Action for Slander
Action for Slander | |
---|---|
London Film Productions | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Action for Slander is a 1937 British
Plot
Major George Daviot is left by his wife Ann due to their growing estrangement and her knowledge that he has fallen in love with another woman, Josie Bradford, the wife of one of his fellow officers. Daviot goes off with friends for a weekend party at a
That evening, during a game of cards played for high stakes, Daviot is accused of cheating by Grant, a drunken player who has lost large amounts of money, a charge that is dismissed out of hand by the other players until Bradford seconds it. None of the other players believe the accusation, even though they are unaware of the grudge that Bradford has against Daviot. Bradford sticks to his story, even in the face of legal action from Daviot.
The other guests frightened of their own reputations if the scandal becomes widely known, persuade all to hush the matter up. Daviot agrees to keep quiet for all their sakes, even though he still wants to clear his name. Daviot proposes to Josie that she leave her husband and live with him in spite of the scandal, but her lukewarm response leads him to realise that her interest in him is shallow. She subsequently reconciles with her husband and they go abroad to spend time together.
Daviot tries to continue, but rumours about the affair begin to spread. Over the following year, his life disintegrates. He no longer finds himself welcome in his regiment or at his
Ann Daviot, meanwhile, has been touring around
Cast
- Clive Brook as Major George Daviot
- Ann Todd as Ann Daviot
- Margaretta Scott as Josie Bradford
- Arthur Margetson as Captain Hugh Bradford
- Ronald Squire as Charles Cinderford
- Athole Stewart as Lord Pontefract
- Percy Marmont as William Cowbit
- Frank Cellier as Sir Bernard Roper
- Anthony Holles as John Grant
- Morton Selten as Judge Trotter
- Kate Cutler as The Dowager
- Enid Stamp-Taylor as Jenny
- Francis L. Sullivan as Sir Quinton Jessops
- Felix Aylmer as Sir Eustace Cunninghame
- Laurence Hanray as Clerk of Court
- Gus McNaughton as Tandy
- Googie Withers as Mary
- Albert Whelan as Roper's butler
- Allan Jeayes as Colonel
- Pauline de Chalus as Polly
- Edward Lexy as Collins (Porter)
Production
The film was made independently at
Reception
The film was popular at its release and it was re-released several times during the 1940s. However, it has later been criticised as "stilted".[5] Rachael Low describes it as being "well-made and acted" although the "behaviour of the characters was too far-fetched to carry conviction".[1]
Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly good review, summarizing the film as "a picture of which we needn't feel ashamed if it reaches the United States, even though the story is novelettish in the extreme". Despite expressing the view that Selten had been "badly miscast" for the role of the Judge, Greene generally praised the cast's acting and the direction which allowed "people on the whole [to] behave naturally - and shabbily", and noted that the "love scene for once is not written in".[6]
References
- ^ a b Low p.224
- ^ "Action for Slander (1937)". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018.
- ^ White p.38
- OCLC 2124879– via Open WorldCat.
- ^ "Action for Slander". Time Out Worldwide.
- ISBN 0192812866.)
External links
- Action for Slander at IMDb
Bibliography
- Low, Rachael. The History of British Film: Volume VII. Routledge, 1997.
- White, Terry. Justice Denoted: The Legal Thriller in American, British, and Continental Courtroom Literature. Praeger, 2003.