The 1942 film starring Bette Davis as a spinster who transforms into a glamorous woman is Now, Voyager.
Davis plays Charlotte Vale, an emotionally stifled woman controlled by her domineering mother. Under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith, played by Claude Rains, Charlotte gains confidence, changes her appearance, and emerges as a poised, independent traveler. The transformation is psychological as well as visual, not simply a conventional makeover.
Irving Rapper directed the Warner Bros. drama, with Paul Henreid as Jerry Durrance, the romantic figure Charlotte meets on a sea voyage. Henreid's famous two-cigarette scene became one of the film's most recognizable images. The title comes from Walt Whitman's poem “The Untold Want,” and the screenplay adapts Olive Higgins Prouty's 1941 novel.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Davis, and won for Max Steiner's dramatic score. It is often confused with Davis films such as Dark Victory, but those films have entirely different plots and characters.