The Lady of Scandal

Is this film ever a throwback. Hard to believe that back in those days in very class stratified Great Britain that the upper classes would get all in a snit over the idea of one of their titled people marrying an actress. Yet that is the subject of The Lady Of Scandal.

Who in this case happens to be Ruth Chatterton a rather celebrated actress on the London stage. Young Ralph Forbes proclaims that he's going to marry Chatterton so his family and extended family invite her to a weekend in the country to look her over. Once there however she's not happy with this snooty crowd. And her father Robert Bolder in an Alfred P. Doolittle type attitude doesn't want her marrying into them either.

Which is all right with cousin Basil Rathbone if she doesn't marry Forbes. He's got his own title to offer. He's also got a married mistress on the side.

The Lady Of Scandal had a respectable run in London's East End. But I rather think it didn't do well in the USA. This is one of those foreign works that Americans by and large just wouldn't get. Granted that people here wanted escapist entertainment during the Depression. But these people don't seem to have a clue.

Ruth Chatterton does fine in a most dated work that I doubt we'll ever see a remake of.

British playwright Frederick Lonsdale had many of his drawing room comedies transferred to the screen, and this is one of his best. Ralph Forbes is in love with Ruth Chatterton, a British star actress, and forces the issue of marriage by announcing their engagement in the newspapers. He is the son of staid Lord Crayle (Herbert Bunston), who gathers the family together at his estate to try to determine what to do about it. They consider offering her a sum of £5000 to deny it when Forbes brings her to the meeting. Except for Basil Rathbone, the family is dead set against the marriage and think Chatterton too low in society. In a funny twist, her father, Robert Bolder, arrives to object to the marriage too. He thinks Chatterton is a genius at providing entertainment for the masses, and doesn't want her marrying beneath her station. He suggests they approve the engagement providing the marriage is delayed for six months, by which time Forbes should be totally bored with her. They agree and so does Forbes and Chatterton. She stays at the estate and brings about a transformation in the most reserved members. It was fun to watch Herbert Bunston do a solo modern dance to the tune of "Lulu Comes Home." And Frederick Kerr, who normally doesn't drink, gets drunk as he extols the virtues of the "gulley washers" Chatterton introduces him to. Meanwhile, Rathbone and Chatterton fall in love, but she is also aware he has been carrying on a long-term affair with a married Parisian woman, who he had said earlier he would marry if he could. He promises to give up the woman, but things change as they hear on the radio that the husband of that woman has died. Now Chatterton feels that woman will always be between them, but Rathbone is adamant about giving her up. Chatterton puts through a call to her in Paris and hands the phone to Rathbone, who has some difficulty going through with his plan. And Forbes has some ideas about his life, too.

The Lady of Scandal (1930)

** (out of 4)

This early talkie features Ruth Chatterton playing Elsie Hilary, a British actress who is engaged to a man from a snobbish rich family. Everyone in the family objects to her "nature" except for Edward (Basil Rathbone) who finds himself falling for her. THE LADY OF SCANDAL remains somewhat watchable due to its fun leads but the sad reality is that this is just another early talkie with way too much talking. You know, I truly understand that in the early days of sound people wanted to hear people talk. I do wonder what they truly felt about these movies back then but when you view them today you pretty much just shake your head because of all the dialogue. I mean, to simply tell someone who want to go out and eat takes about ten pages of dialogue because everything just gets so drawn out. This non-stop talking is what really damages this film and keeps it from being more entertaining. What does keep the film at least watchable is the performance of Chatterton who comes across incredibly delightful. She comes out doing a chorus dance and singing a song, which was pretty funny and I liked the way she handled each of the family members who are against her. I've often been very critical of Rathbone's early work but I was shocked to see that he too was rather good here. The supporting cast of character do fine work as well with each of them fitting their roles. Of course, even with all the dialogue the writers weren't able to come up with a way to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. There's never a bit of suspense as to what's going to happen and the ending is something you'll see coming from a mile away.

Sluggish is the word for MGM's adaptation of Frederick Lonsdale's "The High Road." Long pauses were not uncommon in early talking features but they seem to go on forever in this one. Stuffy people in huge rooms who pause a very long time between pompous utterances. Also of note is the very uneven, often shoddy sound recording. Although MGM was known to be the most well-financed studio in Hollywood, the audio is surprisingly tacky. The actors' voices sound like they are being piped in through a poor telephone line. At times actors' footsteps can be heard clicking across the floor and at other times they're dead silent. Of minor interest, a few camera setups present the action in both the fore- and background of the frame.

Standard English drawing room-types populate the cast, best represented by Frederick Kerr (a cross between Guy Kibbee and Winston Churchill in his final decline and who has some fun moments after trying out a cocktail called "Gullet Washer"), Nance O'Neill as his monocled wife, and MacKenzie Ward as a dapper eccentric.

The leads are Basil Rathbone (who does well despite the technical obstacles to contend with), Ruth Chatterton (very mannered) and Ralph Forbes (cardboard through and through).

Interesting drawing room comedy from Frederick Lonsdale (On Approval) casts Ruth Chatterton as a stage star engaged to dull Ralph Forbes. It's announced in the papers that they are to marry so he brings her home to meet the relatives who are outraged at having an actress invade their stuffy manor house.

Forbes' father (Herbert Bunston) decides that he will allow it if she quits the stage and stays engaged for 6 months. Three weeks later she cannot abide the oaf and has fallen for Basil Rathbone. She's also brought LIFE into the house in the forms of music, tennis, and "gullet washers" (cocktails).

Chatterton was a charming actress of early talkies and is best remembered as a silly wife in the wonderful Dodsworth. She's terrific here and opens and closes the film with a song-and-dance stage number. Rathbone is OK as the love interest. Others in the cast include Nance O'Neill, Effie Ellsler, Cyril Chadwick, Mackenzie Ward, the oddly named Moon Carroll, Edgar Norton (butler again), Robert Bolder as Chatterton's father, and Frederick Kerr, who steals the film as the old crab who discovers the joys of gullet washers.

The immense set is quite good as is the writing. As with most of Lonsdale's plays, there is a serious undertone. But Chatterton is always very good, and the rapport between Kerr and O'Neill is hilarious. Forbes may well have been the most boring actor in films.