Payment on Demand (1951)
Director:
Curtis Bernhardt
Tagline:
« She made him pay for the one sin no woman ever forgives! »
Actors:
Joyce Ramsey
David Ramsey
Mrs. Hedges
Robert Townsend
Martha
Genre:
Drama
Rating:
(2’095 votes)
(2’095 votes)
Quotes:
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Be careful, Joyce. When a woman starts getting old, time can be the avalanche and loneliness – a disaster.
»
« Mrs. Edna Blanton: It's a man's world. They get everything out of it. I've told Fred hundreds of times, I'd never divorce him. No matter what he did, he couldn't make me divorce him. I'm his wife till death do us part – and I'm very healthy!
»
« Joyce Ramsey: Your home is lovely, Mrs Hedges.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Are you satisfied now?
»
« Joyce Ramsey: Satisfied? I don't understand.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Oh yes you do, my dear. You understand perfectly. You've been angling for months to be invited here. Did you think I didn't know? You've done all the proper things. Let me beat you at bridge, flattered me about my clothes, laughed at my jokes.
»
« Joyce Ramsey: You're smarter than I thought you were, or I'm less subtle than I thought I was. Your clothes are good, but you're a dull bridge player. I did want to come here – I wanted my husband to meet your husband.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Well, they've done that. What's next?
»
« Joyce Ramsey: David may need financing. He may need business advice. If your husband likes him, he'll help him.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: You are a ruthless climber aren't you? You won't be a nobody. You'll connive, manage, manoeuvre, do whatever is necessary.
»
« Joyce Ramsey: Naturally I'm interested in my husband's career.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Step over anyone to help it, won't you?
»
« Joyce Ramsey: Would you like us to leave, Mrs Hedges?
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: No, Joyce – I can't help thinking how you remind me of myself at your age.
»
« Joyce Ramsey: No wonder you recognised my technique.
»
« Mrs. Emily Hedges: Recognised it? My dear, I invented it!
»
Trailer:
Trailer
Runtime:90 minutes
Plots:
With their daughters about to marry, Joyce (Bette Davis) is blindsided when husband David (Barry Sullivan) wants out of their marriage. Facing the abyss, can she accept that her tactics to push him toward success have driven them apart.
Well-to-do Joyce Ramsey is the dominant and domineering force in her household comprised of her lawyer husband David Ramsey, their young-adult daughter Diana, and their late-teen daughter Martha. Everything Joyce has done in the course of her marriage to David has been in the pursuit of wealth, prestige, comfort and security for her and the family, which belies her and David’s humble beginnings. Their current wealth and status began with a white lie told by Joyce to one of David’s potential clients when David was still struggling as a lawyer, that lie which had the consequence of Joyce, and by association David, stepping on a friend’s back as they climbed the social ladder, Joyce never to look back. Joyce has no real idea of how her actions have negatively affected David’s feelings for her, so she’s blindsided when David tells her he no longer loves her and asks for a divorce. Joyce’s friends put into her mind that another woman could be involved, which makes Joyce curious–is that the sole reason? She starts to reflect on key points of their marriage. Those reflections, Joyce’s investigation into David’s possible infidelity, her getting a glimpse of her future without David and his love, and her getting a sense of that young, pure love again that she and David truly had when they wed, could affect what Joyce decides to do about David’s request for the divorce.
