Constance Bennett Movies
Constance Bennett was the eldest of three daughters born to theatrical luminary Richard Bennett and his wife, actress Adrienne Morrison. Though her father did everything he could to discourage her from pursuing an acting career, Constance was willful and rebellious almost from the moment of her birth. She tried to break away from Daddy's influence by marrying at age 16, but the union was quickly annulled. At 17, Constance was signed to a Goldwyn movie contract on the strength of her family name. She treated her silent-film career as a lark, but along the way she developed a superb sense of comic timing and an instinctive gift for heavy dramatics. After her second marriage in 1926, Constance left films in favor of the international "party set"; her third husband was the Marquis de la Falaise de la Coudray, a well-known playboy of questionable royal lineage who'd previously been married to Gloria Swanson. In the early 1930s, after the termination of this marriage, Constance returned to films, specializing in "fallen woman" roles before switching to light comedy in such films as The Affairs of Cellini (1934) and Topper (1937). At one point she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. In 1945 she became a producer, bankrolling a film titled Paris Underground, in which she co-starred with British musical favorite Gracie Fields. During the 1950s, Ms. Bennett appeared in numerous stage productions, and also ran a successful cosmetics firm. Constance's fifth and longest-lasting husband, whom she married in 1946, was Brigadier General John Theron Couper (for the record, husband #4 was actor Gilbert Roland); at age 59, she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the Walson Army Hospital at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where her husband was stationed. Constance Bennett was the sister of actresses Barbara and Joan Bennett, and the aunt of radio talk-show host Morton Downey Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1966
Lana Turner takes the lead in the seventh film version of Alexandre Bisson's glossy soap opera. Holly Parker (Turner) is married to respected diplomat Clay Anderson (John Forsythe), but his busy schedule prevents them from seeing each other very often. Distracted and lonely, Holly allows her head to be turned by carefree playboy Phil Benton (Ricardo Montalban), who dies in a freak accident during an assignation. In a panic, Holly contacts her mother-in-law, Estelle Anderson (Constance Bennett) and asks what she should do. Estelle, a joyless woman who has never cared for her daughter-in-law, tells Holly that unless she wants to destroy her husband's life and career, she should flee the country and never return. Tearfully, Holly follows Estelle's advice, leaving behind her young son. Many years later, Holly has fallen on hard times; addicted to drugs, she scrapes out a meager living as a prostitute in a cheap hotel in Mexico. Devious criminal Dan Sullivan (Burgess Meredith) tries to involve Holly in a blackmail scheme; at the last minute, she finds out that Clay is the target, and she kills Sullivan. She cannot afford to hire a lawyer to defend her, so she is assigned a dedicated young public defender, whom she soon recognizes as her son, Clay Anderson, Jr. (Keir Dullea). Not wanting Clay, Jr. to know her true identity, Holly is tried as "Madame X," but she has trouble keeping her composure given the trial and her mixed joy and shame at seeing her son. Madame X was Constance Bennett's first film in 12 years and the last she would ever make; she died of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly after completing her work on the picture, nine months before it was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, John Forsythe, (more)
Based on a story by Paddy Chayefsky, this is the tale of a man who is being forced to retire from his job, at the age of 65, and decides to fight back. Impersonating the head of the company, he sets out to convince them to get rid of their outmoded retirement policy and gives a creditable speech on the dignity of man, gaining national attention. This movie features good performances, but it will probably be remembered more for the bit part played by a young Marilyn Monroe as the boss' secretary. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, (more)
- 1948
In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt district attorney who happens to be her ex-husband. The prosecutor knows nothing of their past relationship; all he knows is he wants to nail the crook and his cronies to the wall. Unfortunately, the truth comes out in court and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Aherne, Iris Adrian, (more)
- 1948
Angel on the Amazon gives the viewer a pretty good notion of what Lost Horizon or She might have looked like had they been produced by Republic Pictures. Vera Ralston stars as huntress Christine Ridgeway, who embarks on one of her many hunting expeditions in the company of her husband Anthony Brian Aherne. While deep in the jungles of the Amazon, the Ridgeways and their party come across the wreckage of a plane. Among the survivors are pilot Jim Warburton George Brent and Dr. Karen Lawrence Constance Bennett. Warburton is impressed by the fact that, though apparently well on in years, Christine has retained her youthful appearance. Dr. Lawrence eventually discovers the secret of Christine's eternal beauty, which by film's end has atrophied considerably. The rambling screenplay whisks the viewer from Brazil to the Riviera to Pasadena, all courtesy of the Republic back lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Brent, Vera Ralston, (more)
- 1947
Director Michael Curtiz masterfully tells the fictional story of radio host Alexander Grandison (Claude Rains) as derived from a novel by Charlotte Armstrong. Grandison spookily recites murder mysteries on his radio show, with intimate and excruciating details. The reason he's so good and popular is that some of the murders he presents really are his own. He kills one of his female workers, but her fiancée, Steven Francis Howard (Michael North), threatens to take revenge for her death. Howard tries to convince Grandison's niece, Matilda Frazier (Joan Caulfield), that he is her long-lost husband. Much mystery and intrigue follows. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, (more)
- 1946
Otto Preminger directed this romantic musical (something of a change of pace for the rather serious-minded director) set in Philadephia in 1876. The upcoming Centennial Exposition is the talk of the town, and sisters Julia (Jeanne Crain) and Edith (Linda Darnell) find themselves romantic rivals when they both fall for Philippe (Cornel Wilde), a suave Frenchman in town for the celebration. Their mother Harriet (Dorothy Gish) might offer more advice if she weren't busy looking after her husband Jesse (Walter Brennan), who is busy tinkering with inventions that he's convinced will make him a rich man. Jerome Kern composed the film's'score and co-wrote several songs, including "Up with the Lark," "The Right Romance," and "All Through the Day." It was the last film work he would complete prior to his death in 1945. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Louis Austin, (more)
Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gracie Fields, Kurt Kreuger, (more)
- 1942
Marlene Dietrich was supposed to have starred in Universal's Sin Town, but the script was not to her liking. Dietrich was replaced by Constance Bennett in the role of a glamorous suspect in a small-town murder. Broderick Crawford and Leo Carrillo costar as a couple of con men who must solve the killing of a newspaper publisher lest they be convicted of the crime. At 75 minutes, the film moves too quickly to pause for such niceties as motivation and logic, but few in the audiences of 1942 complained. Sin Town's three-person writing staff included Richard Brooks, later the director of such "A" pictures as Elmer Gantry and In Cold Blood (though he never did write for Marlene Dietrich). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Broderick Crawford, (more)
- 1942
This remake of the 1934 WW I melodrama Madame Spy has been updated to the WW II era. Once again accepting a role unworthy of her talents, Constance Bennett stars as Joan Bannister, the wife of globe-trotting war correspondent David Bannister (Don Porter). Returning to the US, Bannister becomes suspicious when Joan begins keeping company with known Nazi functionaries, notably the sinister Mr. Peter (John Litel). Suspecting that his own wife may be the elusive "Madame Spy" wanted by American authorities, Bannister is in for quite a few surprises before the film's six reels expend themselves. The film's climax, in a deserted farm house, evokes memories of Hitchcock's better-known espionager Foreign Correspondent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Don Porter, (more)
- 1941
It's hard to believe that Wild Bill Hickok Rides is a Warner Bros. picture-and harder still to believe that Constance Bennett deigned to star in the film. Wavering uncomfortably between comedy and drama, this patchwork western features Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill Hickok, who on this occasion goes on the warpath against despotic land baron Harry Farrel (Warren William). When Hickok's rancher friend is lynched by Farrel's flunkeys, the fur-and bullets-really start to fly. Constance Bennett does her best to convincingly portray gambling-hall proprietress Belle Andrews, but it's an impossibly written role. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times summed the whole thing up in a terse single sentence: "Will be remembered as the one in which a Bennett sister slummed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Bruce Cabot, (more)
- 1941
In this sad drama, a remake of Oil for the Lamps of China, a South American rubber planter nurses a broken heart after his U.S. fiancee jilts him. In addition, he has trouble with the natives who do not respect him. His troubles ease when he meets a caring nightclub singer who he marries against the wishes of his employers. He is hoping that marriage will protect her from the U.S. detective who has been looking into her past. Unfortunately, the investigator finds her and extradites her back to the States where she must stand trial. Her husband accompanies her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Jeffrey Lynn, (more)
- 1941
Attempting to Americanize Greta Garbo to appeal to American audiences (since most of the foreign markets for Hollywood product had been cut off due to World War II), M.G.M.'s Two-Faced Woman succeeded in making Garbo angry enough to announce her retirement from the screen. Two-Faced Woman was Garbo's final screen appearance, as the legendary actress slipped into a reclusive existence that lasted until her death. This George Cukor romantic comedy casts Garbo as ski instructor Karin Borg Blake. She gives lessons to wealthy American playboy Larry Blake (Melvyn Douglas), and the two fall in love and marry even though Larry has a girlfriend named Griselda Vaughn (Constance Bennett) waiting for him back in New York. Returning to New York, Karin fears that Griselda will win Larry back. In an effort to foil Larry's imagined dalliance, Karin poses as her own twin sister, Katherine, hoping to get Larry to fall in love with her instead of Griselda. Larry is onto the scheme and plays along with her, pretending to fall in love with Katherine. But this infuriates Karin, who can't believe that her husband would fall in love with her sister, and she storms back to her ski resort. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1940
The Grand Hotel formula that was so overworked in the 1930s made an encore appearance in 1940's Escape to Glory. The story is given timeliness by placing the characters on a British merchant ship on the very day that World War II is declared. The ship is attacked by a Nazi U-Boat, resulting in a variety of reactions from the diverse passengers--one of whom (Erwin Kalser) is a German doctor. Constance Bennett is glamorous, Pat O'Brien is boozy, John Halliday is pensive, and everybody else (except for the German medico) is plain fearful. Twenty years later, director John Brahm would masterfully recreate the shipboard tensions he sustained so well in Escape to Glory for his classic Twilight Zone TV playlet "Judgment Night." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Constance Bennett, (more)
- 1939
The exploits of female pilots are followed in this high-flying drama. These women are extremely competitive and will stop at nothing to win their cross-country races. The story centers on one such determined pilot who is forced to leave the race circuit after her plane crashes. To become re-airborne she convinces several people to sponsor her. One wealthy socialite refuses because she is a pilot too. The two women end up competing in the air and on the ground for the love of the same fellow. Because the heroine is so well liked by the other racers, they help her win. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, Constance Bennett, (more)
- 1938
Merrily We Live is a blatant imitation of My Man Godfrey, courtesy of producer Hal Roach. This time Brian Aherne is the gentleman vagabond whom flighty society matron Billie Burke hires as a butler. Aherne's down-to-earth attitude jars against the high-toned phoniness of Burke's wealthy household, but soon the butler has "humanized" everyone around him. He also falls in love with Burke's daughter Constance Bennett, the snootiest member of the family. While at least one prominent film historian has applauded Merrily We Live for avoiding the muddled political subtext of My Man Godfrey, critics in 1938 were less politely inclined, blasting Merrily for being so unabashed a carbon copy. Audiences, on the other hand, loved the film, and Merrily We Live was a success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1938
In this frothy comedy-drama, a businesswoman owns a successful service bureau for the filthy rich. Her service does everything from handling mundane finances to putting on weddings. Her most recent client wants her to prevent his rube of a nephew from coming to New York to visit him. She does her best and in the end, falls in love with the bumpkin after charming him away from his countrified girl friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Vincent Price, (more)
- 1936
Ladies in Love transplants 20th Century-Fox's favorite film plot--three girls on the prowl for rich husbands--into the Budapest of the mid-1930s. Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young and Constance Bennett combine their earnings to rent a luxurious apartment, in hopes of attracting wealthy potential husbands. Young falls for a nobleman (Tyrone Power), who is engaged to another woman. She contemplates taking poison, but the lethal dose is accidentally ingested by Gaynor, whose plight results in a house call from Dr. Don Ameche, whom Gaynor has worshipped from afar. It is Bennett who snags the wealthy husband, middle-aged businessman Wilfred Lawson. Though Tyrone Power's part was small, he clicked immediately with the audiences, prompting the studio to give Power the big buildup. Ladies in Love would be reworked several times in the future, most obviously as How to Marry a Millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1936
A stellar Hollywood cast gives an extra boost to the atmospheric British feature Everything is Thunder. The story involves a Canadian POW being hidden by a German citizen during World War I. The surprise herein is that the German is Constance Bennett, one hundred percent sympathetic and (eventually) apolitical. Douglass Montgomery is the prisoner, first discovered in Connie's bathroom while the police scramble through her apartment building. Despite the possibility of being liquidated as a traitor, Ms. Bennett, who has a remarkable propensity for disguise, helps the likeable Montgomery reach the allied lines. The pro-German sentiments in Everything is Thunder (and in the Jocelyn L. Hardy book on which it was based) were not all that uncommon in 1936 Britain; funny, though, how this film disappeared from circulation in 1939. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Douglass Montgomery, (more)
- 1935
Society girl Constance Bennett goes to work as a reporter for a big-city newspaper. Harried editor Clark Gable fires the flighty socialite, but rehires her when Bennett starts dating the co-respondent (Harvey Stephens) in a major divorce case. Things get sticky when the wife in the case is murdered and Bennett's beau is accused of the crime. More interested in the well-being of Bennett than in making headlines, Gable tracks down the killer and springs the boy friend. The freed man sizes up the situation and courteously steps out of the picture, allowing Gable and Bennett--who of course have been in love all along--to head for the altar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Constance Bennett, (more)
- 1934
The Affairs of Cellini is based on Edwin Justus Mayer's popular stage play The Firebrand, which in turn was based on the life and times of Renaissance artist/political reactionary Benvenuto Cellini. Fredric March plays the tempestuous, amorous Cellini, who spends as much time in swordplay with jealous husbands as he does in his artist's loft. When the duke of Florence (Frank Morgan) falls for Cellini's beautiful model (Fay Wray), Cellini is presented in court, whereupon he revives an ongoing affair with the duchess of Florence (Constance Bennett). Though a bumbling buffoon, the duke nonetheless holds the power of life and death over everyone in his domain, including Cellini. Thanks to his political activities and his overactive libido, Cellini is nearly executed, but a series of farce-like complications allows the plotline to turn out to the artist's advantage. Though hardly reliable as history, The Affairs of Cellini scores on its comic content, including the hilarious performances of Frank Morgan as the cuckolded duke and Fay Wray as the monumentally stupid artist's model. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Fredric March, (more)
- 1934
A remake of the silent film Her Sister From Paris, Moulin Rouge stars Constance Bennett in a dual role as twin French entertainers. One is married to a songwriter (Franchot Tone), who doesn't want his wife to return to the stage. In order to hide the fact that she's gotten a job in a musical, the married sister poses as her unmarried twin, while the twin pretends to be the married one (You following this?) The husband attends the musical and falls madly in love with the leading lady--never suspecting that she's his own wife. The married woman continues the ruse as a test of her husband's fidelity...and on and on it goes. Moulin Rouge was withdrawn from circulation in the early 1950s to avoid confusion with the more famous Toulouse Lautrec biopic of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Franchot Tone, (more)
- 1934
Outcast Lady is a heavily censored version of Michael Arlen's once-notorious novel The Green Hat, previously filmed by Greta Garbo as A Woman of Affairs. Constance Bennett is Iris March, a woman cursed by her beauty, doomed to drive everyone around her -- including herself -- to destruction. When her new husband Boy Fenwick (Ralph Forbes) commits suicide on their wedding night, Iris, who's been unfaithful to him, is held responsible, especially when the reason for Fenwick's demise is kept a secret by his snobbish family (He had contacted syphilis in the Arlen original; in the film, he fears exposure of a previous prison term). Realizing that she has brought nothing but sorrow to the Fenwick family, Iris nobly steps into her fashionable touring car and smashes it into a tree. Oddly enough, Iris' death is amusing in retrospect, inasmuch as Constance Bennett would suffer a similar demise at the beginning of 1937's Topper, thereby allowing her to cavort through the rest of the picture as a ghost. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1933
When her tough boyfriend Red Branahan (William Gargan) is sent to jail, Aggie Appleby (Wynne Gibson) meets mild-mannered Adoniram Schlump (Charles Farrell), and decides to turn him into a real man. She teaches him how to talk tough, changes his name to Red Branahan, and gets him a construction job -- unaware that the real Red has been released from prison. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, Wynne Gibson, (more)
- 1933
Our Betters is adapted from Somerset Maugham's play about the shallowness and hypocrisy of the idle rich. American heiress Constance Bennett snares a titled British husband (Alan Mobray), but when she discovers that he is merely marrying her for her money, she decides to carry on a few affairs of her own. Going from wide-eyed innocent to bitter cynic, Bennett tries to maneuver her own sister (Anita Louise) into a titled marriage so that the "gravy train" of privileges and sexual liaisons will never end. Bennett ultimately ends up alone and miserable, though she retains her wealth and puts up a good front right to the final fade-out. Maugham's original play was intended to satirize wealthy Americans who buy their way into European society, but the film version of Our Betters is far rougher on the Continental Set than it is on Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
- 1933
Released in Great Britain as Sealed Lips, this WWI melodrama stars Constance Bennett as Carla, aka Russian spy "K-14." Though there's no room for romance in her line of work, Carla falls in love all the same with Austrian captain Rudi (Gilbert Roland). When he discovers that she's working for the enemy, Rudi is forced to arrest Carla, a turn of events which she takes in stride as the fortunes of war. Though slated for a firing squad, Carla manages to escape and after the war is reunited with Rudi at the train station where they first met. One of the screenwriters was Worthington Miner, later a leading light of the TV anthology series Studio One. Coming at the tail end of the early-1930s "spy cycle," After Tonight lost $100,000 at the box office, forcing RKO Radio to rethink the studio's contract with Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
