Leslie Howard Movies
Son of a London stockbroker, British actor Leslie Howard worked as a bank clerk after graduating from London's Dulwich School. Serving briefly in World War I, Howard was mustered out for medical reasons in 1918, deciding at that time to act for a living. Working in both England and the U.S. throughout the 1920s, Howard specialized in playing disillusioned intellectuals in such plays as Outward Bound, the film version of which served as his 1930 film debut. Other films followed on both sides of the Atlantic, the best of these being Howard's masterful star turn in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). In 1935, Howard portrayed yet another disenchanted soul in The Petrified Forest, which co-starred Humphrey Bogart as a gangster patterned after John Dillinger. Howard was tapped for the film version, but refused to make the movie unless Bogart was also hired (Warner Bros. had planned to use their resident gangster type, Edward G. Robinson). Hardly a candidate for "Mr. Nice Guy" -- he was known to count the lines of his fellow actors and demand cuts if they exceeded his dialogue -- Howard was nonetheless loyal to those he cared about. Bogart became a star after The Petrified Forest, and in gratitude named his first daughter Leslie Bogart. Somehow able to hide encroaching middle-age when on screen, Howard played romantic leads well into his late 40s, none more so than the role of -- yes -- disillusioned intellectual Southern aristocrat Ashley Wilkes in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind. In the late 1930s, Howard began dabbling in directing, notably in his starring films Pygmalion (1938) and Pimpernel Smith (1941). Fiercely patriotic, Howard traveled extensively on behalf of war relief; on one of these trips, he boarded a British Overseas Airways plane in 1943 with several other British notables, flying en route from England to Lisbon. The plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay and all on board were killed. Only after the war ended was it revealed that Howard had selflessly taken that plane ride knowing it would probably never arrive in Lisbon; it was ostensibly carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and was sent out as a decoy so that Churchill's actual plane would be undisturbed by enemy fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1931
In this Academy Award-winning film, Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore) is a hotshot Californian lawyer from a well-to-do family, whose main failing is his indulgence in alcohol. After winning a case for mobster Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable), Stephen brings his client along to a party at his parents' house for a little celebrating. However, when they arrive at their destination, Ace manages to steal the heart of Stephen's wild daughter, Jan (Norma Shearer), and the two run off together, much to the family's dismay. Stephen struggles to win his foolhardy daughter back from the clutches of her lowlife boyfriend, as she defies her father at every turn. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1933
Adapted from John Balderston's successful stage fantasy (itself based on a story by Henry James), Berkeley Square is the story of a modern-day London scientist (Leslie Howard), who is romantically fascinated by the 18th century. A freak accident propels Howard back to 1784, where he assumes the identity of one of his own ancestors. Howard falls in love with his distant cousin Helen (Heather Angel), while his other relatives regard the time-traveller as a "sorcerer" due to his disturbing knowledge of future events. Gradually, Howard is disillusioned by the squalor and bigotry of the 18th century. He bids farewell to Helen, explaining that he will actually be born years after her death but that they will be reunited "in God's time". Returning to the present, Howard discovers that Helen died young without ever marrying. He renounces his own fiancee and determines to live out his life as a bachelor, to be united with his true love in death. Long considered a lost film, Berkeley Square was rediscovered in the mid 1970s. The film had already been remade in 1951 as the Tyrone Power vehicle I'll Never Forget You. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1934
British Agent starred the Hungarian/British actor Leslie Howard in the title role, was directed by full-fledged Hungarian Michael Curtiz, and costarred American leading lady Kay Francis as a Russian spy. Based on the memoirs of R. H. Bruce Lockhart, who had been the unofficial British emissary to the Russian Revolutionary government in 1917, British Agent spends more time on its romantic subplot than in recreating the birth of Bolshevism. Leslie Howard's purpose in this film is to dissuade the Bolsheviks from signing a separate treaty with the World War I German regime. It is obvious to modern-day viewers that Howard is merely looking after Britain's interests and has no concern for the Russians; this was par for the course in a 1930s film, but does not play well with less jingoistic audiences of the 1990s. The most interesting aspect of British Agent is the performance of saturnine Irving Pichel as a young Josef Stalin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, (more)
- 1933
Adapted from a "drawn from life" novel by Sir Phillip Gibbs, Captured is the story of the men in a German POW camp during World War I. Amongst the allied prisoners are Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (British), and Paul Lukas (French). Adding to the dramatic intensity is the fact that both Howard and Fairbanks had been in love with the same aristocratic young woman before the war. Instead of serving up slam-bang action sequences, the film is more concerned with detailing the Hell of war and the despair of those who fight it. Not quite in the same league as La Grande Illusion or Stalag 17, Captured is nonetheless worth a second glance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1931
Devotion is a stiff, static early talkie in which everybody speaks in stage British and suffers in dinner jackets. Ann Harding is desperately in love with London barrister Leslie Howard. To be nearer to him, she dons a disguise (wig and spectacles) and takes a job as the governess to Howard's son. Though Howard is lauded as brilliant, he's as dense as Lois Lane when it comes to penetrating a cheap pair of glasses. The plot begins to move (and about time!) when a wastrelly artist, played by Robert Williams, is successfully defended in court by Howard. Invited to the barrister's home, Williams goes on the make for Ms. Harding; only then does Howard acknowledge the fact that Our Heroine is alive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Harding, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1931
Based on a story by Fannie Hurst, Five and Ten stars Marion Davies as Jennifer, the spoiled daughter of department-store magnate John Rarick (Richard Bennett). Because Rarick neglects his family, they all manage to get themselves into hot water. Jennifer's mother, Jenny (Irene Rich), nearly runs off with a gigolo, while her alcoholic brother, Avery (Kent Douglass), nearly dies in a reckless aviation escapade. As for our heroine, she messes up her entrée into high society, but at least finds happiness in the arms of architect Berry (Leslie Howard). Rarick finally awakens to his family responsibilities, and in a last-reel flurry of activity, he pulls all their coals out of the fire. Five and Ten was released in Great Britain as Daughter of Luxury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Leslie Howard, (more)
Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to expand this concept, and Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel, into nearly four hours' worth of screen time, on a then-astronomical 3.7-million-dollar budget, creating what would become one of the most beloved movies of all time. Gone With the Wind opens in April of 1861, at the palatial Southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) hears that her casual beau Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) plans to marry "mealy mouthed" Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite warnings from her father (Thomas Mitchell) and her faithful servant Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett intends to throw herself at Ashley at an upcoming barbecue at Twelve Oaks. Alone with Ashley, she goes into a fit of histrionics, all of which is witnessed by roguish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the feisty, thoroughly self-centered Scarlett: "We're bad lots, both of us." The movie's famous action continues from the burning of Atlanta (actually the destruction of a huge wall left over from King Kong) through the now-classic closing line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Holding its own against stiff competition (many consider 1939 to be the greatest year of the classical Hollywood studios), Gone With the Wind won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar). The film grossed nearly 192 million dollars, assuring that, just as he predicted, Selznick's epitaph would be "The Man Who Made Gone With the Wind." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, (more)
Gregory Ratoff directed David O. Selznick's richly produced American remake of the Swedish film directed by Gustav Molander and starring Ingrid Bergman, who re-creates her role here. The story -- based on the original screenplay by Molander and Gosta Stevens -- concerns a love affair played out between famed concert violinist Holger Brandt (Leslie Howard) and a young pianist, Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman). Holger has just finished a grand tour and has returned to his home country of Sweden, into the arms of his wife Margit (Edna Best) and two children, Ann Marie (Ann Todd) and Eric (Douglas Scott). But soon Holger falls deeply in love with his children's piano teacher Anita. Holger asks Margit for a divorce, but she demurs, telling Holger he should take time to think the whole thing through. Holger and Anita travel abroad, and Anita becomes acclaimed as a pianist -- but Holger keeps looking at other people's children and begins to wonder whether he should go back to his family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
- 1937
Bette Davis and Leslie Howard play an egotistical Broadway acting team famous for their romantic scenes. In truth, Davis and Howard are crazy about each other, but they spend so much time bickering that they never get around to marriage. The relationship is complicated by young heiress Olivia De Havilland, a fan who worships the ground Howard walks on. Howard tries to scare off the star-struck young lady by threatening her with seduction, but it turns out she enjoys the prospect of being seduced. Everything is straightened out by the climax, though Davis and Howard never quite get to the altar. It's Love I'm After is all the more enjoyable when one recalls the "serious" movie romances carried on by Leslie Howard with both Bette Davis (in The Petrified Forest) and Olivia De Havilland (in Gone with the Wind). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, (more)
- 1931
In this romantic comedy-drama, a wealthy San Francisco businessman becomes the guardian of a sexy young Polynesian woman. At first, he sees her as in the way, but he falls in love with her and moves back to her home island with her, adopting the ways of the natives. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Conchita Montenegro, (more)
The first of three film versions of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage stars Leslie Howard as sensitive, clubfooted artist-cum-med student Philip Carey. Despite his yearnings for the finer things in life, Carey cannot extricate himself from a mutually destructive relationship with sluttish waitress Mildred Rogers (Bette Davis). After an incredible series of emotional disasters, Carey finally finds happiness in the arms of Sally Altheny (Frances Dee). The industry buzz in 1934 indicated that Bette Davis was a shoe-in for an Academy Award for her savage portrayal of Mildred, but her home studio Warner Bros. failed to mount an adequate publicity campaign on Davis' behalf, allegedly because she'd made the film on loan-out to RKO and Warners wasn't about to heap praise upon a rival. It is now generally conceded that Davis' Oscar win for 1935's Dangerous was consolation for her losing the statuette in 1934. Long out of circulation due to the 1946 remake, the 1934 Of Human Bondage has since slipped into the public domain, and is now seen more often than either of the subsequent remakes (the last was in 1964). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, (more)
- 1930
This unusual supernatural drama, based on a 1924 Broadway stage hit, concerns a disparate group of people who find themselves sailing to an unknown destination on a ship constantly shrouded in fog. Tom Prior (Leslie Howard) discovers that he's travelling with his ex-boss Mr. Lingley (Montagu Love); Mrs. Cliveden-Banks (Alice Skipworth) chats with the steward Scrubby (Alec B. Francis); Mrs. Midget (Beryl Mercer) is curious about how her son is doing; and a young couple, Henry (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) and Ann (Helen Chandler), wonder if they'll be together forever. In time, the passengers slowly realize what's going on -- they're in limbo between this life and the next, and Thompson (Dudley Digges), the "examiner," is determining what will happen with them in the next world, except for Henry and Ann, who unsuccessfully committed suicide and now hover between life and death. Outward Bound was later remade as Between Two Worlds, and again as The Flight that Disappeared. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1941
The "Scarlet Pimpernel" legend is updated to WW2 in the breathless actioner Pimpernel Smith. Leslie Howard (who also directed) plays bespectacled and seemingly mild-mannered Professor Smith, who under cover of darkness transforms into a tireless defender of democracy. With the help of several loyal companions, Smith makes several forays into Nazi-occupied territories to rescue the oppressed victims of the Third Reich, using a phony archeological expedition to throw the villains off the track. The picture really roars into life during the cat-and-mouse exchanges between the Professor and his Gestapo antagonist Von Graum, phlegmatically enacted by the corpulent Francis L. Sullivan. In some markets, Pimpernel Smith was retitled Mister V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, (more)
Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller star in Anthony Asquith's and Leslie Howard's classic version of George Bernard Shaw's satiric comedy. Henry Higgins (Howard) is an upper class phonetics professor who encounters low-class guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Hiller) and bets his friend Colonel Pickering (Scott Sunderland) that he can pass her off as a duchess within three months. Pickering accepts Higgins' bet, with Eliza readily agreeing to the proposal, since she will get to live in Higgins' fancy home. Once in Higgins' house, Eliza is subjected to intensely repetitive phonetics lessons in an effort to transform her Cockney accent into the speech of proper English. Things are a bit rocky at first, with Eliza blurting out "Not bloody likely" at a tea party. But when Eliza is presented at the Ambassador's Ball, she is not only accepted as a princess but is the talk of the ball, everyone in attendance commenting on her charm, beauty, and poise. Relishing his success, Higgins abruptly dismisses her. But Eliza has fallen in love with Higgins and is aghast at her cursory treatment by him. She tells him, "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else." When Eliza leaves, Higgins realizes that he loves her too, but Eliza has announced to Higgins that she plans to marry high society playboy Freddie Eynsford-Hill (David Tree). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1932
Adapted from the Ernest Vajda novel The Head Waiter, Service for Ladies stars Leslie Howard as Max Tracey, premiere waiter of a luxurious London hotel. Falling in love with the aristocratic Sylvia Robertson (Elizabeth Allen), Max poses as a European prince, enlisting the aid of an amiable Ruritanian monarch (Lawrence Grossmith) who owes him a favor. When Sylvia finds out the truth, she is both shocked and appalled, but all is patched up when her own father (Morton Selten) reveals that he himself was once a lowly hotel dishwasher. Previously filmed in 1927 with Adolphe Menjou, Service for Ladies was released in the U.S. as Reserved for Ladies. Merle Oberon, later a star in her own right as well as the wife of director Alexander Korda, shows up in a bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, George Grossmith, (more)
Director George Cukor and producer Irving G. Thalberg's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, a lavish production of Shakespeare's tale about two star-crossed lovers, is extremely well-produced and acted. In fact, it is so well-done, that it is easy to forget that Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are too old to be playing the title characters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, (more)
Silent screen legend Mary Pickford makes her final movie appearance in Secrets, adapted from the play by Rudolph Besier and Mary Edgerton. Edgerton plays a 19th century New England belle who accompanies her husband Leslie Howard to the wilds of California. Pickford's first baby is killed when her cabin is besieged by desperadoes. Howard's reaction to the tragedy is to play around with other women, but Pickford stands steadfastly by her husband for the next half-century. The film ends with an aged Pickford surrounded by her grown children in her luxurious mansion, prattling on about secret joys, secret sorrows, lovely secrets and dreadful secrets. Evidently this film was released in secret, for it failed at the box office and convinced Ms. Pickford (who produced the picture) that her starring days were over. Previously filmed as a Norma Talmadge starrer in 1924, Secrets seemed antiquated in the 1930s, but Mary Pickford's scenes with her dead baby proved that her great talent was undiminished. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1932
Director Sidney Franklin originally adapted Jane Murfin and Jane Cowl's play Smilin' Through for the silver screen in a 1922 silent film starring Norma Talmadge and (the other) Harrison Ford. Remaking his own film, Franklin directed Norma Shearer in this 1932 talkie. Leslie Howard plays John Carteret, an old man whose fiancée (Shearer) was killed on their wedding day by her jilted former suitor (Fredric March). Years later, Carteret is forced to take care of his orphaned niece Kathleen (also Shearer), who looks exactly like his his former betrothed. The niece soon falls in love with Kenneth Wayne (also March), the son of the jilted suitor. Filled with bitterness and resentment about the past, Carteret does all that he can to stand in the way of the blossoming romance. Smilin' Through was once again adapted in a 1941 version directed by Frank Borzage and starring Jeanette MacDonald. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Fredric March, (more)
Bookish bank employee Atterbury Dodd (Leslie Howard) is ordered to investigate the near-bankrupt Colossal Studios in Hollywood, to see if the firm is any sort of good risk. Dodd's first brush with Tinseltown's cuckoo atmosphere occurs when he takes a room in a boarding house for extras, where all manner of eccentrics wander about as they wait for the phone to ring (Charles Middleton comports himself in an Abe Lincoln costume, on the off-chance that Hollywood will go back to making Civil War pictures soon). He befriends Lester Plum (Joan Blondell), a former child star now working as a stand-in for haughty movie queen Thelma Cheri (Marla Shelton), and perpetually soused producer Douglas Quintain (Humphrey Bogart). Aware that the latest epic of autocratic director Koslofski (Alan Mowbray) will ruin the studio, Howard investigates further, discovering that a rival company has bribed Koslofski to pad the budget and thus bring about the foreclosure of Colossal. While his business sense tells him that this is the next logical move, Dodd has fallen in love with Plum; thus, he gives Quintain 48 hours to re-edit Koslofski's fiasco into something workable, and himself staves off the studio's shutdown by rallying all the Colossal employees to stand firm against being removed from the premises. Based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Clarence Buddington Kelland, this is a light-hearted satire of the movie industry, the sort of amiable farce in which everyone--even the most contentious of characters--is shown to be basically decent underneath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell, (more)
49th Parallel is a British wartime entreaty for Empire solidarity, concentrating on rousing the patriotic fervor of the citizens of Canada. A group of Nazi naval officers and crewmen are stranded on Canadian soil (we have no sympathy for the castaways, inasmuch as we have just seen them refusing food and water to a group of torpedoed British seamen). Led by lieutenant Eric Portman, the Nazis try to stir up sympathy amongst the Canadians, beginning with apolitical Quebeckian trapper Laurence Olivier. Failing to convert Olivier--even by force--the Germans move on to a Hutterite farming community, where again they are unsuccessful in winning adherents (though, conversely, German seaman Niall Mac Ginnis defects to the other side). They then cross the path of professorial author Leslie Howard, who is living amongst the Indians to soak up "local color". Even Howard proves too formidable for the Nazis, and by film's end the surviving invaders are hiding out in a train, where they are discovered and captured by AWOL Canadian soldier Raymond Massey. Most TV viewers know 49th Parallel under its alternate title, The Invaders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey, (more)
- 1932
The first film version of Philip Barry's Broadway play The Animal Kingdom stars Ann Harding, Leslie Howard and Myrna Loy. Howard plays a wealthy publisher who decides to marry the socially prominent Loy, leaving his mistress Harding in the lurch. In comically convoluted fashion, Loy behaves like a callous libertine, while Harding is the soul of love and fidelity. The frustrated Howard declares at the end that he is going back to his "wife"--meaning, of course, the faithful Harding. Animal Kingdom was long withdrawn from public view due to the 1946 remake One More Tomorrow; a pristine 35-millimeter print was discovered in the Warner Bros. vaults in the mid-1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Harding, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 198z
Warner Brothers was one of the big studios of the 30s and had many talented performers under contract. See some of their most outrageous mistakes, as well as previously unseen shots. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1942
Not a remake of the 1934 Katharine Hepburn film of the same name, Spitfire was originally released in Great Britain as The First of the Few. Director Leslie Howard stars in this dramatization of the life and work of R.J. Mitchell, inventor of the Spitfire fighter plane. The film suggests, accurately as it turns out, that Mitchell was aware of Hitler's plans to conquer Europe by the air long before anyone else caught on (we see him watching a suspicious-looking group of "amateur" German gliding enthusiasts in the mid-1930s). David Niven, then a major in the British Army, was given leave to appear in this morale-boosting film as Mitchell's best friend, a dauntless test pilot. Ironically, Spitfire was released after the death of its star-director Leslie Howard, whose plane was shot down by the Germans somewhere between London and Lisbon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, David Niven, (more)
- 1943
Whenever one sees a title like The Gentle Sex, one braces oneself for an ironic switcharound. The supposedly gentle girls of the title--seven in all--are actually determined young British moderns who go into military service during World War II. In true "Army bomber crew" fashion, the film explores the widely varied backgrounds of the ladies involved, showing the events which led them to their patriotic commitment. As propaganda, Gentle Sex served its wartime purpose; as entertainment, it holds up reasonably well after five decades. The film was coproduced and codirected by actor Leslie Howard, who functions as narrator and (according to one source) can be glimpsed from behind in a couple of scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Gates, Joan Greenwood, (more)
- 1934
In this comedy-mystery, a private detective helps three businessmen get even with the man who misused their investments. The detective plans to kidnap the man's wife so he can get her signature and reclaim the money. The detective didn't plan on falling in love with the wife, but he does, and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
