East Lynne

Much is made of the physical history of this film. The fact that it's only decent copy lies safely in the vaults of UCLA but I wonder if maybe that's not the best place for this rather unremarkable melodrama? The story centres around "Isabella" (Ann Harding) who marries "Sir Robert" (Conrad Nagel) who accepts her son but his sister "Cornelia" (Cecilie Loftus) doesn't. She now gets up to a bit of manipulation and stirring and that ends up driving the mother away, and to Paris where she makes a new life for herself - never forgetting the child she was forced to leave behind. When it turns out that the encroaching Prussians are going to upset her apple cart and an explosion puts her in the care of physicians who advise that that a darkened room is needed if she is to save her sight, she decides she must return to Britain and see her young lad whilst she still can. There are one or two scenes here where the dialogue is suitably robust for Harding to deliver well, especially when facing down her meddling sister-in-law, but for the most part this is really nothing special. The story follows a fairly predicable path of woe and merriment and more woe and try as I did, I just couldn't really get invested in the affairs of "Isabella" or her predicament - even if her treatment by the men in her life was at best indifferent, at worst cruel and possessive. The photography's fine and all in all it's an adequate drama, but one I think I'll only ever watch once.

there is a slight inaccuracy in the previous review. In Ellen Wood's original book 'East Lynne', the town is called West Lynne and the Estate nearby where (Archibald) Carlyle and Lady Isabel live is the East Lynne of the title.

Being one of the majority who haven't seen the film, I obviously cannot comment...however, the British Broadcasting Corporation dramatised the book in the early 1980's after British Independent Television had also screened a dramatisation in the mid 1970's. Interestingly, the role of Cornelia Carlyle was played in both versions by the excellent comic actress Annette Crosby - latterly most famous for her role as the long-suffering wife of Victor (I don't believe it !) Meldrew in the sit-com 'One Foot in the Grave'.

The BBC also aired a radio adaptation of East Lynne in the mid 1980's and the work continues to be popular in academic circles as one of the definitive works of Victorian 'sensational' fiction. This is a shame, because it remains a jolly good read and deserving of a wider readership.

Most movies don't closely follow the book they are based on, and this one is no exception. The overall ideas are the same though and there are no "new" characters. The time period is updated to 1871, the original novel was written in 1861. The story is at its best for the 1st half, then slows down somewhat and finishes off well. It is unfortunate that it would be difficult if not impossible to view any of the previous 13 silent film versions. The Mack Sennett parody, East Lynne with Variations(1919) is represented by 2 enticing stills in the book, King of Comedy(1954), but perhaps that is all that survives. As for this 1931 film adaption, there is a shortened version available on DVD that's missing 12 minutes. One source claims it is without the last reel. If you refuse that, and don't want to go to UCLA for the complete copy, your next best bet is at a used book sale or e-bay for the movie book adaption. The movie was novelized by Arline de Haas in 265 pages, includes stills from the film(for some reason only the 1st half), and published by Grossett & Dunlap. If you've never read the original novel, be forewarned that it's over 600 pages! In America it seems this classic story has been forgotten, but in England there was a 1987 BBC Radio 4 dramatization in 7 parts and a play revival in 1992.

... Madame X, Giant, and War and Peace, except Russia and Napoleon have nothing to do with it.

Plot wise it is no great shakes. In 19th century Britain, a fun loving young woman (Ann Harding as Lady Isabella) marries wealthy barrister Robert Carlyle (Conrad Nagel). He sweeps her off her feet and is quite the romantic. But when the two return to his ancestral home of East Lynne, everything changes. Robert's humorless old maid sister, Cecelia, doesn't like Isabella, she has always overseen the household and has no intention of giving that job up (this is where it is like Giant), and pretty much makes Isabella a guest in her own home. And also Robert is gone on business all of the time, and when he IS home spends his time chastising Isabella over not being dignified enough.

Let's just cut matters short and say that the first time that Isabella's foot even comes close to slipping, Cecelia witnesses only part of it, fills in the blanks with things that would have never happened to her at any age, and is believed by Robert over Isabella. She is turned out and kept from her child. Isabella becomes a scandal in England and thus she leaves and goes to Europe where she is not known. Things go downhill for her first financially, then physically, and ultimately she is told she is going blind. Excuse me, but isn't this beginning to sound like a Constance Bennett film from the same era? But I digress.

She travels back to England to see her son one more time before she goes blind. She is in her son's sick room when the film hits the missing reel. All I can say is about half a dozen unbelievable melodrama tropes hit in that last twelve minutes. But one of them is not, unfortunately, Robert and Cecelia being hit by a meteor. That would be a satisfying ending.

The acting here is what is really good and overcomes the tired material. Harding was always excellent, but Clive Brook was always playing the stodgy character over at Paramount in the early talkie years. Here he is given a meaty role of somebody I like, love, and hate, depending on where the storyline is. Conrad Nagel, who doesn't have too much screen time, plays his role like the unlikeable implacable descendant of Puritans that his character is. If he is indeed "10th generation Puritan" as Isabella's dad says, I wonder why his ancestors didn't leave England with the others on the Mayflower? If Robert's relatives are anything like him, his ancestors were probably such kill joys that the other Puritans gave his relatives the wrong day and the wrong ship so they wouldn't be stuck on a sea journey with them.

East Lynne was nominated for only one Academy award - Best Picture. It was a year of weak nominees but not weak films. East Lynne was up against Skippy, Trader Horn, The Front Page, and winner Cimarron, which today is one of the more ponderous Best Picture decisions. The acting definitely makes this film, and is the reason to watch it if it ever comes your way.

It's a rather unremarkable film, with a laughably cliched tragic ending. Ann Harding is charming, though, and has some wonderful scenes here. Look for a pre-Our Gang Wally Albright as her young son. Worth a look, but hardly a lost classic.