Common Clay | |
---|---|
Directed by | Victor Fleming |
Written by | Cleves Kinkead (novel) Jules Furthman |
Starring | Constance Bennett Lew Ayres |
Music by | Arthur Kay (uncredited) |
Distributed by | Fox Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.246 million (U.S. and Canada rentals) [1] |
Common Clay is a 1930 American pre-Code film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Constance Bennett and Lew Ayres, based on the 1915 play of the same name by Cleves Kinkead which starred Jane Cowl. [2]
The film is about a young servant who is seduced by the master of the house who will having nothing else to do with her besides sex because she is of an inferior class. She becomes pregnant and seeks to have the child recognized but his family treats her as if she were a blackmailer.
Common Clay was one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1930. [3]
Johnny Belinda is a 1948 American drama film, directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the 1940 Broadway stage hit of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The play was adapted for the screen by writers Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube.
Lewis Frederick Ayres III was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948).
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, better known as Billie Burke, was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the MGM film musical The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film, and television actress, one of three acting sisters from a show-business family. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the era of silent films, well into the sound era. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's films—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination in 1968.
Constance Campbell Bennett was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).
The Unfaithful is a 1947 American murder mystery film noir directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres and Zachary Scott. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. Regarded by some as a film noir, the picture is based on the W. Somerset Maugham-penned 1927 play and William Wyler-directed 1940 film The Letter, which was reworked and turned into an original screenplay by writers David Goodis and James Gunn who shifted the setting from Malaya to the United States.
Mae Clarke was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit in The Public Enemy. Both films were released in 1931.
Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.
Belle Bennett was a stage and screen actress who started her career as a child as a circus performer. She later performed in theater and films.
Archibald L. Mayo was a film director, screenwriter and actor.
Genevieve Blinn was a Canadian actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood silent motion pictures. She was a native of New Brunswick, Canada.
Beryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States.
Rockabye is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, and Paul Lukas. The final version was directed by George Cukor after studio executives decided that the original film as directed by George Fitzmaurice was unreleasable. The screenplay by Jane Murfin is based on an unpublished play written by Lucia Bronder, based on her original short story.
Hearts in Bondage is a 1936 American black-and-white war drama film directed by Lew Ayres for Republic Pictures. Set during the American Civil War, the film depicts the Union Navy's deliberate sinking of USS Merrimack, the Confederate States Navy's salvage and refitting of the ship as the ironclad CSS Virginia, the Union Navy's development of the ironclad USS Monitor to counter Virginia, and the subsequent engagement of the two vessels in the Battle of Hampton Roads. It also features many historical characters, including United States President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and Confederate States President Jefferson Davis. The fictional plot, starring James Dunn, Mae Clarke, and David Manners, pits two friends and future brothers-in-law on opposite sides of the North–South conflict, dividing their families and threatening their survival. Hearts in Bondage is notable as a rare example of a Hollywood film to depict the naval battles of the American Civil War.
Something for the Birds is a 1952 American comedy film directed by Robert Wise and starring Victor Mature, Patricia Neal and Edmund Gwenn.
The Common Law is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Paul L. Stein, produced by Charles R. Rogers and starring Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea. Based on Robert W. Chambers' 1911 novel of the same name, the film was the third film adaptation of the book, and the first during the sound-film era. It was received well both at the box office and by film critics, becoming one of RKO's most financially successful films of the year.
Common Clay is a 1915 play by the American writer Cleves Kinkead. A social drama, it shows the relationship between a servant and a member of the wealthy family which she serves. When she becomes pregnant she finds herself ostracized by them. The play was controversial on its release, but enjoyed a lengthy run on Broadway. It was the outstanding success of Kinkead's career, and he struggled to repeat it with his later works such as Your Woman and Mine (1922).
East Is West is a 1930 American pre-Code crime drama film produced and distributed by Universal. It was directed by Monta Bell and stars Lupe Vélez, Lew Ayres and Edward G. Robinson. It is based on a 1918 Broadway play, East is West, which starred Fay Bainter. A silent film version from 1922, also titled East Is West, starred Constance Talmadge.
Let's Be Ritzy is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Edward Ludwig and written by Harry Sauber and Earle Snell. The film stars Lew Ayres, Patricia Ellis, Isabel Jewell, Frank McHugh, Berton Churchill and Robert McWade. The film was released on May 1, 1934, by Universal Pictures.
Common Clay is a 1919 silent film drama directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Fannie Ward. It was based on a 1915 play by Cleves Kinkead which starred Jane Cowl. Produced by Astra Film, it was distributed through Pathé Exchange. In 1930 it was remade in early sound under the same title and starring Constance Bennett.