Outcast Lady(1934).

Outcast Lady(1934). Directed by Robert Z. Leonard. With Constance Bennett, Herbert Marshall, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Hugh Williams.

Sir Maurice, disproves of Iris March and his sons Napier Harpenden's, up coming marriage, because he believes that Iris will hurt his son's political career. As a compromise, Napier suggests that they wait to marry until he has established himself in the British diplomatic service in India.

After four years of waiting, Iris accepts the proposal of Fenwick, a wealthy friend of her brother.

When Napier receives word of Iris' engagement, he leaves India to attend her wedding in England. Just before the ceremony, a woman hands Iris a note, which Iris pockets without reading.

Then on her honeymoon, Iris remembers the note and starts to read it in front of Fenwick. Disturbed by the note, Iris tries to throw it away, but Fenwick insists on reading the note. When Iris asks if the note, which claims that, under an assumed name, Fenwick committed and served prison time for a heinous crime, is true. Boy, says that it is true. Although, Iris dismisses the confession, Fenwick is overcome with shame and jumps out of the hotel window to his death.

A passerby, Dr. Masters, and Hilary, a family friend, learn Boy's secret but, because Iris refuses to reveal the reason for Boy's suicide to anyone else, she is suspected both of pushing him out of the window and of causing his death. In spite of their love for her, even Napier and Gerald, who worshiped Boy, suspect Iris of treachery and turn their backs on her. Condemned by family and friends, Iris moves to France and becomes known as Europe's most notorious widow.

Five years later, Iris is notified by Hilary that Gerald is seriously ill and living in squalor and immediately returns to England to see him. After seeing Napier and hearing of his engagement to Venice, Iris goes to her brother's tenement.

Still angry at his sister, the drunken Gerald refuses to see her and fearing that he will die without forgiving her, Iris agrees to allow Hilary to tell him the truth about Boy. Before Hilary reveals Boy's past, Gerald declares his love for Iris and dies without learning the secret.

Although relieved by Gerald's forgiveness, Iris returns to France and lapses into a feverish, state. When he learns of Iris' illness, the now married Napier, who has just distinguished himself as a Parliamentary leader, rushes to be with her. When Venice sees Iris and Napier together, she understands the depth of their love but, because of Iris' unexplained past, worries that her husband will one day be hurt.

Unable to keep Boy's secret any longer, Hilary finally tells Napier and Venice the truth, and Venice agrees to a divorce. Bothered by the thought that Napier has forgiven her without knowing Boy's secret, Iris recovers and prepares to face Sir Maurice. Although Sir Maurice, backs down from his condemnation of Iris when Napier finally tells him about Boy, Iris is unable go through with the divorce plan and commits suicide by deliberately crashing her automobile.

Constance Bennett, a first class actress, plays Iris, a penniless heiress, who she and her drunken brother live very well despite their circumstances...

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1908 – 27 July 1990) was an English actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, making about 50 films over more than a quarter century.

She was born at Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1908 (some sources indicate 1910), and after four years onstage with the Old Vic, she made her film debut in 1931, first appearing in Alibi. She began her career appearing in a number of films for Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios but also featured in Gainsborough's Michael and Mary and Korda's Service for Ladies.

In 1932 she joined Wilfred J. O'Bryen — to whom she had been introduced by actor Herbert Marshall — in a marriage that lasted until his death in 1977.

Her first US/UK co-production and first US production came in 1933, and she worked in the United States under contract with MGM. 1935 was her most memorable year in Hollywood, when she not only distinguished herself in two memorable Dickens' adaptations as David's unfortunate young mother in George Cukor's David Copperfield and as Lucie Manette in Jack Conway's A Tale of Two Cities, but was also featured in Tod Browning's Mark of the Vampire.

Allan did not think highly of the latter film, to which she had been assigned, and considered it "slumming". MGM announced her for a leading part in King Vidor's The Citadel, and, when she was subsequently replaced by Rosalind Russell, Elizabeth sued the studio. The studio retaliated by refusing to let her work, and, frustrated, she returned to the UK in 1938.

By the 1950s, Allan had made the transition to character parts. Particularly memorable is her appearance as Trevor Howard's brittle and dissatisfied wife in the film adaptation of Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter (1953). In 1958, she appeared as Boris Karloff's wife in The Haunted Strangler.

The Letter (1929).

The Letter (1929), is a drama film which was made in both silent and talking versions by Paramount Pictures. Cast: Jeanne Eagels, O.P. Heggie, Reginald Owen and Herbert Marshall, and was directed by Jean de Limur. Eagels was posthumously put "under consideration" for nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the married woman. She was the first performer to be so recognized by the Academy after her death.

Bette Davis was later to receive an Oscar nomination for playing the same role in William Wyler's 1940 remake. Herbert Marshall appeared also in the later film, this time as the husband.

The story begins when the Crosbie's, are marooned on a rubber plantation in the East Indies. Leslie Crosbie begins an affair with Geoffrey Hammond, looking for the love that her husband does not give to her.

Her lover Hammond, falls in love with a Chinese woman and out of jealously, Leslie shoots and kills him.

Placed on trial for her lovers death, Leslie convinces both the jury and her husband that she killed Hammond in self defense. The Chinese woman has an incriminating letter written by Leslie to Hammond and demands Leslie to pay $10,000 to get back her letter. Will her husband continue to stand beside her after reading the letter?

 

I just finished viewing this version of the classic film, The Letter. I'm so glad that Lady Eve, recommended this movie. I would have been very disappointed if I had missed seeing it.. I was really looking forward to seeing Jeanne Eagels, perform. The film is very good, and I think it is worth seeing, but.. it does not have the wonderful chemotherapy and lighting as the 1940's version. Although.. The scene where Jeanne's character travels to the East Indies town, to buy back her letter, is beautiful and full of suspense. Jeanne's performance was good, but.. she spoke in a rushed and some what jerky manner. I was very surprised at the ending.. If I were to pick between the two versions the 1940's version is my favorite.

Jeanne Eagels (June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) began her acting career in Kansas City, appearing in a variety of small venues at a very young age.

She left Kansas City around the age of 15 and toured the Midwest with the Dubinsky Brothers' traveling theater show. At first, she was a dancer, but in time she went on to play the leading lady in several comedies and dramas.

She married Morris Dubinsky, who frequently played villain roles. Around 1911, she moved to New York City, working in chorus lines and eventually becoming a Ziegfeld Girl. Her hair was brown, but she bleached it when she went to New York. During this period, one of her acting coaches was Beverly Sitgreaves.

 Eagels was in the supporting cast of, Mind The Paint Girl at the Lyceum Theatre in September 1912. Eagels played opposite George Arliss in three plays in 1916 and 1917.

In 1915, she appeared in her first motion picture. She also made three films for Thanhouser Film Corporation in 1916-17. In 1918, she performed in Daddies. She quit this show due to illness and then traveled to Europe.

She made her first performance as a star in the play Rain, by John Colton, based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Eagels played her favorite role, that of Sadie Thompson, a free-loving spirit who confronts a fire-and-brimstone preacher on a South Pacific island. She went on tour with Rain for two more seasons, and returned to Broadway to give a farewell performance in 1926.

In 1925, Eagels married Edward Harris "Ted" Coy, a former Yale University football star turned stockbroker. They had no children and divorced in 1928.

In 1926, Eagels was offered the part of Roxie Hart in, Maurine Dallas Watkins's play Chicago, but Eagels walked out of this role during rehearsals. She next performed in the comedy, Her Cardboard Lover (1927), in which she appeared on stage with Leslie Howard. She then went on tour with Her Cardboard Lover for several months. After missing some performances due to ptomaine poisoning, Eagels returned to the cast in July 1927 for an Empire Theater show.

After a season on Broadway, she took a break to make a movie. She appeared opposite John Gilbert in the MGM film Man, Woman and Sin (1927), directed by Monta Bell. In 1928, after failing to appear for a performance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Eagels was banned by Actors Equity from appearing on stage for 18 months. The ban did not stop Eagels from working in film, and she made two "talkies" for Paramount Pictures, including The Letter and Jealousy (both released in 1929).

Just before she was to return to the Broadway stage in a new play, Eagels died suddenly in a private hospital in New York City on October 3, 1929 at the age of 39. Medical examiners disagreed on the cause of death there were three separate coroner's reports, all reaching different conclusions but the available evidence pointed to the effects of alcohol, a tranquilizer, or heroin. After services in New York, Eagels received a second funeral service when her body was returned to Kansas City, where she was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Eagels was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Letter, but the Oscar went to Mary Pickford for the film Coquette. In 1957, a mostly fictionalized film biography entitled Jeanne Eagels was made by Columbia Pictures, starring Kim Novak as Eagels.

Pre-Code: Trouble in Paradise (1932).

Trouble in Paradise(1932). Pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall, and features Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton and C. Aubrey Smith.

In Venice, during dinner, Lily accuses Gaston(who is posing as a baron) of being a thief and he in turn, accuses her of being a pickpocket. But when he presents her garter to her, she falls instantly in love with him and they decide to join forces. They are almost caught while robbing aristocrat Francois Fileba's room.



A year later, in Paris, Gaston and Lily are still in love and working together when, at the opera, Gaston steals a diamond-studded purse from Mariette Colet, owner of Paris's perfumerie, Colet and Co. Posing as Monsieur LuValle, Gaston returns the bag to collect the reward and lands a job as her secretary.

It is not long before Gaston, begins making plans to embezzle money from the company. Lily, works as Gaston's assistant and pretends to be devoted to Mariette even though she is jealous of her and Gaston's relationship.

After a few weeks, Mariette introduces Gaston to her friends and Fileba, asks him if he has ever been in Venice, of course Gaston denies it. Now, fearful that Fileba, will expose them, Gaston and Lily must leave Paris. Fileba, soon remembers Gaston, was the man who robbed him in Venice and warns Mariette, but she does not really seem to care.

When Lily, realizes the reason why Gaston, wants to leave in the morning, is because he made plans to meet with Mariette, she steals the money from the safe. Now, that everyone knows his true identity, how will Gaston get out of this love triangle?



What I loved most about this romantic comedy, was the many beautiful sets and costumes.

Kay Francis (January 13, 1905 - August 26, 1968). She costarred with William Powell many times and performed in as many as six to eight movies a year, making a total of 21 films between 1929 and 1931. With her dark beauty and her deep voice perfectly suited for early sound- films made Francis one of the top film stars of the early 1930s.

She performed in the films, Girls About Town (1931) and Twenty-Four Hours (1931). After Kay's career skyrocketed at Warners, she would return to Paramount for the film, Trouble in Paradise (1932).

In 1932, Warner Brothers persuaded both Francis and Powell to join the ranks of Warners stars. In exchange, Francis was given roles that allowed her a more sympathetic screen persona.

The Painted Veil (1934).

The Painted Veil (1934). Directed by Ryszard Bolesławski. Cast: Greta Garbo Herbert Marshall, Warner Oland and Jean Hersholt.

After her sister Olga gets married, Katrin, the daughter of an Austrian medical professor, dreams of leaving her boring life in, Austria. When Dr. Walter Fane, a British bacteriologist, asks her to marry him and move to Hong Kong, she jumps at the chance, even though she does not love him.

After Walter, becomes involved in his medical work and does not have much time for his new wife, is when unhappily married Jack shows Katrin, all the popular city's land marks and Jack finds the opportunity to kiss her. Katrin, shocked by his actions still agrees to go with him to watch dancers performing at a Buddhist festival. Jack tells Katrin, that he is love with her and Katrin tells him that she is not in love with her husband.



Later, Katrin tells Walter that she is tired of him not being home very much. Walter comes home early the next day, but finds Katrin's bedroom door locked and Jack's hat on a table. That evening, Walter confronts Katrin and she admits that she is in love with Jack. Heartbroken, Walter tells Katrin, that he will give her a divorce only if Jack promises in writing that he will divorce his wife and marry her. When Katrin goes to Jack, with the terms he tells her that a divorce would ruin his life and breaks off the affair.

Heartbroken, Katrin travels with Walter to China, where a cholera epidemic has broken out. While Walter, tries to get the epidemic under control, Katrin grows more and more depressed. He tells her that he still loves her, but will send her back to Hong Kong. She tells him that she now knows what a good man he is and that she's ashamed of having betrayed him.

It is not long before, Jack realizes his is still in love with Katrin and leaves Hong Kong for to find Katrin. Walter, returns from the village after ordering it to be burned to stop the spread of the disease. He is happy to find that Katrin, was still there helping the children at the orphanage. Walter, is stabbed by villagers angry over having their houses burned and Katrin rushes to his side. Katrin, is confronted by Jack. Who will Katrin, decide to live the rest of her life with?

"The Painted Veil." Is a very moving love story. The score and cinematography and the Asian sets were beautiful.

Herbert Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966). The actor spent many years playing romantic leads opposite such stars as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis, and starring in classics: Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Little Foxes (1941), and The Razor's Edge (1946). He was featured in both the 1929 and the more famous 1940 version of The Letter, first as the murdered lover, then the wronged husband. He starred in a popular radio series, The Man Called X, in which he played a globe-trotting "American" spy with an English accent.

He was married five times. Among his wives were two actresses, Edna Best, with whom he appeared in The Calendar, Michael and Mary and The Faithful Heart, and Boots Mallory, to whom he was married from 1947 until her death in 1958.

The Letter (1940).

The Letter (1940). Film noir directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham. Cast: Bette Davis,

The story begins when, Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a rubber plantation manager, shoots six bullets into her ex-lover. She then sends for her husband Robert, who is out working at one of his plantations.

Her husband returns, with his attorney and a British police inspector. Leslie tells them that she killed him to "save her honor". Leslie is arrested and put in prison in Singapore to wait for her trial.

Her husband, believes her story, but her attorney Howard Joyce, is not so sure that she is telling the truth. Howard's suspicions are found to be true when his clerk Ong Chi Seng, shows him a copy of the letter Leslie wrote to Hammond, telling him she would be home alone that evening and that she very much wants to to see him.

Ong Chi Seng tells Howard, that Hammond's widow, has the original letter. Howard then confronts Leslie and forces her to confess to Hammond's murder, but.. Leslie talks her attorney into buying back the letter. Hammond's widow wants Leslie to come to pay for the letter herself, so that she can see what she looks like.



Now, with no letter to use against her, Leslie is acquitted. With the trial behind them Robert, makes plans to buy a rubber plantation in Sumatra, Howard and Leslie are forced to tell him that they have used all his savings to pay for a incriminating letter.

Robert, is heartbroken to learn that Hammond was her lover for years, but will forgive her if she can tell him that she loves him. Leslie, breaks down and tells him, "with all my heart, I still love the man I killed". Leslie, then walks out the gate. Will she ever return?

The film has excellent acting from the whole cast and it is beautifully filmed movie. You will never forget Davis' showing her face hidden in the shadows and those huge eyes just staring ahead.

Gale Sondergaard (February 15, 1899 – August 14, 1985), made her first film performance in, Anthony Adverse (1936)and became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this performance.

She also performed in the film, The Life of Emile Zola (1937).

During pre-production of, The Wizard of Oz (1939), one of the first ideas was to have the Wicked Witch of the West portrayed as a glamorous villainous, inspired by the Wicked Queen in Walt Disney's, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Sondergaard was originally cast as the witch in "Oz" and was photographed for two wardrobe tests. One was as a glamorous wicked witch and another as a ugly wicked witch. After the decision was made to have an ugly wicked witch, Sondergaard, withdrew from the role and the role went to character actress, Margaret Hamilton.

Sondergaard was cast, as the sexy Tylette, in the film, The Blue Bird(1940).

In 1940 she played the role of the evil wife in the film, The Letter, with Bette Davis.

She received a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the King's wife in the film, Anna and the King of Siam (1946).