In 1996, The Heiress was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Dr. Sloper vows he will disinherit Catherine if she marries Morris without his blessing and arranges to take her on an extended trip to Europe to separate the pair as a 'test'.

Upon their return home, he reveals his poor opinion of his child at last and cruelly belittles his daughter's lack of intelligence, beauty, and accomplishment, making it clear he views her as impossible to be attractive to a man outside of her inheritance.

In a bitter argument, Catherine tells him she planned to elope and was rejected and says he has cheated her by denying her even the chance to 'buy' a husband who would pretend to love her.

[7] He agreed and encouraged executives at Paramount Pictures to purchase the rights from the playwrights (Ruth and Augustus Goetz) for $250,000 and offer them $10,000 per week to write the screenplay.

The couple were asked to make Morris less of a villain than he was in their play and the original novel in deference to the studio's desire to capitalize on Montgomery Clift's reputation as a romantic leading man.

When it premiered at Radio City Music Hall, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that the film "crackles with allusive life and fire in its tender and agonized telling of an extraordinarily characterful tale" and added Wyler "has given this somewhat austere drama an absorbing intimacy and a warming illusion of nearness that it did not have on the stage.

He has brought the full-bodied people very closely and vividly to view, while maintaining the clarity and sharpness of their personalities, their emotions and their styles...The Heiress is one of the handsome, intense and adult dramas of the year.

"[9] The Brooklyn Eagle found the film "an intensely satisfying drama that holds a high level of interest throughout, building relentlessly to a moving climax."

Praise for the principals lauded de Havilland especially: "the transformation of Catherine Sloper from a pathetically shy girl to a cold, handsome woman" being "handled with finished skill.

[11] TV Guide rates the film five out of a possible five stars and adds, "This powerful and compelling drama...owes its triumph to the deft hand of director William Wyler and a remarkable lead performance by Olivia de Havilland".

"[13] Channel 4 stated "de Havilland's portrayal...is spine-chilling...Clift brings a subtle ambiguity to one of his least interesting roles, and Richardson is also excellent.