Now, Voyager

Now, Voyager is a 1942 film which tells the story of a middle-aged spinster who, depressed by the domination of her mother, winds up in a sanitarium, where she blossoms. After a brief love affair, she winds up "mothering" her lover's equally depressed daughter. It stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville, John Loder, Ilka Chase, Lee Patrick, Franklin Pangborn and Mary Wickes.

The movie was adapted by Casey Robinson from the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. It was directed by Irving Rapper.

It won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Davis) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Gladys Cooper).

The title comes from the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want", which says, in part: The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.

The movie is memorable for a scene in which Paul Henreid puts two cigarettes into his mouth, lights them both, and gives one to Bette Davis.