This story is basically built upon—the struggle between a timid daughter and her willful father over the suitor of the girl. "The Heiress" has been hailed as Olivia de Havilland's "finest work ever" and under the superior direction of William Wyler. She plays Catherine Sloper, a plain-looking aristocrat who stands to inherit a fortune from her ailing physician father (Ralph Richardson) but he disapproves of Catherine's sudden and passionate suitor Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift) certain that the penniless young man is out to win Catherine's inheritance and not her heart. Morris is the first man to show her any attention and she is too much in love to even consider such a betrayal. This film belongs to de Havilland who is heartbreaking, docile, victimized and ultimately cruel. She gives a performance that turns on a dime, from sweet and dull, to absolutely bone chilling cold as the woman scorned by two men.
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