Binnie Hale Movies

Love From a Stranger was adapted from a play by Frank Vosper--which, in turn, was based on a story by Agatha Christie (though you'd never know it from the print ads for this film, which reproduced Ms. Christie's name in microscopic typeset). Ann Harding plays a lovely but somewhat naive young woman who goes on a European vacation after winning a lottery. Swept off her feet by charming Basil Rathbone, Harding finds herself married before she is fully able to grasp the situation. Slowly but surely, Rathbone's loving veneer crumbles; when he casually asks Harding to sign a document turning her entire fortune over to him, she deduces that her days are numbered. Desperately trying to keep one step ahead of the homicidal Rathbone (without his catching on), Harding foils all of his clever schemes to put her out of the way. The flustered Rathbone finally tips his hand, but by now the tables are turned. Filmed in England, Love From a Stranger would be remade in Hollywood in 1947, with Sylvia Sidney and John Hodiak in the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Walter Hackett's popular stage farce Hyde Park Corner was smoothly transferred to the screen in 1935. Gordon Harker repeats his stage role as insouciant cockney Cheatie, a central figure in a bit of history that repeats itself. A duel to the death in 1780 turns out to have long-reaching effects for the ancestors of the two participants. When in 1935 it looks as though the duel will be repeated -- under the same circumstances, at the same location -- the outcome is significantly different, and a whole lot happier. Binnie Hale co-stars as Sophie, a role originated on stage by Marion Lorne (yes, the same Marion Lorne who later played dithery Aunt Clara on TV's Bewitched). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, the owners of a teahouse inherit a fortune from their uncle and head for London to live the highlife. Unfortunately, they find themselves entangled with a gang of Chicago mobsters and their leader. Fortunately, the hapless duo end up destroying the gang. It is then that they learn that their own fortune was illegally obtained. The humbled twosome return to their middle-class lives and their teahouse, but when they arrive, they discover that it has been turned into a red-hot nightclub. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi