Ruth Chatterton, married to playwright Adolphe Menjou, learns that he has fallen in love with Claire Dodd, the star of his new production, and plans a divorce. Chatterton attempts to woo her husband back in a spectacularly clingy and abject performance that fails as expected. Finally, she shoots Dodd with Menjou's gun, conveniently enough while an escaping bank robber and murderer is hiding in the building--who is arrested for the crime.
Most of the film involves the toll that the knowledge of her guilt, and of her husband's contempt for her and abiding love for Dodd, takes on Chatterton. The film is a psychological study of the nature of guilt and of denial. An evocative film score highlights Chatterton's inner struggles.
The performances by the two principles, Chatterton and Menjou, are really tremendous. The direction is also often quite striking, particularly a scene of Chatterton attending a party for the play's 100th performance, where strings from balloons hang down in front of her face like prison bars.
Several character-actor stalwarts appear, in parts of varying substance, including Douglas Dumbrille as the Attorney General, George Barbier as the director, and Jane Darwell as a dinner guest. Look quickly for a shockingly young Walter Pigeon as Dodd's baritone co-star.
As others have noted, the film's ending is unusual for the time, clearly indicating that the Hays Office was not yet enjoying the ascendancy it soon would. Compare this ending, though, with that of "Hat, Coat, and Glove" (also 1934), where there is even less justification for a murderer's happy ending.
If you want to see an out-of-the-ordinary mood piece, check this film out.
Most of the film involves the toll that the knowledge of her guilt, and of her husband's contempt for her and abiding love for Dodd, takes on Chatterton. The film is a psychological study of the nature of guilt and of denial. An evocative film score highlights Chatterton's inner struggles.
The performances by the two principles, Chatterton and Menjou, are really tremendous. The direction is also often quite striking, particularly a scene of Chatterton attending a party for the play's 100th performance, where strings from balloons hang down in front of her face like prison bars.
Several character-actor stalwarts appear, in parts of varying substance, including Douglas Dumbrille as the Attorney General, George Barbier as the director, and Jane Darwell as a dinner guest. Look quickly for a shockingly young Walter Pigeon as Dodd's baritone co-star.
As others have noted, the film's ending is unusual for the time, clearly indicating that the Hays Office was not yet enjoying the ascendancy it soon would. Compare this ending, though, with that of "Hat, Coat, and Glove" (also 1934), where there is even less justification for a murderer's happy ending.
If you want to see an out-of-the-ordinary mood piece, check this film out.