The Heiress

In 1840s New York, Catherine Sloper lives with her father, the wealthy and emotionally cold Dr. Austin Sloper, in a comfortable house on Washington Square. Her quiet life is disrupted when she meets Morris Townsend, an attractive young man with little money of his own. He courts her attentively and eventually proposes, but Dr. Sloper suspects that Morris is interested mainly in Catherine's inheritance and refuses to consent to the marriage. The conflict between father and suitor leaves Catherine caught between them.

William Wyler directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Augustus and Ruth Goetz. Released in 1949 by Paramount, it was the twelfth of the twenty-two films Wyler directed, following Thunderbolt and preceding Detective Story. Olivia de Havilland plays Catherine, with Montgomery Clift as Morris, Ralph Richardson as Dr. Sloper and Miriam Hopkins as Lavinia Penniman.

The film was made for about three million dollars and returned roughly two million at the box office. On IMDb it holds 8.1 out of 10 from around 19,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8 out of 10 from 287 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 9 out of 10 from 14 reviews, higher than the audience scores.