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Miriam Hopkins

January 27, 2020 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Prepared by Daniel B Miller

Ellen Miriam Hopkins

^{(October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American film and TV actress known for her versatility.}

She first signed with Paramount in 1930, working with Ernst Lubitsch and Joel McCrea, among many others. Her long-running feud with Bette Davis was publicized for effect.

Later she became a pioneer of TV drama. Hopkins was a distinguished Hollywood hostess, who moved in intellectual and creative circles.

Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Early life

Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia^{to Homer Hopkins and Ellen Cutler}^{and raised in}Bainbridge^{, near the Alabama border. She had an older sister, Ruby (1900-1990).}^{Her maternal great-grandfather, the fourth mayor of Bainbridge, helped establish St. John’s Episcopal Church, in}Bainbridge^,^{^{where Hopkins sang in the choir.}}

In 1909, she briefly lived in Mexico. After her parents separated, she moved as a teen with her mother to Syracuse, New York^{, to be near her uncle, Thomas Cramer Hopkins, head of the Geology Department at Syracuse University.}

She attended Goddard Seminary in Barre, Vermont (which later became Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont) and Syracuse University^{(in New York).}^{^{She became estranged from her father, and when in 1922 at the age of 19 she applied for a passport in preparation for a theatrical tour of South America, she listed his address as “unknown.”}}

Career

At age 20, Hopkins became a chorus girl in New York City. In 1930, she signed with Paramount Pictures, and made her official film debut in Fast and Loose. Her first great success was in the 1931 horror drama film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which she portrayed the character Ivy Pearson^{, a prostitute who becomes entangled with Jekyll and Hyde. Hopkins received rave reviews, but because of the potential controversy of the film and her character, many of her scenes were cut before the official release, reducing her screen time to approximately five minutes.}

Fast and Loose (1930) Poster

Miriam Hopkins in Fast and Loose (1930)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Poster

gettyimages-1137101068-612x612 — Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde, lobby card. Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde, from left, Miriam Hopkins, Fredric March, Rose Hobart, 1931. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) Lobby Card

Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Fredric March Rose Hobart and Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Fredric March Rose Hobart and Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Fredric March Rouben Mamoulian and Miriam Hopkins on the set of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Nevertheless, her career ascended swiftly thereafter and in 1932 she scored her breakthrough in Ernst Lubitsch‘s Trouble in Paradise, where she proved her charm and wit as a beautiful and jealous pickpocket. During the pre-code Hollywood of the early 1930s, she appeared in The Smiling Lieutenant, The Story of Temple Drake and Design for Living, all of which were box office successes and critically acclaimed.

Trouble in Paradise (1932) Poster

Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins in Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Miriam Hopkins and Kay Francis in Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis in Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Trouble in Paradise (1932) Lobby Card

Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins in Trouble in Paradise (1932)

The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) Lobby Card

On the set of The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)

The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) Press Book

The Story of Temple Drake (1933) Poster

The Story of Temple Drake (1933) Lobby Card

Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue in The Story of Temple Drake (1933)

Miriam Hopkins in The Story of Temple Drake (1933)

Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue in The Story of Temple Drake (1933)

Miriam Hopkins in The Story of Temple Drake (1933)

The Story of Temple Drake (1933) Press Sheet

Miriam Hopkins in The Story of Temple Drake (1933)

Design for Living (1933) Poster

Design for Living (1933) Lobby Card

Gary Cooper and Fredric March in Design for Living (1933)

Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins and Gary Cooper in Design for Living (1933)

Gary Cooper, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in Design for Living (1933)

Design for Living (1933) Lobby Card

Her pre-Code films were considered risqué at the time, with The Story of Temple Drake depicting a rape scene and Design for Living featuring a ménage à trois with Fredric March and Gary Cooper.

She also had success during the remainder of the decade with the romantic comedy The Richest Girl in the World (1934), the historical udrama Becky Sharp (1935), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, Barbary Coast (1935), These Three (1936) (the first of four films with director William Wyler) and The Old Maid (1939).

The Richest Girl in the World (1934) Poster

Miriam Hopkins in The Richest Girl in the World (1934)

Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins in The Richest Girl in the World (1934)

Miriam Hopkins in The Richest Girl in the World (1934)

Becky Sharp (1935) Poster

Miriam Hopkins in Becky Sharp (1935)

Becky Sharp (1935) Poster

Miriam Hopkins in Becky Sharp (1935) Production Still

Miriam Hopkins in Becky Sharp (1935)

Becky Sharp (1935) Magazine Cover

Barbary Coast (1935) Poster

Barbary Coast AKA Port of Wickedness (1935) Lobby Card

Barbary Coast AKA Port of Wickedness (1935) Poster

Barbary Coast AKA Port of Wickedness (1935) Lobby Card

Miriam Hopkins in Barbary Coast AKA Port of Wickedness (1935)

These Three (1936) Poster

These Three (1936) Production Still

These Three (1936) Poster

These Three (1936) Lobby Cards

These Three (1936) Poster

The Old Maid (1939) Poster

Bette Davis, George Brent and Miriam Hopkins in The Old Maid (1939)

The Old Maid (1939) Poster

The Old Maid (1939) Lobby Card

The Old Maid (1939) Poster

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins in The Old Maid (1939)

Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins and George Brent in The Old Maid (1939)

The Old Maid (1939) Poster

Hopkins was one of the first actresses approached to play the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934). However, she rejected the part, and Claudette Colbert^{was cast instead.}^{She did audition for the role of}Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, having one advantage none of the other candidates had: she was a native Georgian. But the part went to Vivien Leigh. Interestingly, both Colbert and Leigh won Oscars for their performances.

Hopkins had well-publicized fights with her arch-enemy Bette Davis (Hopkins believed Davis was having an affair with Hopkins’ husband at the time, Anatole Litvak), when they co-starred in their two films The Old Maid (1939) and Old Acquaintance^(1943).

^{Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in}Old Acquaintance in which she shakes Hopkins forcefully during a scene where Hopkins’ character makes unfounded allegations against Davis’s. There were even press photos taken with both divas in a boxing ring with gloves up and director Vincent Sherman between the two. Davis described Hopkins as a “terribly good actress” but also “terribly jealous” in later interviews.

Old Acquaintance (1943) Poster

Miriam Hopkins in Old Acquaintance (1943)

Old Acquaintance (1943) Poster

Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis in Old Acquaintance (1943)

Old Acquaintance (1943) Lobby Card

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins in Old Acquaintance (1943)

Old Acquaintance (1943) Lobby Card

After Old Acquaintance, Hopkins did not work again in films until The Heiress (1949), where she played the lead character’s aunt. In Mitchell Leisen‘s 1951’s comedy The Mating Season, she gave a comic performance as Gene Tierney‘s character’s mother. She also acted in The Children’s Hour, which is the theatrical basis of her film These Three (1936). In the remake, she played the aunt to Shirley MacLaine, who took Hopkins’ original role.

The Heiress (1949) Poster

The Heiress (1949) Lobby Card

The Heiress (1949) Lobby Cards

The Mating Season (1951) Poster

Gene Tierney and Miriam Hopkins in The Mating Season (1951)

The Children’s Hour (1961) Poster

Hopkins was a television pioneer, performing in teleplays in three decades, spanning the late 1940s through the late 1960s, in such programs as The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949), Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1951), Lux Video Theatre (1951–1955), The Outer Limits (1964) and even an episode of The Flying Nun in 1969.

She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures at 1701 Vine Street, and one for television at 1708 Vine Street.

Miriam Hopkins

The Playhouse Theatre Programme

Private life

Hopkins was married and divorced four times: first to actor Brandon Peters, second to aviator, screenwriter Austin Parker, third to the director Anatole Litvak, and fourth to war correspondent Raymond B. Brock. In 1932, Hopkins adopted a son, Michael T. Hopkins (March 29, 1932 – October 5, 2010).

Brandon Peters

Austin Parker

Anatole Litvak

Miriam Hopkins and Anatole Litvak

She was known for hosting elegant parties. John O’Hara, a frequent guest, noted that

^{most of her guests were chosen from the world of the intellect…Miriam knew them all, had read their work, had listened to their music, had bought their paintings. They were not there because a secretary had given her a list of highbrows.}

She was a staunch Democrat who strongly supported the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt^.

Death

Hopkins died in New York City from a heart attack nine days before her 70th birthday. She is buried in Oak City Cemetery in Bainbridge, Georgia.

Miriam Hopkins Grave

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1930	Fast and Loose	Marion Lenox	Hopkins’s film debut
1931	The Smiling Lieutenant	Princess Anna	The first of three films Hopkins made with Lubitsch
1931	24 Hours	Rosie Duggan
1931	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Ivy Pearson
1932	Two Kinds of Women	Emma Krull
1932	Dancers in the Dark	Gloria Bishop
1932	The World and the Flesh	Maria Yaskaya
1932	Trouble in Paradise	Lily	Second film directed by Lubitsch and starring Hopkins
1933	The Story of Temple Drake	Temple Drake
1933	The Stranger’s Return	Louise Starr
1933	Design for Living	Gilda Farrell	Third and final film Hopkins and Lubitsch made together
1934	All of Me	Lydia Darrow
1934	She Loves Me Not	Curly Flagg
1934	The Richest Girl in the World	Dorothy Hunter	First of five films Hopkins and McCrea made together
1935	Becky Sharp	Becky Sharp	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress The first feature film made in the three strip Technicolor process
1935	Barbary Coast	Mary ‘Swan’ Rutledge	Second film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1935	Splendor	Phyllis Manning Lorrimore	Third film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1936	These Three	Martha Dobie	The film was adapted from the 1934 play The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman. Fourth film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1936	Men Are Not Gods	Ann Williams
1937	The Woman I Love	Madame Helene Maury	Hopkins married director Anatole Litvak shortly after this film was made. It is the only film Hopkins made with Paul Muni
1937	Woman Chases Man	Virginia Travis	Final film Hopkins and McCrea made together
1937	Wise Girl	Susan ‘Susie’ Fletcher
1939	The Old Maid	Delia Lovell Ralston	The first of two films Hopkins made with Bette Davis
1940	Virginia City	Julia Hayne	Hopkins co-starred with Errol Flynn
1940	Lady with Red Hair	Mrs. Leslie Carter
1942	A Gentleman After Dark	Flo Melton
1943	Old Acquaintance	Millie Drake	Second of two films Hopkins made with Bette Davis.
1949	The Heiress	Lavinia Penniman	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1951	The Mating Season	Fran Carleton
1952	The Outcasts of Poker Flat	Mrs. Shipton/’The Duchess’
1952	Carrie	Julie Hurstwood
1961	The Children’s Hour	Lily Mortar	Hopkins had starred in the original film adaptation of the play The Children’s Hour entitled These Three in the role of Martha Dobie. In this film Shirley MacLaine played Martha and Miriam Hopkins played her Aunt Lily.
1964	Fanny Hill	Mrs. Maude Brown
1966	The Chase	Mrs. Reeves	Hopkins played the mother of Robert Redford’s character
1970	Savage Intruder	Katharine Parker	Hopkins’s last film

Short Subjects:

“The Home Girl” (1928)
“Hollywood on Parade No. B-1” (1933)

References

Jump up^ Obituary Variety, October 11, 1972, p. 71.
Jump up^ Virginia, Marriage Records 1936-2014
Jump up^ 1910 United States Federal Census
Jump up^ http://www.episcopalchurch.org/parish/st-johns-episcopal-church-bainbridge-ga
Jump up^ “Miriam Hopkins (1902-1972)”. Georgiaencyclopedia.org. August 28, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
^ Jump up to:^a^b Profile, archives.syr.edu; accessed June 27, 2015.
Jump up^ [Ancestry.com] U.S. Passports Applications, 1795-1925, “Meriam Hopkins, Passport Issue Date 30 January 1922”
Jump up^ Profile, allanellenberger.com; accessed June 27, 2015.
Jump up^ Profile, imdb.com; accessed June 27, 2015.
Jump up^ Wiley, Mason; Damien Bona (1987). Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. Ballantine Books. p. 54. ISBN0-345-34453-7.
Jump up^ Soares, Andre (December 3, 2006). “Miriam Hopkins Biography in the Works”. Alternative Film Guide.
Jump up^ “TimesMachine”. Timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
Jump up^ Michael Janeway (August 22, 2009). The Fall of the House of Roosevelt: Brokers of Ideas and Power from FDR to LBJ. Books.google.com. Retrieved October 17,2015.

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Trouble in Paradise (1932)

July 24, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Trouble in Paradise (1931)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C Aubrey Smith, Robert Greig, Luis Alberini

83 min

Trouble in Paradise is a 1932 American Pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, and Herbert Marshall and featuring Charles Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton.

Based on the 1931 play The Honest Finder (A Becsületes Megtaláló) by Hungarian playwright László Aladár,^[2] the film is about a gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket who join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner.

In 1991, Trouble in Paradise was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.^[3]

Plot

In Venice, Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall), a master thief masquerading as a baron, meets Lily (Miriam Hopkins), a beautiful thief and pickpocket also pretending to be of the nobility, and the two fall in love and decide to team up.

They leave Venice for Paris, and go to work for the famous perfume manufacturer Madame Mariette Colet (Kay Francis), with the intention of stealing a great sum of money from her safe, which Monescu, as her secretary, arranges to be diverted there. In the course of things, Colet begins to flirt with Monescu, and he begins to have feelings for her.

Unfortunately, the plan develops a hitch when François Filiba (Edward Everett Horton), one of Colet’s suitors, sees Monescu at a garden party. He is unable to remember where he knows him from, but when another of Colet’s suitors, The Major (Charles Ruggles), tells Filiba that he once mistook Monescu for a doctor, Filiba suddenly remembers that he knows Monescu from Venice, where the thief robbed him, pretending to be a doctor. Monescu and Lily plan an immediate getaway that night, after they take all the money in the safe.

Colet prepares to leave for a dinner party given by the Major, but cannot decide whether to go or to stay and have sex with Monescu. Eventually she goes, but not before Lily catches on that Monescu has fallen for her rival, and wants to back out of the plan – so she robs the safe herself after confronting her partner.

At the Major’s, Filiba tells Colet about Monescu, but she refuses to believe it’s true. She returns home and suggestively probes Monescu, who admits that the safe has been cleaned out, but claims that he himself took the cash. He also tells her that the manager of her business, Adolph J. Giron (C. Aubrey Smith), who has been suspicious of Monescu all along, has stolen millions of dollars from the firm over the years.

Lily then confronts Colet and Monescu, reporting that it was she who stole the money from the safe. An argument ensues, in which, eventually, Colet allows the two thieves to leave together. As a parting shot, Monescu steals a necklace from Colet that Lily had her eye on, and, in turn, Lily steals it from him, displaying it to him as the taxi takes them away, hugging each other.

Cast

Herbert Marshall as Gaston Monescu / Gaston Lavalle
Miriam Hopkins as Lily Vautier
Kay Francis as Madame Mariette Colet
Edward Everett Horton as François Filiba
Charlie Ruggles as The Major
C. Aubrey Smith as Adolph J. Giron
Robert Greig as Jacques, Mariette’s butler
Leonid Kinskey as the irate Communist

Production

Working titles for Trouble in Paradise included “The Honest Finder,” “Thieves and Lovers,” and “The Golden Widow”; the latter was publicly announced to be the intended release title.^[4] As with all the Lubitsch-Raphaelson collaborations, Lubitsch contributed to the writing and Raphaelson contributed ideas to the directing.^[5]

Lubitsch did not receive screen credit for his writing, and Grover Jones, who was credited with the adaptation, did not contribute significantly:^[5] although he was in the room, his credit was based on a contractual obligation, and he did little more than tell stories.^[5]^[6]

Further, although supposedly based on László Aladár’s 1931 play The Honest Finder, Lubitsch suggested that Raphaelson not read the play, and instead the main character, Herbert Marshall’s master thief, was based on the exploits of a real person, George Manolescu, a Romanian con man whose memoir was published in 1905, and became the basis for two silent films.^[5]

Made before effective enforcement of the Production Code, the film is an example of pre-code cinema containing adult themes and sexual innuendo that was not permitted under the Code. In 1935, when the Production Code was being enforced, the film was not approved for reissue^[4] and was not seen again until 1968.^[7]Paramount was again rejected in 1943, when the studio wanted to make a musical version of the film.^[4]

The Art Deco sets for Trouble in Paradise were designed by the head of Paramount’s art department, Hans Dreier, and the gowns were designed by Travis Banton.^[5]

Reception

Trouble in Paradise was the film that first had people talking about “the Lubitsch touch,” and it was, in fact, one of the director’s favorites.^[5] Critic Dwight Macdonaldsaid of the film that it was “as close to perfection as anything I have ever seen in the movies.”^[5]

The New York Times named the film as one of the ten best films of 1932. In 1998, Roger Ebert added it to his Great Movies collection.^[8] Wes Anderson and Ralph Fiennes both said the movie was an inspiration for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes reports 91% approval based on 23 critics.^[9]

Awards and honors

Trouble in Paradise was named by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 1932.^[3]^[10]

References

^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Trouble in Paradise” at Kay Francis Films. Accessed 16 March 2014
Jump up^ “Screenplay info” on TCM.com. Accessed=August 24, 2012
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Awards”. Allmovie.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c “Notes”. TCM.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Nixon, Rob. “Trouble in Paradise (article)”. TCM.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
Jump up^ Raphaelson, Samson. Three Screen Comedies Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983. ISBN 0-299-08780-8
Jump up^ Osborne, Robert. Outro to the Turner Classic Movies showing of Trouble in Paradise (March 31, 2011)
Jump up^ Ebert, Roger. “Trouble in Paradise”. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
Jump up^ “Trouble in Paradise (1932)”. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
Jump up^ “Awards”. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 24, 2012.

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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

July 23, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Edgar Norton, Tempe Pigott

98 min

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March, who plays a possessed doctor who tests his new formula that can unleash people’s inner demons.

The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac. March’s performance has been much lauded, and earned him his first Academy Award.

Plot

The film tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll (Fredric March), a kind English doctor in Victorian London, who is certain that within each man lurks impulses for both good and evil. One evening, Jekyll attends a party at the home of his fiancée Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart), the daughter of Brigadier General Sir Danvers Carew (Halliwell Hobbes). After the other guests have left, Jekyll informs Sir Danvers that, after speaking to Muriel, he wants Carew’s permission to push up their wedding date.

Sir Danvers sternly refuses Jekyll’s request. Later, while walking home with his colleague, Dr. John Lanyon (Holmes Herbert), Jekyll spots a bar singer, Ivy Pierson (Miriam Hopkins), being attacked by a man outside her boarding house. Jekyll drives the man away and carries Ivy up to her room to attend to her. Ivy begins flirting with Jekyll and feigning injury, but Jekyll fights temptation and leaves with Lanyon.

Muriel and Sir Danvers leave London for a few months. In the meantime, Jekyll develops a drug that releases the evil side in himself, thus becoming the violent Edward Hyde. Along with his behavior, Dr. Jekyll’s appearance changes as well. He transforms into something more menacing and primitive looking. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, Hyde has no conscience, no restrictions, no boundaries; he is free to do what he pleases. Hyde returns to the music hall where Ivy works, and offers to tend to her financial needs in return for her company.

Hyde manipulates Ivy into accompanying him by terrorizing her, being violent, controlling and torturing her psychologically. He remains at her boarding house until he finds out that Muriel and her father are returning to London, and leaves Ivy but threatens her that he’ll be back.

On advice from her landlady Mrs. Hawkins (Tempe Pigott), Ivy goes to see Dr. Jekyll, hoping that he can free her of the abusive Hyde. When she arrives, Ivy sees that the celebrated Dr. Jekyll was the same man who saved her from abuse just months before. She breaks down in tears over her situation with Hyde. Jekyll is extremely distraught over the pain that he (Hyde) has caused her and promises Ivy that she will never have to worry about Hyde again.

While on his way to a party at the Carews’ home to celebrate their return and the announcement of a new wedding date to Muriel, Jekyll, without the use of his drugs, suddenly changes into Hyde. Ivy, who thought she was free of Hyde forever, is terrified when Hyde appears before her. Hyde angrily confronts her about seeing Jekyll and, just before murdering her, reveals that he and Jekyll are one and the same.

Hyde escapes and heads back to Jekyll’s house but his servant Poole refuses to open the door. Desperate, Hyde writes a letter to Lanyon from Jekyll instructing Lanyon to get certain chemicals and have them waiting for him at Lanyon’s home. When Hyde arrives, Lanyon pulls a gun on him and demands that Hyde take him to Jekyll. Hyde tells Lanyon that Jekyll is safe, but Lanyon doesn’t believe him and refuses to let him leave. Realizing there is not much time, Hyde drinks the formula in front of Lanyon.

Lanyon is shocked to witness the transformation and tells his friend that he has practically damned his soul for tampering with the laws of God. Lanyon also advises Jekyll that the transformation that happened that night will happen again eventually.

With Ivy’s murder, Sir Danvers’ anger towards him for missing the party, and Hyde’s persona beginning to dominate his own, Henry Jekyll’s life continues to spiral out of control. He later goes to the Carews’ where Sir Danvers coldly rejects his visit but Muriel welcomes him. Jekyll, realizing the monster he really is, tells Muriel that he cannot be with her anymore. He feels that he is already damned and fears that he will harm her. He decides to leave. Standing out on the terrace and tearfully watching Muriel cry, Jekyll begins to change into Hyde once again.

He then reenters the Carew house through the terrace door and assaults Muriel. Her screams bring her father and their butler, Hobson. Hyde then viciously murders Sir Danvers out in the garden by striking him repeatedly with Jekyll’s cane until it breaks, then runs off into the night towards Jekyll’s home and the lab to mix a new formula to change himself back.

The police and Lanyon are standing over Carew’s body in the garden. Recognizing the broken cane found next to the body, Lanyon tells them that he knows whose cane that is and agrees to take them to its owner. The police later arrive at Jekyll’s lab looking for Hyde and find only Jekyll, who lies that Hyde has escaped. They begin to leave when Lanyon arrives and tells them that Jekyll is the man they’re searching for (because the man they are looking for is hiding inside him).

Just then a nervous Jekyll begins changing into Hyde before their shocked eyes. Outraged at Lanyon for betraying him, Hyde leaps from behind the table and attacks him. Hyde then tries to escape from the police but is fatally shot before he can again hurt Lanyon. As Hyde lies dead on the table full of Dr. Jekyll’s experiments and potions, he transforms one last time back into Henry Jekyll.

Cast

Fredric March as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde
Miriam Hopkins as Ivy Pierson
Rose Hobart as Muriel Carew
Holmes Herbert as Dr. Hastie Lanyon
Halliwell Hobbes as Brigadier General Sir Danvers Carew
Edgar Norton as Poole
Tempe Pigott as Mrs. Hawkins
Douglas Walton as Blonde Student

Production

The film was made prior to the full enforcement of the Production Code and is remembered today for its strong sexual content, embodied mostly in the character of the bar singer, Ivy Pierson, played by Miriam Hopkins. When it was re-released in 1936, the Code required 8 minutes to be removed before the film could be distributed to theaters. This footage was restored for the VHS and DVD releases.^[3]

The secret of the transformation scenes was not revealed for decades (Mamoulian himself revealed it in a volume of interviews with Hollywood directors published under the title The Celluloid Muse). Make-up was applied in contrasting colors. A series of colored filters that matched the make-up was then used which enabled the make-up to be gradually exposed or made invisible. The change in color was not visible on the black-and-white film.^[4]

Wally Westmore‘s make-up for Hyde — simian and hairy with large canine teeth — influenced greatly the popular image of Hyde in media and comic books. In part this reflected the novella’s implication of Hyde as embodying repressed evil, and hence being semi-evolved or simian in appearance. The characters of Muriel Carew and Ivy Pierson do not appear in Stevenson’s original story but do appear in the 1887 stage version by playwright Thomas Russell Sullivan.^{[citation needed]}

John Barrymore was originally asked by Paramount to play the lead role, in an attempt to recreate his role from the 1920 version of Jekyll and Hyde, but he was already under a new contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Paramount then gave the part to March, who was under contract and who strongly resembled Barrymore. March had played a John Barrymore-like character in the Paramount film The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), a story about an acting family like the Barrymores. March would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of the role.^[4]

When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer remade the film 10 years later with Spencer Tracy in the lead, the studio bought the negative and the rights to both the Mamoulian version and the earlier 1920 version, paying $1,250,000. They then recalled every print of the film that they could locate and for decades most of the film was believed lost.^[5]Ironically, the Tracy version was much less well received and March jokingly sent Tracy a telegram thanking him for the greatest boost to his reputation of his entire career.

The opening credits use Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by Johann Sebastian Bach.^[6]

Theatrical release

The film was the first film to be screened at the first edition of the Venice International Film Festival.^[7]

Reception

Box office

Grossing $1.25 million,^[2] the film was a box office hit on par with the Universal monster films of the era, even considering that its $535,000 budget was high for a horror film at the time.^[1]

Critical reception

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was received mostly positive reviews upon its release. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote an enthusiastic review, comparing it favorably to the John Barrymore version as a “far more tense and shuddering affair” than that film. Hall called March “the stellar performer” in the title role while praising the acting of the entire supporting cast as well, and called the old-fashioned atmosphere created by the costumes and set designs “quite pleasing”.^[8]

Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film 3 out of a possible 4 stars, calling it “exciting”, and “floridly cinematic”, also praising March’s and Hopkins performances.^[9]

Variety ran a somewhat less favorable but still positive review. Alfred Rushford Greason wrote that “the picture doesn’t build to an effective climax” because it was too slow and labored in getting there, and that while the initial transformation sequence “carries a terrific punch”, its effect became lessened with successive uses. However, Greason credited March with “an outstanding bit of theatrical acting”, declared the makeup “a triumph”, and said that the sets and lighting alone made the film worth seeing “as models of atmospheric surroundings.”^[10]

John Mosher of The New Yorker reported that the film “has its full storage of horror” and was “well acted”. March, he wrote, “gives us a Mr. Hyde as athletic and exuberant as might have been that of Douglas Fairbanks, Senior.”^[11] Film Daily declared: “Gripping performance by Fredric March is highlight of strong drama, ace supporting cast and direction”.^[12]

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 93%, based on 27 reviews, with a rating average of 8.3/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “A classic. The definitive version of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella from 1931, with innovative special effects, atmospheric cinematography and deranged overacting.”^[13]

Awards and honors

Wins

Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Actor in a Leading Role, Fredric March; tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ; 1932.
Venice Film Festival: Audience Referendum; Most Favorite Actor, Fredric March; Most Original Fantasy Story, Rouben Mamoulian; 1932.
Film Daily: 10 Best Films
The New York Times: 10 Best Films

Nominations

Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Cinematography, Karl Struss; Best Adaptation Writing, Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein; 1932.

Source: ^[14]

Other honors

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

2001: AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills – Nominated^[15]
2003: AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains:
- Mr. Hyde – Nominated Villain^[16]

References

^ Jump up to:^a ^b Hall, Sheldon; Neale, Steve (2010). Epics, Spectacles and Blockbusters. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-8143-3008-1.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “FILM WORLD.”. The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 19 October 1934. p. 2. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
Jump up^ Alternate versions for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Miller, Frank “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)” (article) TCM.com
Jump up^ McElwee, John (February 200y7) “More on Jekyll and Hyde” Greenbriar Picture Shows
Jump up^ Reiter, Gershon (2014). The Shadow Self in Film: Projecting the Unconscious Other. p. 11.
Jump up^ “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Film Affinity. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
Jump up^ Hall, Mordaunt (January 2, 1932). “Movie Review – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
Jump up^ Maltin, Leonard; Sader, Luke; Carson, Darwyn. Leonard Maltin’s 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin Press. p. 390. ISBN 978-0-451-41810-4.
Jump up^ Greason, Aldred Rushford (January 5, 1932). “Jekyll and Hyde”. Variety. New York. p. 19.
Jump up^ Mosher, John (January 9, 1932). “The Current Cinema”. The New Yorker. p. 75.
Jump up^ “Dr Jekyll and Hr. Hyde”. Film Daily. New York. January 3, 1932. p. 9.
Jump up^ “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) – Rotten Tomatoes”. Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
Jump up^ “Awards” All Movie Guide
Jump up^ “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills Nominees” (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
Jump up^ “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains Nominees” (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.

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Cinematheque Live, Home, Pre Code Films

24 Hours (1931)

June 19, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

24 Hours (1931)

Director: Marion Gering

Cast: Clive Brook, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, Regis Toomey, George Barbier, Adrienne Ames, Minor Watson, Charlotte Granville, Lucille La Verne, Wade Boteler

66 min

24 Hours is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film starring Clive Brook, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins and Regis Toomey. It was based on the novel Twenty-Four Hours by Louis Bromfield and the play Shattered Glass by Will D. Lengle and Lew Levenson. An alcoholic married man is accused of murdering the woman with whom he has been carrying on an affair. The title comes from the fact that the film takes place from 11 pm one night to the same time the following night.

Plot

At an evening party in New York City, the Towners mourn their failing marriage, then leave separately. The somewhat drunk Jim walks to a bar for some more liquor. Before he arrives, a man is shot to death outside the establishment; those inside hastily carry the body inside and surmise that someone named Tony is responsible. Meanwhile, Fanny is driven home by her lover, David Melbourn. On the way, she breaks up with him, telling him she realizes now that she still loves Jim. However, she plans to leave her husband, thinking she is not good enough for him.

Jim next heads to a nightclub to see his lover, star singer Rosie Duggan. He asks her if it is possible for a man to love two women, then remarks that the snow was red outside the bar. After he leaves, her ex-con husband Tony Bruzzi shows up. He wants her to take him back, but she has him thrown out, though she keeps his gun; she guesses from the red snow that Tony killed someone.

Later, she takes Jim home. He falls asleep on her chaise longue. Then Tony shows up, jealous and determined to kill Jim. She tells him that Jim is not there, but he does not believe her. When she refuses to open a locked door, they struggle and he accidentally kills her.

The next morning, Jim wakes up and finds Rosie’s body. Meanwhile, Tony hides out at Mrs. Dacklehorst’s place, but he is tracked down by Dave the Slapper and his gang; the man Tony shot was part of Dave’s mob. Tony demands Mrs. Dacklehorst deliver or mail a letter to his gang, but she betrays him instead, and he is shot dead.

Jim is charged with Rosie’s murder. When Fanny shows up at the police station, Jim tells her to divorce him so she will not get entangled in his troubles, but she refuses to do so. Fortunately, fingerprints on a liquor bottle at Rosie’s place match Tony’s, and Jim is released. The couple reconcile, and Jim promises to stop drinking.

Cast

Clive Brook as Jim Towner
Kay Francis as Fanny Towner
Miriam Hopkins as Rosie Duggan
Regis Toomey as Tony “Sicily” Bruzzi
George Barbier as Hector Champion
Adrienne Ames as Ruby Wintringham
Minor Watson as David Melbourn
Lucille La Verne as Mrs. Dacklehorst
Wade Boteler as Pat Healy, a doorman, Rosie’s brother
Bob Kortman (uncredited) as Dave the Slapper
Malcolm Waite (uncredited) as Murphy

Contents

Early life

Career

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Death

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References

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Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Trouble in Paradise (1931)

Contents

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Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Theatrical release

Reception

Box office

Critical reception

Awards and honors

See also

References

Film Collectors Corner

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Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

24 Hours (1931)

Contents

Plot

Cast

See also[edit]

Film Collectors Corner

Watch 24 Hours Now – Instant Video on You Tube

Blu Ray

Not released on Blu Ray as yet

DVD

Not released on DVD as yet

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