Patricia Tiernan Movies

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were together again for the last time in Scandal at Scourie. Filmed on location in Canada, the plot concerns a childless Protestant couple, the McChesneys (Garson and Pidgeon), whose lives are profoundly altered by an orphaned Catholic girl named Patsy (Donna Corcoran). Through a series of far-fetched coincidences, Patsy wanders into the McChesney home, immediately capturing the heart of Mrs. McChesney. Mr. McC, a local politician, is a bit harder to win over, but eventually his wife convinces him to adopt the child. This stirs up a tempest in a teapot, as McChesney's political enemies accuse him of using Patsy to win over his Catholic constituents, while one of Patsy's former orphanage classmates spreads a rumor (backed up by circumstantial evidence) that the little girl is a "firebug." Sentimental to a fault, Scandal at Scourie is also undeniably effective. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi