The Woman Accused

Posted 8 May 2008 in Pre-Codes Screening log

1933 US Dir Paul Sloane Cast Nancy Carroll, Cary Grant, John Halliday, Jack La Rue IMDb

Mostly a retread of the more polished Letty Lynton, stars adorable Nancy Carroll as a woman with a sexual past that comes back to haunt her current romance (with a young, still-developing Cary Grant). I won’t spoil any of the proceedings, but if you are familiar with Letty, she deals with her dangerously obsessive ex similarly, ends up similarly, and goes on a luxury cruise in the meantime similarly. Mostly engaging throughout, but ends with… simply the most shocking thing I have seen in pre-Code cinema. No, I don’t mean Nancy Carroll’s frequently exposed bare back. No, I don’t mean delightfully revealing exchanges like this:

Jeffrey Martha, be sweet and get out. I want to talk to Glenda — alone.
Martha In here?
Glenda Of course! Now, Martha, don’t tell me that when you were a girl ladies didn’t entertain gentlemen in their bedrooms.
Martha Yes, but they married them first. I’ll be here waiting. A scream will bring me.
Glenda A scream? From whom?
Martha Well the way things are going nowadays it’d be hard to tell which one would scream first. I’ll come whichever calls.

That’s all par for the course. This is something else entirely — shocking in part because it involves Cary Grant, who does play his usual suave charmer in the film, but also just… not what you expect to see in a 1933 film. I can’t do it justice by telling it, so if you don’t mind the spoiler see it for yourself:

 

5 Comments »

  1. Odd that you are worried about spoilers. I don’t think anybody has seen either this or Letty–you are probably 1 of 10 living who has seen both. You should use YouTube more in your posts.

    Comment by Mango — 8 May 2008 @ 8 May 2008

  2. Haha, truth. I’m special. I agree about YouTube. It’s pretty sexy.

    Comment by Lauren — 8 May 2008 @ 8 May 2008

  3. Letty Lynton is one of my favorite films… great performances by everyone, I can’t wait for it to be released on DVD!

    Comment by Dulcette — 11 May 2008 @ 11 May 2008

  4. Is a DVD in the works? I’d be so thrilled! The copy I watched was so awful… I hope it overcomes what legal issues remain to finally be restored & released! It’s such a great film.

    Comment by Lauren — 12 May 2008 @ 12 May 2008

  5. Oops, I think I lost my reply! But you can read about the Letty release at the Joan Crawford message board at the IMDb site. Apparently it’s been restored and ready to go.

    Sorry if I double posted! ^_^

    Comment by Dulcette — 12 May 2008 @ 12 May 2008

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2008 Viewing log


Screening Log
The Woman Accused 1933, Paul Sloane
So Big! 1932, William A Wellman
The Awful Truth 1937, Leo McCarey
Conquest 1937, Clarence Brown
It’s Love I’m After 1937, Archie Mayo
The Mad Miss Manton 1938, Leigh Jason
Algiers 1938, John Cromwell
The Gay Divorcee 1934, Mark Sandrich
All This, & Heaven Too 1940, Anatole Litvak
Mannequin 1937, Frank Borzage

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» So Big! 1932 William A Wellman
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