---
title: "Now, Voyager: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/now-voyager/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/now-voyager"
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Now, Voyager (1942): what the critics said

Critics' score 78 from 7 reviews: 5 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to Now, Voyager, with praise centred on Bette Davis rather than on the romance alone. The reviews repeatedly credit her with giving a familiar transformation story conviction, vulnerability and a sharper edge than its conventions might suggest. Irving Rapper’s direction also earns approval for its handling of melodrama, while Radio Times singles out Sol Polito’s cinematography. The broad agreement is that the acting makes the film’s emotional appeal persuasive.

Reservations concern the storytelling more than the performances. Variety finds the writing episodic and questions the ending, whereas Empire regards that ending as particularly ingenious. Slant Magazine acknowledges the romance’s indulgence but finds sincerity enough to justify it. The recorded spread runs from strong enthusiasm to qualified approval, with no negative verdicts, though the limited Time Out excerpt and inaccessible New York Times text leave those critics’ broader positions unconfirmed.

## Radio Times — Sue Heal

Rating 5/5. 

The review praises the film as a beautifully acted classic weepie, with Bette Davis delivering a consummate performance. It singles out Davis’s tear-jerking speech and the famous two-cigarette scene, alongside Irving Rapper’s grand direction and Sol Polito’s luminous cinematography.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-3zspdo/now-voyager/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 4 August 2021. 

Bradshaw finds the film a magnificent, passionately acted Hollywood melodrama. He especially praises Davis’s performance, which balances sharpness with sensuality and vulnerability.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/04/now-voyager-review-bette-daviss-sublime-sex-free-act-of-sublimation)

## Slant Magazine — Jeremiah Kipp

Rating 4/5. 26 November 2019. 

The critic finds the romance indulgent but sincere and unforgettable, and praises the Criterion restoration as dazzling. Bette Davis’s committed performance is singled out for helping the film rise above the conventions of the woman’s picture.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/now-voyager-blu-ray-review-bette-davis/)

## Empire — David Parkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 76/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Parkinson treats the film as an accomplished, enduring melodrama that makes inventive use of genre conventions. He particularly praises Rapper’s direction and the ingenious ending, which balances Charlotte’s romantic hopes with her independence.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/now-voyager-review/)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1941. 

The review is broadly positive, despite calling the writing episodic and the ending questionable. It singles out Bette Davis’s performance as one of her finest roles.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1941/film/reviews/now-voyager-1200413847/)

## Time Out — TM

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 

The available excerpt offers praise for Bette Davis’s performance but does not reveal the review’s overall verdict. It singles out her ability to make Hollywood’s repressed-spinster transformation feel more refined.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/now-voyager)

## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 23 October 1942. 

The review’s verdict and specific praise or criticism cannot be confirmed because the article text is inaccessible. The available page does not reveal what the critic singled out.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1942/10/23/archives/now-voyager-with-bette-davis-paul-henreid-claude-rains-at-the.html)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/now-voyager.md