio era were larger-than-life, and to a significant degree that is true. They require an ever so slight suspension of disbelief, presenting situations and characters that seem plausible, but under close inspection could only take place in a dream or on a screen. Majestic backdrops, elegant costumes, perfectly coiffed hairstyles, and dramatic performances all set to music create a romanticized version of life one can't help but covet. Such is the case with “Now, Voyager” , which contains a leading man just a bit too perfect for reality, and a leading lady whose life transforms from fearful recluse to completely confident sophisticate almost overnight. But the finely tuned skills of everyone involved make it all seem so possible. Davis’ performance in particular hits such notes of truth, she makes us believe everything presented is actually happening.

As with “Now, Voyager” , these movies set a high bar in love, glamour, and life, and gave audiences things to which to aspire - even if unattainable. Thus, the Hollywood studio era became fondly referred to as The Dream Factory. As the studio system dissolved and films became more “real”, the movie screen of dreams turned into a mirror in which that larger-than-life reflection was nowhere to be seen. Bette Davis inadvertently said it best in a 1971 interview on “The Dick Cavett Show” when she spoke about her approach to acting: “I think acting should look as if we were acting a little… which is a very old-fashioned theory today… [nowadays] we mustn’t have any idea that anybody knows the camera’s on them at all… it’s just life… we all have life twenty four, twelve hours a day. Sometimes we want to forget life, you know, and I think it should be a little larger than life. A little bit theatrical”.

“Now, Voyager” was based on a novel by New England novelist Olive Higgins Prouty . In coping with the separate losses of two infant children, she wrote the novel “Stella Dallas” (which was adapted into several films). A few years later she suffered from a nervous breakdown and began psychotherapy with a stay at a sanitarium. As part of her therapy, her doctor suggested she approach writing as a profession and she wrote a series of books about the “Vale” family, the most famous of which was “Now, Voyager” (considered a pioneering look a psychotherapy). Warner Brothers producer Hal Wallis bought the rights to the book and had Casey Robinson adapt the screenplay. Like many classic films, “Now, Voyager” started out a very different film. The first actresses in mind to star were Ginger Rogers and Irene Dunne . When Davis got wind of this she fought for the role, reminding Wallis that she was a New Englander like “Charlotte”, was already under contract to Warner Brothers (unlike Rogers and Dunne), and she was the best actress they had on the lot. She got the part.

Michael Curtiz had been chosen to direct but dropped out, either because he preferred to direct an action film or didn’t want to work again with Davis (the two had worked together on six films, furiously fighting on their last - 1939’s "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" ). No one seems certain which it was, though Curtiz never did work again with Davis. It’s been said that Davis learned of "Now, Voyager" from her friend Irving Rapper, who had just proved himself a solid director with the success of his first three films. When Curtiz left, Davis evidently requested Rapper to direct. From his previous job as a dialogue coach, Rapper formed a great instinct with actors and felt casting was vital in his films. He personally chose Gladys Cooper and Claude Rains for their roles in this film - both of whom are outstanding. Rapper’s superlative directing of “Now, Voyager” is a large reason the film is so mesmerizing. He keeps things moving along and utterly interesting, picking camera angles which entirely satisfy while keeping us glued to the screen. Even the simple way he introduces “Charlotte” via her shoes is intriguing enough to induce a gasp by the time we see her face (both pre and post make-over). “Now, Voyager” established Rapper as a top director of the 1940s with a flair for “women’s pictures” (films with a female protagonist). He directed Davis in a total of five films and though they got along, years later he said she was quite difficult to work with.

As a young boy, British born Irving Rapper moved to New York where he later became a theater actor, appearing on Broadway by the 1920s. In 1935 he was hired by Warner Brothers as a dialogue coach and assistant director, and worked on films which included "The Sisters" and "Juarez" , both starring Davis. His first film as director was 1941's "Shining Victory” (in which Davis appeared in a cameo). He was most at home in the cocoon of the studio system, so after it ended he directed only a handful of films. Other classics from his twenty-two directed films include "The Brave One", "The Corn Is Green", "The Glass Menagerie", "Marjorie Morningstar", and "Deception" (which reunited Davis, Henreid, and Rains). His final film was “Born Again” in 1978, in which he made his only screen appearance as an actor. He was gay and never married. Irving Rapper died in 1999 at the age of 101.

Just as “Now, Voyager” personifies Hollywood in top form, Bette (pronounced “Betty”) Davis as “Charlotte Vale” shows the best in screen acting. In a monumental performance as the repressed daughter trying to overcome her mother’s grip, Davis’ emotional honesty and vulnerability are hypnotizing. Being an actor I can’t help but be bedazzled by her work. Almost any decent actor can be highly dramatic, but a true test of skill can be found in the simple scenes. In her first scene, she greets her sister-in-law, mother, and “Dr. Jaquith” - each with distinct facial reactions, letting us know just how “Charlotte” feels about each of the characters. As she shows the doctor the upper floors of her house, she tries to hide a squirming uncomfortableness which begins to settle as she watches him look at the ivory boxes she’s carved. The subtle, shifting emotions seen on her face as she watches him elevate this scene into riveting drama. These little moments personify Davis’ ability, as she somehow combines just the right amount of theatricality with truth.

Movie stars rely on personality to capture hearts while great actors use talent. Nobody conquered being both a movie star and great actor better than Bette Davis. Her acting was deliberately mannered (with a trademark clipped speaking, pelvis driven way of walking, and often fidgeting hands), but her theatrics always stemmed from an emotional truth. She is the only actor I can think of that was able to successfully accomplish this complete balance of artifice and authenticity. Her astounding artistry and bold personality also contain an unexpected quality. One can’t take their eyes off her, as you can never guess what she will do next. No matter what emotional state she may inhabit, Davis is always exciting to watch.

At eighteen years old, Bette Davis saw a play featuring actress Peg Entwistle and decided to become an actress (several years later Entwistle infamously jumped to her death from atop the letter "H" on the Hollywoodland sign). Davis began in theater, making it to Broadway in 1929. She moved to Hollywood in 1930 and was signed by Universal Studios. Not bestowed with the typical beauty required of film actresses at the time, the studio didn’t know what to do with her. Her film debut came in 1931 with “Bad Sister” , in which the head of the studio famously said Davis had "about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville ” (an old male actor also in the film). After a year of making several more films and being lent to other studios, Universal did not renew her contract. Just as she’s ready to leave Los Angeles, actor George Arliss requested her for the female lead in his 1932 film “The Man Who Played God” . She received good reviews for the film and Warner Brothers (who made the film) signed her to a five-year contract. Not exactly sure what to do with this oddity, Warners cast her in secondary and Ingénue roles, which after a while didn't gel with Davis' confidence and drive. She fought Warners to be lent to RKO Studios to play the evil "Mildred Rogers” in 1934’s “Of Human Bondage” . Against Warner's studio head Jack Warner’s wishes (he thought it would destroy her career), she got the role and her performance astonished people, earning her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. In her career Davis always sought good parts and often stated she had to fight to get every great role she ever played - the first being “Of Human Bondage" . The following year she appeared in “Dangerous” and won her first Best Actress Academy Award. The classic, “The Petrified Forrest” came next, but was followed by two second-rate films and parts.

Mediocre films were enough for Davis to be fearful her career would be permanently damaged, so she went to the UK where she was offered better roles. That was a breach of her Warner’s contract, which (like all Hollywood actor’s contracts at the time) forced her to appear in any film the studio wished, and if she refused, was put on unpaid suspension for the duration of the film. All suspension time was added to the end of her contract, further extending it. Davis famously went to court in England with Warner Brothers and lost (in 1943 Olivia de Havilland went to court with Warners and won - which I previously wrote about in “The Heiress” post). Davis returned to Hollywood and though she lost the battle, she gained the respect of the Hollywood bigwigs (it’s been said Davis was the only person to make Jack Warner nervous when she called for a meeting with him). In 1938 she played the lead in “Jezebel” , a film about a headstrong Southern belle (Warner Brothers’ answer to the much publicized, soon-to-be-made “Gone with the Wind” ), for which Davis earned her second Best Actress Academy Award. That film began the peak of her career, and was followed by four consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations, including one for “Now, Voyager” . She was now getting meaty roles, and insisted on looking the part of her characters rather than like a movie star. In “Now, Voyager” she wanted to look as matronly and unappealing as possible, and in the film she is seen at both her ugliest and most beautiful.

This period in Davis' career includes films such as "Dark Victory", "The Little Foxes", "The Letter", "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex", "Watch on the Rhine", "Mr. Skeffington" , and "The Corn is Green” - all of which established her as one of the definitive actresses of her time. Davis had a reputation for not mincing words, being a disciplined professional workhorse, expecting the best from those around her, battling with her directors, and always fighting for better parts. She was a big box-office draw and became Warner Brothers’ most profitable actor (sometimes jokingly referred to as “the fifth Warner brother”). Her friend, Olivia de Havilland astutely summed up Davis’ career in her speech at the American Film Institute’s 1977 “Salute to Bette Davis” when she said: “Bette had the career I most admired. It was the career I wanted to have because she was a pioneer, a revolutionary in that she wanted to play real human beings - good and bad, lovely or ugly, whereas I fear most actresses wanted only to be beautiful and romantic. But not Bette. She was the only young actress to combine character work with stardom”.

Davis' career faltered in the late 1940s, though she appeared in perhaps her best role and film, “All About Eve” in 1950 (the first film on this blog). Although she worked continually until her swan song, “Wicked Stepmother” in 1989, the bulk of her later films (and TV shows) were generally of lesser quality. Exceptions include "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Dead Ringer", "Pocketful of Miracles", "The Virgin Queen", "The Star", "The Whales of August", "Death on the Nile", and “Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte” . She married and divorced four times, including her final marriage to actor Gary Merrill , whom while co-starring in “All About Eve” . You can read a bit more about Davis in that entry by clicking HERE . Bette Davis died in 1989 at the age of 81. Her sarcophagus reads: ”She did it the hard way”.

Paul Henreid co-stars as “Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Duvaux Durrance”, the man who falls in love with “Charlotte”. This Austrian actor brings his international charm to the role, and “Jerry’s” compassionate, sensitive, and chivalrous nature make it understandable why “Charlotte” would come out of her shell and open her heart. Henreid’s chemistry with Davis is superb, as the two seem to continually comfort one another. Not only is Henreid ideal in the role, but in the film he performs one of cinema’s most iconic gestures as he lights two cigarettes in his mouth at once, keeping one for himself and giving the other to “Charlotte”. He does this three times in the film and it became a sensation for lighting cigarettes. According to Henreid, the script called for a more convoluted approach so he simplified it by lighting them the way he did for himself and his wife when driving. After working in Germany, Austria, and the UK, “Now, Voyager” was Paul Henreid’s second American film, his first being "Joan of Paris” also in 1942. Davis saw him in that film, wanted him for this, and “Now, Voyager” made him a star - solidified by his next film, “Casablanca” , also in 1942. He and Davis became friends and appeared together again in 1946’s “Deception” (also with Rapper and Claude Rains), in an attempt to recapture the magic created by “Now, Voyager” , but to no avail. Henreid also became a director, and directed Davis in the classic 1964 thriller, “Dead Ringer” . You can read more about Paul Henreid’s life and career in my “Casablanca” post.

Claude Rains plays “Dr. Jaquith”, the country’s foremost psychiatrist. One of Hollywood’s most talented actors, in his few scenes he is able to project the authority, confidence, and wisdom of a celebrated doctor in an underplayed, believable manner. Nothing phases “Dr. Jaquith” as he witnesses emotional fits and withstands insults. He puts on no airs as he brings an appropriate amount of humanity, so that it’s conceivable anyone, even “Charlotte”, could open their mind and heart to him. The way Rains observes the other characters is in itself praiseworthy. Watch his face as he sizes-up “Charlotte’s” mother upon their meeting, how he looks with such genuine excitement at “Charlotte’s” boxes, or studies her with kindness as she gets angry after he asks her for a cigarette. He is simply fantastic.

The son of a stage actor, Claude Rains grew up in the slums of London with a speech impediment and thick Cockney accent. He first appeared onstage at ten years old, and continued to work odd jobs in the theater as well as act. After briefly moving to New York, he returned to England to serve in WWI where he became a captain, but not before suffering vocal cord damage and losing most of the vision from his right eye. After the war he returned to the theater, got rid of his speech impediment and Cockney accent (replacing it with a Mid-Atlantic accent), and soon became a leading British stage actor and popular acting teacher (with pupils such as Charles Laughton and John Gielgud ). He appeared in his one and only silent film in 1920, "Build Thy House” . In 1927 he returned to New York where he appeared in one Broadway show after another. His second film (and first in Hollywood) was as the title role in the classic 1933 horror film “The Invisible Man” , which began his hugely successful film career. He signed with Warner Brothers in 1935, and has since appeared in many classics, three of which are already on this blog ( “Notorious” , “Casablanca” , and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” ) where you can read more about his life and career. This Tony Award winning, four-time Academy Award nominated actor is one of a few character actors to become a full-fledged star, and he is one of my favorites.

Gladys Cooper plays “Mrs. Windle Vale”, the uncompromising mother of “Charlotte”. Even with the film's other outstanding performances, if it weren’t for Davis, Cooper would steal the film. This is a woman whose mothering is so appalling it is easy to see how it caused “Charlotte’s” compromised mental state. As awful as “Mrs. Vale” may be, Cooper paints her as a woman sticking to her old-fashioned ways with such conviction, we’re led to feel she doesn’t even realize her domineering behavior is damaging. When confronted by “Dr. Jaquith” about her treatment of “Charlotte”, she responds, “I’ve kept her close by me always. When she was young, foolish, I made decisions for her. Always the right decisions. One would think a child would wish to repay a mother’s love and kindness”. It is a riveting performance and her scenes opposite Davis are hair-raising. Merely in her mid forties, Cooper was made to look older for the role, accentuated by wearing 19th century styled clothing. For her work in “Now, Voyager” , Cooper earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.

With her striking beauty, English born Gladys Cooper was a photographic model at six years old, a stage actress in her teens, and by 1914 became the most popular actress of the London stage - especially known for British musical comedies and operettas. During a theatrical postcard craze (which showcased actresses), her face was one of the most popular and she was considered the ideal English beauty (and was a sort of pin-up for the British military during WWI). Not wanting to be typecast as a glamour girl or musical comedy actress she began to branch out into other roles and ventured into silent films in 1913. Maintaining a full-time theater career, by the late 1920s she also co-managed London’s The Playhouse Theater, soon becoming the top actress-manager in English theater. In 1934 she began to appear on the New York stage, and in 1939 decided to move to Hollywood to begin a full-time film career. Her first film (at that point) was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 Oscar winning “Rebecca” (already on this blog), and from then on Cooper worked steadily as a character actress in films through the early 1950s, switching mostly to television until her death (working on both sides of the Atlantic).

Cooper also worked sporadically in theater, and was nominated for two Tony Awards - “The Chalk Garden” in 1956 and “A Passage to India” in 1962. In films, Cooper often played some sort of society woman, and was nominated for three Best Supporting Actress Oscars ( “Now, Voyager”,"The Song of Bernadette” and "My Fair Lady” ). Though best remembered for “Now, Voyager” , Cooper appeared in many classic films, and others include "Separate Tables", "The Bishop's Wife", "The Black Cat", "Kitty Foyle" , and "That Hamilton Woman" . She was also nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on the 1960s TV series, “The Rogues” . In 1967 she was she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her accomplishments in acting. She was married three times and became the mother-in-law of actor Robert Morley . Dame Gladys Cooper died in 1971 at the age of 82.

As I do on occasion, I feel I should mention one glaring scene of political incorrectness. As I’ve said before, these films are a product of the time in which they were made and however awful it may seem now, what we deem as inappropriate was acceptable in their day. There's a scene in “Now, Voyager” when “Charlotte” and “Jerry” are in a taxi in Rio de Janeiro and their Brazilian driver “Giuseppe" is played by Italian character actor Frank Puglia . Maybe because this era was before commercial flying took-off (so to speak), and other than newspapers, radio, and films, most people didn't have first-hand knowledge or experience with foreign lands - it was "anything goes" when it came to portraying foreigners in many of these films. Though “Giuseppe" is supposed to be speaking Portuguese, he actually speaks a strange, somewhat unintelligible mix of English, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish, along with what sometimes sounds like improvised gibberish. Between that and his bumbling, not-too-bright ineptness, the scene becomes stereotypically insulting. Obviously done to add humor, instead of making me laugh, it makes me cringe. That said, this out-of-place scene becomes necessary plot wise.

As mentioned before, the technical aspects of “Now, Voyager” are all letter perfect and there are two additional names you might recognize if you are reading this blog consistently. First is costume designer Orry-Kelly , whom I wrote about in my “Some Like It Hot” post (where you can read more about his life and career). Masterful at creating costumes of simple elegance, he worked on some 300 or so films - many with Bette Davis, and the two had a great working relationship. They both knew how clothes could inform a character, and one can’t help but notice how “Charlotte’s” clothes change depending on her mental state, enhancing Davis’ looks and performance. Another name you should recognize is that of composer Max Steiner . His memorably stunning, emotional and romantic score for “Now, Voyager” is largely considered among cinema's best, and for it he won his second of three Academy Awards (the other two were for “The Informer” and "Since You Went Away” ) out of twenty-four career nominations. Often called the Father of Film Music, he composed music for countless classics, including six films already on this blog, and you can read more about him in my posts on “Mildred Pierce” and “King Kong” .

This week’s recommended film is a popcorn eating, nail-biting melodrama that is as fiercely entertaining as it is emotional, and gives a clear glimpse at the marvelous escapism and inspiration films once had. You might want to keep a tissue or two in arm’s reach, just in case! Enjoy “Now, Voyager” !

This blog is a weekly series on all types of classic films from the silent era through the 1970s. It is designed to entertain and inform movie novices and lovers through watching one recommended classic film a week. The intent is that a love and deepened knowledge of cinema will evolve, along with a familiarity of important stars, directors, writers, the studio system, and a deeper understanding of cinema. I highly recommend visiting (or revisiting) the HOME page, which explains it all and provides a place where you can subscribe and get email notifications each Tuesday of every subsequently recommended film. At the bottom of the Home page you can also find a list of all films currently on this site. Please leave comments, share this blog, and subscribe so you can see which classic films will be revealed each week. Thanks so much for reading!

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TO READ AFTER VIEWING (contains spoilers):

As mentioned above, “Jerry” lights a lot of cigarettes for “Charlotte”, but none as famous as the one at the film's end, which precedes the line, “Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars”. That line of dialogue has become iconic, and is ranked by the American Film Institute as the 46th Greatest Movie Quote of All-Time .

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4 comentarios

Great movie, Gladys Cooper should have won an Oscar for her performance

Thanks so much Maggie! I truly appreciate you kind words, they mean a lot to me.

Wishing you the very best holidays, and happy movie watching!

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Now, Voyager Reviews

It fits within the genre and it is a great show for Davis’s talents.

Full Review | Feb 7, 2023

Davis gives a captivating career-high turn as Charlotte Vale...

Full Review | Jul 21, 2022

It was directed by a certain Irving Rapper, who, quite possibly, may not be a fool. Unfortunately, this is how they degrade the tragic heroine of The Little Foxes, The Letter, Of Human Bondage.

Full Review | Dec 15, 2021

This is a movie in which all the elements come together in perfect harmony to give an essentially hackneyed theme the imprint of greatness.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 14, 2021

In this conflict between inner and outer beauty, loving oneself without the affirmation of others, altruism, self-truth vs societal expectation and discovering that happiness comes from within, Now, Voyager -- and its leading lady -- soars.

Full Review | Aug 5, 2021

This film is exquisitely crafted and passionately acted.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 4, 2021

Bette Davis, as the neurotic daughter, Claude Rains, the doctor, and Paul Henreid, combine to make a fine production.

Full Review | Nov 19, 2020

It may be a standard tale of forbidden romance, but it dwells on an uncommon twosome; these past-their-prime souls aren't the typical fare for a melodramatic love yarn.

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Aug 13, 2020

Tender, poignant and lusciously calibrated by Rapper, Now, Voyager is one of the few romantic melodramas which manages a timelessness due to its almost accidental universality.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 11, 2020

...a part that's perfect for Davis, which makes it odd that Now, Voyager feels the need to do so much of the work for her.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 3, 2020

Davis' performance anchors [the story], preventing it from flying off into the realm of camp, turning an outlandish story into one painfully human and universal.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jan 9, 2020

the emotional resonance of Charlotte and Tina's surrogate mother-daughter connection is so strong that the film's plot contrivances are easy to forgive

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2019

Now, Voyager contains one classic image and one classic line of dialogue. As for the rest? It's soap opera par excellence.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 9, 2019

It's one of the better 'women pictures,' though it got too weepie, mushy and full of itself for me.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 4, 2015

A superlative, juicy mother-daughter melodrama with top notch performance from Bette Davis, at the top of her form, and the rest of the cast.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Mar 5, 2011

Lots of appeal for highly romantic teens.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 26, 2010

If you can resist Bette Davis in fat suit, hideous dress, and monobrow, you're not as gay as you think you are. I guess I kind of liked it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 28, 2010

It's all far more complicated than it needs to be, but then again, what would you cut?

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 27, 2010

Compulsively watchable four-hankie weepie.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 14, 2006

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Where to watch

Now, voyager.

1942 Directed by Irving Rapper

It happens in the best of families. But you'd never think it could happen to her!

A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

Bette Davis Paul Henreid Claude Rains Gladys Cooper Bonita Granville John Loder Ilka Chase Lee Patrick Franklin Pangborn Katharine Alexander James Rennie Mary Wickes Tod Andrews Brooks Benedict Yola d'Avril Charles Drake Claire Du Brey Elspeth Dudgeon Bill Edwards Mary Field Bess Flowers George Lessey Tempe Pigott Frank Puglia Constance Purdy Janis Wilson Ian Wolfe

Director Director

Irving Rapper

Producer Producer

Hal B. Wallis

Writer Writer

Casey Robinson

Original Writer Original Writer

Olive Higgins Prouty

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography, art direction art direction.

Robert M. Haas

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Fred M. MacLean

Special Effects Special Effects

Willard Van Enger

Composer Composer

Max Steiner

Sound Sound

Robert B. Lee

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Perc Westmore

Warner Bros. Pictures

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Portuguese

Releases by Date

Theatrical limited, 22 oct 1942, 31 oct 1942, 05 nov 1943, 02 mar 1950, releases by country.

• Theatrical U
• Theatrical limited NR New York City, New York
• Theatrical NR

117 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Connie ★★★★½ 4

PAUL HENREID LIGHTING UP TWO CIGARETTES IN HIS MOUTH AT THE SAME TIME; LIKE IF YOU AGREE.

Review by Alex Kittle ★★★★ 3

Very interested in Claude Rains's magic psychiatry that cures nervous women of their bad eyesight so they don't have to wear glasses anymore.

Review by Chris 🍉 ★★★★★

"I'll look for you around every corner"

I'm literally about to fucking explode I haven't cried this much in months... ladies we will overcome the damage our parents did to us we will learn to love, be loved, and even be happy

Review by Toni ★★★★★ 1

They really made a movie about abused girls healing, setting boundaries, and finding love and community in 1942. How bout that.

Review by toni ★★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

i’m sorry i laughed when Bette Davis’s mom fell down the stairs loll bitch deserved it

Review by phoebe 💫 ★★★★ 1

I don’t smoke but if someone ever lit two cigarettes in their mouth and handed one to me I would accept it as the most intimate act of unspoken love and probably marry them right then and there and THAT’S Now Voyager ’s influence

Review by Sara Clements ★★★★½

i want charlotte vale to adopt me

Review by Timcop ★★★★

::phone rings::

"Hello? Yes, this is the character portrayed by Paul Henreid in NOW, VOYAGER. What's that? Oh, yes, you're the doctor from the sanitarium where my young daughter is a patient. What's that, doctor? You've fired the nurse looking after my daughter? And…you're going to let the patient next door to my daughter be in charge of my daughter's care? Uh-huh. I see. And then you're going to let my daughter move in with them at the beginning of the fall. Right. Also, you've arranged to have my daughter's braces removed by an orthodontist in Boston whom I have not met. Uh-huh. Interesting. Well, I see nothing wrong here, go right ahead. Pleasure talking to you, good day."

::hangs up phone::

Review by sarah ★★★★ 2

"...all people are alone in some ways and some people are alone in all ways..."

I had trouble with this film two years ago. It was hard for me to reconcile the depiction of old maids and “ugly ducklings” with the idea that adhering to a patriarchal sense of beauty brings one freedom— it all felt so contradictory. But I think this rewatch has mended my line of thinking somewhat, because even though there is definitely a conversation to be had about Classic Hollywood’s view of spinsters and unconventional beauty standards, this film is very much about independence. Bette Davis, in her best performance, can only achieve this by completely releasing herself from her mother’s solid grip, and, even then,…

Review by Kayla ★★★★

what if we were on a cruise and there was only one cabin left 😳🙈 and we’re both traveling alone and my hot ass happens to be paul henreid 😳😳

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 1

When you get right down to it, all I need to say about Now, Voyager is that it stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, that sentence alone should have you running to rent or buy this, but there's a great deal to admire about the film beyond the strong casting of such a melodramatic trio. For one, it's a 40s romantic drama that is less about a woman's desire to be loved and accepted by men than it is a journey of her own self-acceptance. The main tension is not necessarily found with Charlotte's love interests but with her domineering, abusive mother, and how their relationship has fundamentally destroyed her sense of self-worth. Any developments of melodrama…

Review by ben empey ★★★★½ 1

Somehow both high melodrama and incredibly subtle and mature. It moves me

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Now, Voyager (1942): Melodrama Then and Now

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• Martin Shingler  

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In 1993, more than 50 years after its initial release, Now, Voyager (1942) was declared by Jeanine Basinger to be ‘one of the most successful and moving women’s pictures ever made’ and ‘the definitive woman’s film of all time’. 1 For other film scholars it is a melodrama. Stanley Cavell designated it a ‘Melodrama of the Unknown Woman’, along with Blonde Venus (1932), Stella Dallas (1937), Gaslight (1944) and Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948). 2 Andrew Britton assigned it to a group of ‘Freudian-feminist Melodrama’ including Rebecca (1940), I Walked With a Zombie (1943), Undercurrent (1946) and Secret Beyond the Door (1948). 3 For Jeanne Allen ‘ Now, Voyager fits comfortably within a tradition of melodrama of female suffering and self-sacrifice’, of 1930s and 1940s movies featuring ‘suffering, self-sacrificing, and morally regenerative woman figures in a mode of address specifically aimed at women: the weepy, the sudser, the four-hanky movie’. 4 She assigned it to a genre identified by Thomas Elsaesser as the ‘Family Melodrama’, even though his seminal study of melodrama, ‘Tales of Sound and Fury’, published in 1972, made no direct reference to it. 5 Now, Voyager did not come to dominate the debate on melodrama and the woman’s film until the 1980s, when it acquired an iconic status. Indeed, images of the film were chosen to adorn the covers of the most influential books on melodrama, including Christine Gledhill’s Home Is Where the Heart Is (1987), Jeanine Basinger’s A Woman’s View (1993) and Stanley Cavell’s Contesting Tears (1996). 6

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Jeanine Basinger, A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930–60 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1993), pp. 12 and438–9.

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Stanley Cavell, ‘Ugly Duckling, Funny Butterfly’, Critical Inquiry , 16 (1989–90), pp. 213–47.

Article   Google Scholar  

Andrew Britton, ‘A New Servitude: Bette Davis, Now, Voyager and the Radicalism of the Woman’s Film’, Cine Action , 26 /27 (1992), pp. 32–59.

Jeanne Allen, Now, Voyager , Warner Brothers Screenplay Series (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984 ), p. 37.

Thomas Elsaesser, ‘Tales of Sound and Fury’, Monogram , 4 (1972)

reprinted in Christine Gledhill (ed.), Home is Where the Heart Is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman’s Filin ( London: British Film Institute, 1987 ), pp. 43–69.

Maria LaPlace, ‘Bette Davis and the Ideal of Consumption: a Look at Now, Voyager’, Wide Angle , 6: 4 (1985), pp. 34–43.

Charles Eckert, ‘The Carole Lombard in Macy’s Window’, Quarterly Review of Film Studies , 3:1 (Winter 1978), pp. 1–21

Richard Dyer, Stars ( London: British Film Institute, 1979 ).

Janet Staiger, ‘ “The Handmaiden of Villainy”: Methods and Problems in Studying the Historical Reception of a Film’, Wide Angle , 8: 1 (1986), pp. 19–27.

See, for example, Russell Merritt, ‘Melodrama: Postmortem for a Phantom Genre’, Wide Angle , 5: 3 (1983), pp. 24–31

Steve Neale, ‘Melo Talk: On the Meaning and Use of the Term “Melodrama” in the American Trade Press’, Velvet Light Trap (Fall 1993), pp. 66–89

Rick Altman, ‘Reusable Packaging: Generic Products and the Recycling Process’, in Nick Browne (ed.), Refiguring American Genres ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 ), pp. 1–41

See the discussion of Davis’ career in Cathy Klaprat, ‘The Star as Market Strategy: Bette Davis in Another Light’, in Tino Balio (ed.), The American Filin Industry , revised edn (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985 ), pp. 351–76.

Joseph Pihodna, ‘Review of Now, Voyager ’, New York Herald Tribune , 23 October 1942.

Wanda Hale, ‘Review of Now, Voyager ’, New York News , 23 October 1942.

Louise Levitas, ‘Ah, Sweet Mystery of Psychoanalysis!’, PM Daily , 23 October 1942, p. 23.

Archer Winsten, ‘Movie Talk: Review of Now, Voyager ’, New York Post , 23 October 1942, p. 40.

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Shingler, M. (2007). Now, Voyager (1942): Melodrama Then and Now. In: Chapman, J., Glancy, M., Harper, S. (eds) The New Film History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/9780230206229_11

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Now, Voyager

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• Duration: 117 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Irving Rapper
• Screenwriter: Casey Robinson
• Claude Rains
• Bette Davis
• Gladys Cooper
• Janis Wilson
• Franklin Pangborn
• Paul Henreid
• Lee Patrick
• Bonita Granville

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golden record

Where are they now.

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Can the Voyager imaging cameras be turned back on?

What instruments on the spacecraft are still working and what have been turned off?

How long can Voyager 1 and 2 continue to function?

Voyager 1 is expected to keep its current suite of science instruments on through 2021. Voyager 2 is expected to keep its current suite of science instruments on through 2020.

The radioisotope thermoelectric generator on each spacecraft puts out 4 watts less each year. Because of this diminishing electrical power, the Voyager team has had to prioritize which instruments to keep on and which to turn off. Heaters and other spacecraft systems have also been turned off one by one as part of power management.

The Voyager team has chosen to keep operating the instruments that are the most likely to send back key data about the heliosphere and interstellar space -- the fields and particles instruments. Engineers expect to begin turning off fields and particles science instruments one by one, starting in 2020 for Voyager 2. Voyager 2 will have to start turning science instruments off sooner because it is currently operating one more instrument than Voyager 1. Engineers expect each spacecraft to continue operating at least one science instrument until around 2025.

Even if science data won't likely be collected after 2025, engineering data could continue to be returned for several more years. The two Voyager spacecraft could remain in the range of the Deep Space Network through about 2036, depending on how much power the spacecraft still have to transmit a signal back to Earth.

Where are Voyager 1 and 2 today? How do they compare to other spacecraft on an outbound trajectory?

Where is Voyager 1 going? When will it get there? How about Voyager 2?

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When we send spacecraft through the asteroid belt to the outer planets, how do we navigate the craft through the belt?

I was reading Dr. Carl Sagan's biography recently and found that he persuaded NASA administrators to turn one of the Voyager space probes around in order to take a last image of the solar system. Is this true? Do the craft send back any images of where they are?

I can not locate a copy of the Murmurs of Earth CD. Would you know of a vendor that might sell copies of it?

Who was on the committee with Dr. Sagan regarding the development of the Golden Record? Both American or foreign scientists?

If there is intelligent life in our universe and they were not a peace loving species, wouldn't the information on the Voyager be enough to destroy human kind?

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Is it true that a sketch by Da Vinci is included in the "Message to the Universe" of Voyagers 1 and 2?

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How fast are the Voyager computers?

What is the "direction" (constellation and/or star) both VOYAGER 1 & 2 and the Pioneers are "aimed" for, at present.

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Is there some sort of plate with pictograms on the Voyager 1 spacecraft? Also is it similar to the Pioneer spacecraft plaque?

Now, Voyager

Now, Voyager is a 1942 film about a Boston spinster who blossoms under therapy and finds impossible romance.

• 1 Charlotte Vale
• 2 Mrs. Henry Windle Vale
• 6 External links

Charlotte Vale [ edit ]

• My mother didn't think that Leslie was suitable for a Vale of Boston. What man is suitable, Doctor? She's never found one. What man would ever look at me and say, "I want you"? I'm fat. My mother doesn't approve of dieting. Look at my shoes. My mother approves of sensible shoes. Look at the books on my shelves. My mother approves of good, solid books. I'm my mother's well-loved daughter. I'm her companion. I'm my mother's servant. My mother says. My mother! My mother! My mother!

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale [ edit ]

• Charlotte was a late child. There were three boys, then after a long time, this girl. "A child of my old age," I've always called her. I was well into my forties, and her father passed on soon after she was born. My ugly duckling. Of course it's true that all late children are marked. Often such children aren't wanted. That can mark them. I've kept her close by me always. When she was young, foolish, I made decisions for her. Always the right decisions.
• Could we try to remember that we're hardly commercial travelers? It's bad enough to have to associate with these tourists on board without having to go ashore with them.

Dialogue [ edit ]

• Note: bolded line is ranked #46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema .

Taglines [ edit ]

• IN THE Arms OF ANOTHER WOMAN'S MAN...SHE FINDS Her MAN!
• Today Her Greatest! For a woman there's always an excuse . . .
• I'm the maiden aunt. Every family has one you know.

Cast [ edit ]

• Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale
• Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith
• Paul Henreid - Jeremiah 'Jerry' Duvaux Durrance
• Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Windle Vale
• Ilka Chase - Lisa Vale
• Bonita Granville - June Vale
• John Loder - Elliot Livingston
• Lee Patrick - Deb McIntyre
• James Rennie - Frank McIntyre
• Mary Wickes - Nurse Dora Pickford
• Franklin Pangborn - Mr. Thompson

External links [ edit ]

• Now, Voyager quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Now, Voyager at Filmsite.org

• American films
• Films based on novels
• Romantic drama films
• United States National Film Registry films

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The remarkable twin Voyager spacecraft continue to explore the outer reaches of the solar system decades after they completed their surveys of the Outer Planets.  Launched in 1977 (September 5 for Voyager 1 (V1) and August 20 for Voyager 2 (V2), whose trajectory took it past Jupiter after Voyager 1), the spacecraft pair made many fundamental discoveries as they flew past Jupiter (March 1979 for V1, July 1979 for V2) and Saturn (November 1980 for V1, August 1981 for V2).  The path of Voyager 2 past Saturn was targeted so that it continued within the plane of the solar system, allowing it to become the first spacecraft to visit Uranus (January 1986) and Neptune (August 1989).  Following the Neptune encounter, both spacecraft started a new phase of exploration under the intriguing title of the Voyager Interstellar Mission.

Five instruments continue to collect important measurements of magnetic fields, plasmas, and charged particles as both spacecraft explore different portions of the solar system beyond the orbits of the planets.  Voyager 1 is now more than 118 astronomical units (one AU is equal to the average orbital distance of Earth from the Sun) distant from the sun, traveling at a speed (relative to the sun) of 17.1 kilometers per second (10.6 miles per second).  Voyager 2 is now more than 96 AU from the sun, traveling at a speed of 15.5 kilometers per second (9.6 miles per second).  Both spacecraft are moving considerably faster than Pioneers 10 and 11, two earlier spacecraft that became the first robotic visitors to fly past Jupiter and Saturn in the mid-70s.

This processed color image of Jupiter was produced in 1990 by the U.S. Geological Survey from a Voyager image captured in 1979. The colors have been enhanced to bring out detail. Zones of light-colored, ascending clouds alternate with bands of dark, descending clouds. The clouds travel around the planet in alternating eastward and westward belts at speeds of up to 540 kilometers per hour. Tremendous storms as big as Earthly continents surge around the planet. The Great Red Spot (oval shape toward the lower-left) is an enormous anticyclonic storm that drifts along its belt, eventually circling the entire planet.

As seen in the night sky at Earth, Voyager 1 is within the confines of the constellation Ophiuchus, only slightly above the celestial equator; no telescope can see it, but radio contact is expected to be maintained for at least the next ten years.  Voyager 2 is within the bounds of the constellation Telescopium (which somehow sounds quite appropriate) in the far southern night sky.

Both spacecraft have already passed something called the Termination Shock † (December 2004 for V1, August 2007 for V2), where the solar wind slows as it starts to interact with the particles and fields present between the stars.  It is expected that both spacecraft will encounter the Heliopause, where the solar wind ceases as true interstellar space begins, from 10 to 20 years after crossing the Termination Shock.  Theories exist for what should be present in interstellar space, but the Voyagers will become the first man-made objects to go beyond the influences of the Sun, hopefully returning the first measurements of what it is like out there.  Each spacecraft is carrying a metal record with encoded sounds and sights from Earth, along with the needle needed to read the recordings, and simplified instructions for where the spacecraft came from, in case they are eventually discovered by intelligent extra-terrestrials.

Keep track of the Voyager spacecraft on the official  Voyager Interstellar Mission website or follow  @NASAVoyager2 on Twitter.    † The sun ejects a continuous stream of charged particles (electrons, protons, etc) that is collectively termed the solar wind.  The particles are traveling extremely fast and are dense enough to form a very tenuous atmosphere; the heliosphere represents the volume of space where the effects of the solar wind dominate over those of particles in interstellar space.  The solar wind particles are moving very much faster than the local speed of sound represented by their low volume density.  When the particles begin to interact with interstellar particles and fields (the interaction can be either physically running into other particles or experiencing an electromagnetic force resulting from a charged particle moving within a magnetic field), then they start to slow down.  The point at which they become subsonic (rather than their normal hypersonic speed) is the Termination Shock.

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Now, Voyager

Having recently filed a few pretty "manly" movie columns , I figure it's semi-safe to test the patience of half my readership by writing about the Citizen Kane of "woman's pictures": Irving Rapper's Now, Voyager (1942) — or, as my husband wearily calls it, Not This Thing Again.

Here's one man who thinks it's great, though, if that helps takes the curse off it.

Now, Voyager is the story of Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) — "of the Boston Vales" — who, when we meet her, is a frumpy, ingrown, unmarriageable mess. She's been rendered a sort of madwoman in the attic by one of the worst mothers in Hollywood history, a nasty crone who "was told that my recompense for having a late child was comfort in my old age, especially if it was a girl."

Charlotte's sister-in-law takes pity on her and, against mother's objections, brings a psychiatrist around, the no-nonsense Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains).

He prescribes a season's stay in a sanitarium, then a South American cruise. When we next encounter Charlotte, she's undergone one of cinema's most startling makeovers.

(And it would have been even more startling had Davis gotten her way; it will surprise no one familiar with her work to learn that she wanted her "before" makeup and costuming to be even uglier.)

This "new" Charlotte, while still fragile, is nevertheless determined to take Jaquith's advice: mingle with people, say "yes" to life instead of "no." And one passenger, Jerry Durrance (Paul Henried), takes a great interest in her . He's the perfect man in every way — except he's (unhappily) married .

Charlotte and Jerry embark on a tentative romance, albeit a fairly chaste, courtly one. For the sake of his children, and his wife's own wobbly mental health, he will never break up his marriage, and Charlotte would never expect him to. For viewers, this bestows nobility upon what would otherwise be an adulterous affair. Thanks in part to the Hays Code, we're even granted plausible deniability as to whether or not the pair ever consummate their love, despite spending one night together .

"Even the censors of the time," writes the Movie Diva , "who habitually required extramarital affairs to be punished, couldn't bear to reprimand poor Charlotte."

The pair part after the cruise, but maintain a powerful if secret bond. Unless one factors in the rumored millennial phenomenon dubbed "Living Apart Alone," theirs resembles few real life relationships — and a stodgy realist will object that it is no "relationship" at all: that Charlotte and Gerry are treating each other more like secret pocket-sized talismans than fellow humans.

However, this is a movie, and their arrangement echoes a sublime, persistently powerful romantic archetype, one that embraces Heloise and Abelard and the Brownings , along with their platonic counterparts in popular culture: The X-Files' Mulder and Scully and Carol and Daryl on The Walking Dead . As with many long distance relationships, this archetype allows female viewers to fantasize about enjoying the status of "not being single anymore" without the disillusioning messiness of quotidian domesticity.

Still, Charlotte accepts a marriage proposal from one of the most eligible widowers in town. She explains her decision to Jerry, having run into him quite by accident. It's all so thrillingly classy .

Having been temporarily appeased by Charlotte's engagement to such a catch, mother is apoplectic when her daughter breaks it off. (He's no Jerry, after all...) Charlotte has responded to similar outbursts before magnanimity, but this time, she loses it .

Her mother's (super satisfying) death puts Charlotte in the same fortunate position as Catherine in The Heiress : given the female-unfriendly financial arrangements typical of the time, Charlotte is now free, having inherited the Vales' considerable wealth.

There's a lot more movie to go, but rather than ruin it, we need to talk about the floral dress Charlotte is wearing when she fatally confronts her mother in the above scene. Note how similar it is to the one she was wearing in her first appearance in the film, except it is more flattering. This is intentional , because while Now, Voyager seems to be A Tale of Two Charlottes , there are really four of them.

We've talked about Before Charlotte and After Charlotte, but there is also a Before Before Charlotte. In a flashback, we see her as a girl of twenty, also on a cruise, but this time with her mother. She's a young woman trying her nascent sexuality on for size, with a coltish combination of excitement and timidity — something not dramatized so daringly in too many films until the searing Smooth Talk in 1985.

By the time Charlotte's mother dies, she is also no longer the mysterious, be-caped glamor-puss on the cruise with Jerry, when her ticket, her finery, and even her name were borrowed from a sympathetic acquaintance in her social circle. Her understated yet attractive wardrobe in the final third of the film signals Charlotte's integration of her different personae into After After Charlotte : a poised, confident woman who finds purpose in life without a man — not even Jerry, although "he may come here" to visit "whenever he likes."

Jerry asks if this arrangement will make her happy, prompting the film's famous last line:

"Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."

Now as much as I adore this movie, that line smacks of a writer dying to get a long job over with and pour himself a well-earned drink or three. You're too busy crying to notice that it makes little sense — "What am I, chopped liver?" the moon might exclaim — but after the relentless emotional buildup, I'm pretty sure most viewers would weep at the end of Now, Voyager if Davis and Henreid burst into the Pledge of Allegiance.

But notice that the three final lines declare outright that this is not a happy ending. Charlotte's personality has matured and evolved to the point where "happiness" is not her goal. Despite its reputation for corniness and sentimental incontinence, melodrama primarily concerns itself with duty and sacrifice, not blissful romance. Any number of Davis' other melodramas conclude with her character's Zen-like resignation to life on life's terms. Genre master Douglas Sirk 's most famous melodramas end on sombre notes, with one beloved nursing the injured other, or a death that sobers everybody up. Madame X ( repeatedly ) dies tragically, yet in peace, after sacrificing her life to spare her son's reputation; Stella Dallas can only watch her daughter's wedding through a window; after the couple kisses, she strides off in the rain, beaming.

Charlotte isn't happy, but she is content . A powerfully grown up message in a "mere" Hollywood film, and an old fashioned, even incomprehensible one if you think about the happy endings in most movies today: Wacky, splashy weddings are pretty much obligatory, you may have noticed. And of course, Sex Fixes Everything.

The much maligned woman's picture underwent rehabilitation during the 1970s and 80s, with scholars re-"reading" these films as proto-feminist texts. Not surprisingly, stills from Now, Voyager " were chosen to adorn the covers of the most influential books on melodrama, including Christine Gledhill's Home Is Where the Heart Is (1987), Jeanine Basinger's A Woman's View (1993) and Stanley Cavell's Contesting Tears (1996)."

More recently, the film has been upheld as a sensitive portrait of mental illness and its treatment. Angelica Jade Bastien has written extensively and perceptively about Now, Voyager , explaining to women of her generation what this now almost 80 year old movie means to her:

"Charlotte Vale and I are separated by race and class, culture and access. But in my late teens, shuffling between mental hospitals and new medications, Now, Voyager gave me what I couldn't find in reality (...) [A] spark of motivation and hope, the ability to imagine a future for myself when I was too poor to get therapy and too depressed to leave my bed. It was a small joy I held on to in dark times, a salve, a form of self-care. This is how a film can save your life."

~Let Kathy know what you think of this column by logging into SteynOnline and sharing below. Commenting privileges are among myriad perks reserved exclusively for members of The Mark Steyn Club , alongside exclusive invitations to Steyn events and access to the entire SteynOnline back catalog. Kick back with your fellow Club members in person aboard one of our annual cruises. We've rescheduled our Mediterranean voyage to next year, but it's sure to be a blast with Michele Bachmann, Tal Bachman, Conrad Black and Douglas Murray among Mark's special guests.

NASA's interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft isn't doing so well — here's what we know

Since late 2023, engineers have been trying to get the Voyager spacecraft back online.

On Dec. 12, 2023, NASA shared some worrisome news about Voyager 1, the first probe to walk away from our solar system 's gravitational party and enter the isolation of interstellar space . Surrounded by darkness, Voyager 1 seems to be glitching. 

It has been out there for more than 45 years, having supplied us with a bounty of treasure like the discovery of two new moons of Jupiter, another incredible ring of Saturn and the warm feeling that comes from knowing pieces of our lives will drift across the cosmos even after we're gone. (See: The Golden Record .) But now, Voyager 1 's fate seems to be uncertain.

As of Feb. 6, NASA said the team remains working on bringing the spacecraft back to proper health. "Engineers are still working to resolve a data issue on Voyager 1," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). "We can talk to the spacecraft, and it can hear us, but it's a slow process given the spacecraft's incredible distance from Earth."

Related: NASA's interstellar Voyager probes get software updates beamed from 12 billion miles away

So, on the bright side, even though Voyager 1 sits so utterly far away from us, ground control can actually communicate with it. In fact, last year, scientists beamed some software updates to the spacecraft as well as its counterpart, Voyager 2 , from billions of miles away. Though on the dimmer side, due to that distance, a single back-and-forth communication between Voyager 1 and anyone on Earth takes a total of 45 hours. If NASA finds a solution, it won't be for some time .

The issue, engineers realized, has to do with one of Voyager 1's onboard computers known as the Flight Data System, or FDS. (The backup FDS stopped working in 1981.)

"The FDS is not communicating properly with one of the probe's subsystems, called the telemetry modulation unit (TMU)," NASA said in a blog post. "As a result, no science or engineering data is being sent back to Earth." This is of course despite the fact that ground control can indeed send information to Voyager 1, which, at the time of writing this article , sits about 162 AU's from our planet. One AU is equal to the distance between the Earth and the sun , or 149,597,870.7 kilometers (92,955,807.3 miles).

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Voyager 1's FDS dilemma was first noticed last year , after the probe's TMU stopped sending back clear data and started procuring a bunch of rubbish. 

As NASA explains in the blog post, one of the FDS' core jobs is to collect information about the spacecraft itself, in terms of its health and general status. "It then combines that information into a single data 'package' to be sent back to Earth by the TMU," the post says. "The data is in the form of ones and zeros, or binary code." 

However, the TMU seemed to be shuffling back a non-intelligible version of binary code recently. Or, as the team puts it, it seems like the system is "stuck." Yes, the engineers tried turning it off and on again. 

That didn't work. 

— SpaceX's Starship to launch 'Starlab' private space station in late 2020s

— Wonder what it's like to fall into Uranus? These scientists do, too

— Scientists' predictions for the long-term future of the Voyager Golden Records will blow your mind

Then, in early February, Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Ars Technica that the team might have pinpointed what's going on with the FDS at last. The theory is that the problem lies somewhere with the FDS' memory; there might be a computer bit that got corrupted. Unfortunately, though, because the FDS and TMU work together to relay information about the spacecraft's health, engineers are having a hard time figuring out where exactly the possible corruption may exist. The messenger is the one that needs a messenger.

They do know, however, that the spacecraft must be alive because they are receiving what's known as a "carrier tone." Carrier tone wavelengths don't carry information, but they are signals nonetheless, akin to a heartbeat. It's also worth considering that Voyager 1 has experienced problems before, such as in 2022 when the probe's "attitude articulation and control system" exhibited some blips that were ultimately patched up. Something similar happened to Voyager 2 during the summer of 2023, when Voyager 1's twin suffered some antenna complications before coming right back online again.

Still, Dodd says this situation has been the most serious since she began working on the historic Voyager mission.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Monisha Ravisetti is Space.com's Astronomy Editor. She covers black holes, star explosions, gravitational waves, exoplanet discoveries and other enigmas hidden across the fabric of space and time. Previously, she was a science writer at CNET, and before that, reported for The Academic Times. Prior to becoming a writer, she was an immunology researcher at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She graduated from New York University in 2018 with a B.A. in philosophy, physics and chemistry. She spends too much time playing online chess. Her favorite planet is Earth.

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• Classical Motion There must be more to this story. Let me see if I have this right. They can receive a carrier. But the modulator gives them junk. Or possibly the processor's memory. And they can send new software. New instructions. So, why not simply use the packet data, to key the carrier on and off. OOK On and Off Keying. Telegraphy. Reply

Admin said: NASA's Voyager 1 deep space probe started glitching last year, and scientists aren't sure they can fix it. NASA's interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft isn't doing so well — here's what we know : Read more

• Classical Motion I wish something would kick one of them back to us. I would love to see an analysis of every cubic cm of it. Reply
• billslugg Modulating the carrier wave would do no good unless the carrier knew what information to send us. The unit that failed takes the raw data and then tells the carrier what to say. Without the modulation unit there is no data to send. Reply

Classical Motion said: I wish something would kick one of them back to us. I would love to see an analysis of every cubic cm of it.

• Classical Motion I read that they were not sure if it was the modulator or the packet memory. The packet buffer. If they can send patch, it's easy to relocate that buffer into another section of memory. This can be done at several different memory locations to verify if it is a memory problem. If that works, then the modulator is ok. If the modulator fails with all those buffers, then it's the modulator. Turn off modulator. Just enable the carrier for a certain duration for a 1 bit. And turn it off for that certain duration for a 0 bit. One simply rotates that buffer string thru the accumulator at the duration rate, and use status flags to key the transmitter. Very simple and very short code. The packet is nothing more that a 128 BYTE or multiple size string of 1s and 0s. OOK is a very common wireless modulation. That's why I commented on more must be going on. And I would like to see what 30 years naked in space does to man molded matter. Reply

Classical Motion said: I read that they were not sure if it was the modulator or the packet memory. The packet buffer. If they can send patch, it's easy to relocate that buffer into another section of memory. This can be done at several different memory locations to verify if it is a memory problem. If that works, then the modulator is ok. If the modulator fails with all those buffers, then it's the modulator. Turn off modulator. Just enable the carrier for a certain duration for a 1 bit. And turn it off for that certain duration for a 0 bit. One simply rotates that buffer string thru the accumulator at the duration rate, and use status flags to key the transmitter. Very simple and very short code. The packet is nothing more that a 128 BYTE or multiple size string of 1s and 0s. OOK is a very common wireless modulation. That's why I commented on more must be going on. And I would like to see what 30 years naked in space does to man molded matter.

• damienassurre I think they should make another space craft and have it pick up voyager 1 and bring it back the info it went through would very valuable to stellar travel Reply

damienassurre said: I think they should make another space craft and have it pick up voyager 1 and bring it back the info it went through would very valuable to stellar travel

• billslugg The newer forms of memory can't be used easily in outer space as their feature size is too small and too easily corrupted by a cosmic ray. Very large, bulky features keep spacecraft memory far smaller than what earthbound computers can enjoy. As far as returning one of the Voyagers to Earth, it would take several thousand years using available technology. Better to wait for more advanced propulsion technologies. Reply
• View All 20 Comments

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Contact restored with NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe

Contact restored.

That was the message relieved NASA officials shared after the agency regained full contact with the Voyager 1 space probe, the most distant human-made object in the universe, scientists announced Monday.

For the first time since November, the spacecraft is now returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems, NASA said in a news release .

The 46-year-old pioneering probe, now some 15.1 billion miles from Earth, has continually defied expectations for its lifespan as it ventures further into the  uncharted territory of the cosmos .

More: Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles from home and broken. Here's how NASA is trying to fix it.

Computer experts to the rescue

It wasn't as easy as hitting Control-Alt-Delete, but top experts at NASA and CalTech were able to fix the balky, ancient computer on board the probe that was causing the communication breakdown – at least for now.

A computer problem aboard Voyager 1 on Nov. 14, 2023, corrupted the stream of science and engineering data the craft sent to Earth,  making it unreadable .

Although the radio signal from the spacecraft had never ceased its connection to ground control operators on Earth during the computer problem, that signal had not carried any usable data since November, NASA said. After some serious sleuthing to fix the onboard computer, that changed on April 20, when NASA finally received usable data.

In interstellar space

The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space (the space between stars).

Voyager 2 continues to operate normally, NASA reports. Launched  over 46 years ago , the twin Voyager 2 spacecraft are standouts on two fronts: they've operated the longest and traveled the farthest of any spacecraft ever.

Before the start of their interstellar exploration, both probes flew by Saturn and Jupiter, and Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and Neptune.

More: NASA gave Voyager 1 a 'poke' amid communication woes. Here's why the response was encouraging.

They were  designed to last five years , but have become the longest-operating spacecraft in history. Both carry  gold-plated copper discs  containing sounds and images from Earth, contents that were chosen by a team headed by celebrity astronomer  Carl Sagan .

For perspective, it was the summer of 1977 when the Voyager probes launched from Earth. Star Wars was number one at the box office, Jimmy Carter was in the second year of his presidency, and Elvis Presley's death had just hit everyone hard.

Contributing: Eric Lagatta, George Petras, USA TODAY

NASA Just Repaired Voyager 1 From 15 Billion Miles Away

L ast month, NASA scientists received distressing news from Voyager 1, the first craft to travel outside of our solar system. Signals from the probe had ceased transmitting — and the fear was that, after 46 years of traveling through space, that might be the end of the line for Voyager 1. Given its distance from Earth, it’s not like NASA could send up a repair crew to get Voyager 1 back in working order. Instead, they were limited to communicating with the probe via radio signals, with a delay of almost a day between then sending a signal and Voyager receiving it.

That’s not the only challenge facing the scientists exploring repair options. There was also the matter of the file storage space available to them — remember, the probe launched 46 years ago, so adding in a few terabytes of solid-state storage wasn’t an option. And yet, here’s the thing: they did it. Voyager 1 is once again working properly and transmitting signals to Earth.

NASA explained in detail just how its scientists were able to get Voyager working again. As NASA’s Naomi Hartono described it, a chip that maintained Voyager 1’s science and engineering data stopped working — and given the limits of 1970s technology, there wasn’t anywhere large enough to store comparable code. Instead, the scientists divided the code into multiple sections, while also working to make sure that the update wouldn’t cause anything currently operational to stop working.

Looking to Live on Mars Without Leaving Earth? NASA Has an Opportunity For You.

Radio signals take 22.5 hours to get from Earth to Voyager 1 and a comparable time for the probe to get a signal back to Earth. On April 20, NASA received its first signal from Voyager 1 in months.

Currently, the only data Voyager 1 is properly transmitting has to do with the craft’s own internal status. The next step for the scientists monitoring Voyager 1 is getting it to send data about the environment through which it’s currently traveling. You know, interstellar space. Right now, Voyager is 15,000,000,000 miles from Earth — and our connection to it endures.

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National News | Voyager 1 sending data to Earth for 1st time in…

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National news | glide memorial church co-founder cecil williams dead at 94, national news, national news | voyager 1 sending data to earth for 1st time in 5 months, “today was a great day for voyager 1. we’re back in communication with the spacecraft.”.

By Ashley Strickland | CNN

For the first time in five months, NASA engineers have received decipherable data from Voyager 1 after crafting a creative solution to fix a communication problem aboard humanity’s most distant spacecraft in the cosmos.

Voyager 1 is currently about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, and at 46 years old, the probe has shown multiple quirks and signs of aging in recent years.

The latest issue experienced by Voyager 1 first cropped up in November 2023, when the flight data system’s telemetry modulation unit began sending an indecipherable repeating pattern of code .

Voyager 1’s flight data system collects information from the spacecraft’s science instruments and bundles it with engineering data that reflects its current health status. Mission control on Earth receives that data in binary code, or a series of ones and zeroes.

But since November, Voyager 1’s flight data system had been stuck in a loop. While the probe has continued to relay a steady radio signal to its mission control team on Earth over the past few months, the signal did not carry any usable data.

The mission team received the first coherent data about the health and status of Voyager 1’s engineering systems on April 20. While the team is still reviewing the information, everything they’ve seen so far suggests Voyager 1 is healthy and operating properly.

“Today was a great day for Voyager 1,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL, in a statement Saturday. “We’re back in communication with the spacecraft. And we look forward to getting science data back.”

The breakthrough came as the result of a clever bit of trial and error and the unraveling of a mystery that led the team to a single chip.

Troubleshooting from billions of miles away

After discovering the issue, the mission team attempted sending commands to restart the spacecraft’s computer system and learn more about the underlying cause of the problem.

The team sent a command called a “poke” to Voyager 1 on March 1 to get the flight data system to run different software sequences in the hopes of finding out what was causing the glitch.

On March 3, the team noticed that activity from one part of the flight data system stood out from the rest of the garbled data. While the signal wasn’t in the format the Voyager team is used to seeing when the flight data system is functioning as expected, an engineer with NASA’s Deep Space Network was able to decode it.

The Deep Space Network is a system of radio antennae on Earth that help the agency communicate with the Voyager probes and other spacecraft exploring our solar system.

The decoded signal included a readout of the entire flight data system’s memory.

By investigating the readout, the team determined the cause of the issue: 3% of the flight data system’s memory is corrupted . A single chip responsible for storing part of the system’s memory, including some of the computer’s software code, isn’t working properly. While the cause of the chip’s failure is unknown, it could be worn out or may have been hit by an energetic particle from space, the team said.

The loss of the code on the chip caused Voyager 1’s science and engineering data to be unusable.

Since there was no way to repair the chip, the team opted to store the affected code from the chip elsewhere in the system’s memory. While they couldn’t pinpoint a location large enough to hold all of the code, they were able to divide the code into sections and store it in different spots within the flight data system.

“To make this plan work, they also needed to adjust those code sections to ensure, for example, that they all still function as a whole,” according to an update from NASA . “Any references to the location of that code in other parts of the (flight data system) memory needed to be updated as well.”

After determining the code necessary for packaging Voyager 1’s engineering data, engineers sent a radio signal to the probe commanding the code to a new location in the system’s memory on April 18.

Given Voyager 1’s immense distance from Earth, it takes a radio signal about 22.5 hours to reach the probe, and another 22.5 hours for a response signal from the spacecraft to reach Earth.

On April 20, the team received Voyager 1’s response indicating that the clever code modification had worked, and they could finally receive readable engineering data from the probe once more.

Exploring interstellar space

Within the coming weeks, the team will continue to relocate other affected parts of the system’s software, including those responsible for returning the valuable science data Voyager 1 is collecting.

Initially designed to last five years, the Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, launched in 1977 and are the longest operating spacecraft in history. Their exceptionally long life spans mean that both spacecraft have provided additional insights about our solar system and beyond after achieving their preliminary goals of flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune decades ago.

The probes are currently venturing through uncharted cosmic territory along the outer reaches of the solar system. Both are in interstellar space and are the only spacecraft ever to operate beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Voyager 2, which is operating normally, has traveled more than 12.6 billion miles (20.3 billion kilometers) from our planet.

Over time, both spacecraft have encountered unexpected issues and dropouts, including a seven-month period in 2020 when Voyager 2 couldn’t communicate with Earth. In August 2023, the mission team used a long-shot “shout” technique to restore communications with Voyager 2 after a command inadvertently oriented the spacecraft’s antenna in the wrong direction.

The team estimates it’s a few weeks away from receiving science data from Voyager 1 and looks forward to seeing what that data contains.

“We never know for sure what’s going to happen with the Voyagers, but it constantly amazes me when they just keep going,” said Voyager Project Manager Suzanne Dodd, in a statement. “We’ve had many anomalies, and they are getting harder. But we’ve been fortunate so far to recover from them. And the mission keeps going. And younger engineers are coming onto the Voyager team and contributing their knowledge to keep the mission going.”

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NASA's Voyager 1 resumes sending engineering updates to Earth

For the first time since November, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems. The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again. The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space (the space between stars).

Voyager 1 stopped sending readable science and engineering data back to Earth on Nov. 14, 2023, even though mission controllers could tell the spacecraft was still receiving their commands and otherwise operating normally. In March, the Voyager engineering team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed that the issue was tied to one of the spacecraft's three onboard computers, called the flight data subsystem (FDS). The FDS is responsible for packaging the science and engineering data before it's sent to Earth.

The team discovered that a single chip responsible for storing a portion of the FDS memory—including some of the FDS computer's software code—isn't working. The loss of that code rendered the science and engineering data unusable. Unable to repair the chip, the team decided to place the affected code elsewhere in the FDS memory. But no single location is large enough to hold the section of code in its entirety.

So they devised a plan to divide affected the code into sections and store those sections in different places in the FDS. To make this plan work, they also needed to adjust those code sections to ensure, for example, that they all still function as a whole. Any references to the location of that code in other parts of the FDS memory needed to be updated as well.

The team started by singling out the code responsible for packaging the spacecraft's engineering data. They sent it to its new location in the FDS memory on April 18. A radio signal takes about 22.5 hours to reach Voyager 1, which is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, and another 22.5 hours for a signal to come back to Earth. When the mission flight team heard back from the spacecraft on April 20, they saw that the modification had worked: For the first time in five months, they have been able to check the health and status of the spacecraft.

During the coming weeks, the team will relocate and adjust the other affected portions of the FDS software. These include the portions that will start returning science data.

Voyager 2 continues to operate normally. Launched over 46 years ago, the twin Voyager spacecraft are the longest-running and most distant spacecraft in history. Before the start of their interstellar exploration, both probes flew by Saturn and Jupiter, and Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and Neptune.

Provided by NASA

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