Who payed the critics

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This was one of Bette Davis' most disliked films. It got bad reviews and didn't make any money but I can see why this appealed to her. It's all above the neck, somewhat ethereal. I'm sure she wanted to see if she can pull the audience in, bring the same emotional storm she has brought to so many other films with out any action. She succeeded beautifully. So did her co-star, but he has always been known for his deliberate delivery. The dialogue was quick, sharp and at times, very funny, due to John Hoyt's 40's imitation of a bitchy Queen. I laughed out loud when I saw Florence Bates dressed as caretaker's wife. I could also imagine the director screaming at her while she stumbles around the kitchen, a place she has never been seen before in a film. However, this film is not light and amusing, it's very sad, almost heartbreaking. To spend your whole life unloved and than to finally find the perfect mate only to be told he is married to a religious ideal that he will never obtain. I was hoping for a happy resolution but let me tell you, to have to accept reconciliation with ones mother in exchange for Jim Davis is not an even exchange. These people connected and communicated on a lever that neither one had ever experienced before and knew they never would again. I have one question. Why would Slick pursue her if he knew it could not lead to anything? Except there would not have been a movie without it. I wonder how the two got along during this shoot. I'm sure Jim was scared to death of her and his affect was stiff and unsure sometimes, but it was the dichotomy that also created the attraction. I hope more people will give this a try. You will never see Bette so quiet and so hurt, You ache for her.

The first thirty minutes may repel some.It's very talky ,it's filmed stage production style.This is a film which grows on you,you 've got to be patient for the "action" is minimal,and most amazing thing, in what is pure psychological drama ,there's not the easy way out : the flashbacks.Another director -it's the first film I've seen by Bretaigne Windust-would have at least enlivened things by introducing two very long flashbacks dealing with the two characters' past.Both have a secret to conceal .This is the very long conversation between them which reveals us that the poetess was demanding,idolizing her father,displaying no compassion for a mother who did not live up to her /their expectations;the soldier is a hero but someone told him something that has completely changed his way of seeing things .People who expect a mushy romance ,a melodrama ,a love triangle (with the secretary) will be disappointed."Winter Meeting" shows the way to compassion for the others,be they hopeless.

I agree with another commentator that this is not a good Bette Davis picture. Jim Davis was indeed a weird choice for his part. The ending was about as unsatisfactory as one can be.However, I found three elements fascinating: 1. John Hoyt was never better as the unctuous, insinuating friend to Bette's poetess. Whether or not he was supposed to be homosexual, as is implied by some critics, he was clearly also in a kind of overly-well-bred love with her. 2. Florence Bates, as always, was fine in an unusually subdued role for her (remember her over-the-top self in "Rebecca"!) 3. I just love the cat painting in Bette's apartment that Jim Davis refers to! Isn't it creepy and interesting??? If anyone out there knows who painted it or how to get a copy, I'd love to know.

Stories of emotional restraint between two people who meet on a chance encounter and have a shaky chance of developing have been done numerous times with fantastic success. Acting styles in more recent times have allowed actors to convey their passions brimming just beneath the surface with minimal dialogue than to talk without pauses and have the background music express more dramatizing than a Beethovian concerto.WINTER MEETING is one of these earlier efforts. It tells the story of war hero Slick Novak (Jim Davis of "Dallas" fame) who returns to American soil and is introduced to famed poet Susan Grieve (Bette Davis), a woman who is faintly cynic about relationships. Though at first she seems indifferent to Novak, once he stays over it becomes clear that both share an attraction to each other. The following day they drive off to Connecticut where she used to live and on the way they discover their inner baggage.What should have been a better movie is reduced to a flat drama that starts off well during the first thirty minutes (and this includes Janis Paige stealing her scenes as Peggy Markham who is also attracted to Slick Novak) but slows down to a standstill once Susan and Slick start interacting on their own (and they're the only ones on screen for much of the film). A scene inside Susan's kitchen, though trying to convey commonplace events, just doesn't feel right. However both actors have an unspoken chemistry that in the hands of a less stagy and more cinematic director would have brought out better, more involved performances. I think of the possibilities of Susan telling her tragic story as the camera maintains a constant movement and ice rain falls, or if more hints on Novak's ultimate intentions would have been peppered throughout. Or if less on screen talk and more body language would have been shown, incorporating synchronized cuts and long takes during key moments, all leading to a crescendo which would make the viewer really care for the characters. For this, the actors would have had to been of the type who would smolder even when repressing their emotions and neither of the Davises were known for this kind of screen presence. Also, this kind of film would only surface about 10 years later under the form of Hiroshima MON AMOUR and used to perfection as IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. As such, WINTER MEETING remains confined to its stage and production values and while it's far from perfect, it has more pluses than minuses.