Mrs. Patrick Campbell Movies
Remembered today, if at all, as the villainous pawnbroker in Crime and Punishment (1935), Mrs. Patrick Campbell, or plain Mrs. Pat, breezed into Hollywood in the early '30s delivering a series of verbal bon mots such as describing a well-known star with a well-placed "She has such pretty little eyes -- and they're so close together!" Born Stella Tanner, "Mrs. Pat" took her stage name after her first husband, a captain who perished in the Boer War. By 1914, she had become the sister-in-law of the Countess of Westminster and the Princess of Pless and was at home both in their circles and at London's West End, where she had become a star as The Second Mrs. Tanqueray back in 1893. She was known foremost for her temperament and for a lifelong friendship with George Benard Shaw, who wrote Pygmalion for her. Mrs. Pat's Eliza became one of the era's great tour de forces and she took Broadway by storm in 1914. But by the time she arrived in Hollywood to play dowagers in Rip Tide (1934) and One More River (1934), Mrs. Patrick Campbell was well past her prime, with such stellar vehicles as Magda and The Foolish Virgin remembered solely by a few elderly theatergoers. She played Electra on Broadway in January of 1932, a revival of her 1908 success, but it was a last hurrah. All but forgotten, the former diva died at Pau, France, allegedly because the British authorities refused entry of her pet poodle, Moonbeam. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1935
The story goes that Peter Lorre wanted to star in a film version of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, but was certain that Columbia Pictures chieftain Harry Cohn would turn the project down flat. So Lorre hired a secretary to type up a synopsis of the story in words of one syllable then submitted this simplified resume to Cohn. Enthusiastic over the project, Cohn gave Lorre the go-ahead -- but first he asked "Tell me -- has this book got a publisher?" Apocryphal story or no, the fact is that Lorre did star in Columbia's Crime and Punishment and in the bargain was directed by the ultra-stylish Josef Von Sternberg. As the arrogant sociopath Raskolnikov, who is convinced that he can get away with the murder of a nasty pawnbroker because he is "above" such intangibles as a conscience, Lorre is excellent, especially when his bravado is slowly eroded by the gentle but determined Inspector Porfiri (Edward Arnold). Like the aforementioned typed-up synopsis, the film oversimplifies the Dostoyevsky original, concentrating only on the crime, the pangs of guilt, the confession and the arrest: the punishment and its aftermath, so essential to the novel's overall impact, are dispensed with entirely. To make the film even more accessible to a mass audience, the story is subtly updated, though any distinctly "contemporary" touches such as automobiles, telephones and current slang are studiously avoided. The supporting cast is wildly inconsistent: Mrs. Patrick Campbell is fine in her brief scenes as the vitriolic pawnbroker, but Marian Marsh is all wrong as the streetwalker heroine Sonya. The principal strength of this Crime and Punishment is the film-long game of cat-and-mouse between the reckless Raskolnikov and the quietly methodical Porfiri. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Arnold, Peter Lorre, (more)
- 1934
A few unique touches aside -- notably the opening costume-party scene, in which the revellers are dressed as insects -- Rip Tide is a standard-issue Norma Shearer soap opera. Shearer plays Mary, a footloose and fancy-free American heiress who weds British nobleman Lord Rexford (Herbert Marshall). Five years later, Rexford embarks upon a business trip to New York, while Mary, urged on by her fun-loving aunt, vacations on the Riviera. Here she is reacquainted with her ex-boyfriend Tommie (Robert Montgomery), whose drunken misbehavior causes scandal to befall them both. Refusing to hear Mary's side of the story, Rexford begins divorce proceedings, but a happy ending finally manifests itself after reels and reels of endless high-toned dialogue. Legendary stage star Mrs. Patrick Campbell makes her Hollywood film debut in Rip Tide as Shearer's all-knowing Aunt Hetty, while Walter Brennan and Bruce Bennett show up in microscopic bit roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, (more)
- 1934
A woman may be forced back into a dangerous relationship in order to save her good name in this drama from director James Whale. Lady Clare Corven (Diana Wynyard) is the wife of Sir Gerald Corven (Colin Clive), and by all appearances they're a happy upper-class British couple. But Lady Clare is anything but happy; Sir Gerald is physically and emotionally abusive toward her, and one day she decides she can take no more and leaves him behind. Lady Clare books passage on a ship, where she is befriended by a kind and handsome young man named Tony Croom (Frank Lawton). Though their relationship remains strictly platonic, Tony obviously has strong feelings for Lady Clare, which does not go unnoticed by the private detective hired by Sir Gerald to keep tabs on his wife. Sir Gerald threatens to paint Lady Clare's relationship with Tony in an unflattering light in court, this at a time when divorce was still considered a scandalous act, especially among England's "privileged" classes. One More River also includes several members of James Whale's stock company, including Lionel Atwill, E.E. Clive, and C. Aubrey Smith.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Wynyard, Frank Lawton, (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)
- 1930
Adapted from a play by Gerald du Maurier, The Dancers stars Lois Moran as free-spirited Diana Snowden. Though once pure of heart and noble of mind, Diana has "strayed" rather dramatically over the years. When her childhood sweetheart Tony (Phillips Holmes) returns to London after a long absence, Diana is convinced that she is no longer good enough for him. Thus, when he proposes marriage, she hops on a plane and escapes to France. One year later, Tony finally catches up to Diana, who has been doing her own brand of penance by working as a humble schoolteacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Moran, Walter Byron, (more)
