Guilty Hands

Last updated

Guilty Hands
Guilty Hands Swedish poster.jpg
Swedish theatrical poster
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Lionel Barrymore (uncredited)
Written by Bayard Veiller
(story and screenplay)
Produced by Hunt Stromberg (uncredited)
StarringLionel Barrymore
Kay Francis
Madge Evans
Cinematography Merritt B. Gerstad
Edited by Anne Bauchens
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • August 22, 1931 (1931-08-22)
Running time
68-69 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Guilty Hands is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film starring Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis and Madge Evans and directed by W. S. Van Dyke, with uncredited assistance from Barrymore. The story concerns an attorney who murders a man who wants to marry his daughter.

Contents

Plot

On a train trip, lawyer Richard Grant tells fellow passengers that, based on his long experience both prosecuting and defending murder cases, murder is sometimes justified and a clever man should be able to commit it undetected. Grant is traveling to the isolated estate of his wealthy client and friend Gordon Rich. His young adult daughter Barbara surprises him at the train station, where she informs him that she has already been there for a week.

Rich asks Grant to rewrite his will, including bequests to all his former mistresses (except a 16-year-old whom Grant believes committed suicide). When Rich explains that he wants a new will because he intends to marry Barbara, Grant is appalled.

Grant pleads with his daughter, emphasizing the age difference and Rich's indecent character, but she loves Rich and is adamant. Tommy Osgood, a young suitor of Barbara's age, has also been able to change her mind.

At a dinner party that night, Rich announces the wedding and says that it will take place in the morning. His longtime girlfriend Marjorie West is dismayed, but after the party, he assures Marjorie that he will return to her once he exhausts his obsession with Barbara.

Rich orders two servants to watch Grant's bungalow on the estate, but Grant uses a cutout mounted on a record player to cast a moving shadow on the curtain to make it appear that he is pacing restlessly. He slips back to the main house. Meanwhile, Rich goes to Barbara's room and tries to force himself on her, but she recoils in disgust and he leaves.

Rich writes a letter to the police accusing Grant in case he is found dead. Grant sneaks into the room, takes Rich's gun from his desk and shoots him during a clap of thunder. Grant places the gun in the Rich's hand, takes the letter and returns to his room just in time to be seen by the servants. When the body is discovered, Grant insists that Rich must have committed suicide. To Grant's shock, Barbara soon informs him that she had changed her mind about the wedding, rendering the crime unnecessary.

Marjorie is certain that Rich was murdered. She determines how Grant concocted his alibi and then finds the imprint of the incriminating letter on the desk blotter. However, Grant returns and wrestles the evidence from her. He tells her that if she accuses him, he will concoct a convincing murder case against her, as she had an obvious motive for murder as Rich's beneficiary and was heard screaming when Rich was killed. If she stays silent, she is free to enjoy Rich's fortune.

The police arrive, and the chief, Grant's old friend, accepts his conclusion that it was suicide. Marjorie finally decides to speak out, but just then a rigor mortis contraction of the Rich's trigger finger fires the gun, fatally wounding Grant. He asks Tommy to take good care of Barbara. Seeing no reason to hurt Barbara, Marjorie remains silent.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madge Oberholtzer</span> American murder victim (1896–1925)

Madge Augustine Oberholtzer was an American woman whose rape and murder played a critical role in the demise of the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan. In March 1925, while working for the state of Indiana on an adult literacy campaign, Oberholtzer was abducted by D. C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan. Holding her captive in his private train car, Stephenson raped and tortured her. Oberholtzer died from a combination of a staphylococcal infection from her injuries and kidney failure from mercury chloride poisoning, which she took while held captive in an attempt to commit suicide.

<i>Young Dr. Kildare</i> 1938 film by Harold S. Bucquet

Young Dr. Kildare is a 1938 American drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet and starring Lew Ayres as Dr. James Kildare, an idealistic, freshly graduated medical intern, who benefits greatly from the wise counsel of his experienced mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie. The film was based on a story and characters created by author Frederick Schiller Faust, writing as Max Brand.

<i>Jury Duty</i> (film) 1995 American film

Jury Duty is a 1995 American legal comedy film directed by John Fortenberry, written by Neil Tolkin, Barbara Williams, and Adam Small, and starring Pauly Shore, Tia Carrere, Stanley Tucci, Brian Doyle-Murray, Shelley Winters, and Abe Vigoda.

Guilty Conscience is a 1985 American television film, produced by Robert A. Papazian, written by Richard Levinson and William Link, directed by David Greene, starring Anthony Hopkins, Blythe Danner and Swoosie Kurtz. The film score was composed by Billy Goldenberg. It premiered on April 2, 1985 on CBS.

<i>Murder in the Mews</i> 1937 story collection by Agatha Christie

Murder in the Mews and Other Stories is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club on 15 March 1937. In the US, the book was published by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title Dead Man's Mirror in June 1937 with one story missing ; the 1987 Berkeley Books edition of the same title has all four stories. All of the tales feature Hercule Poirot. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the first US edition at $2.00.

<i>The New York Hat</i> 1912 film

The New York Hat is a silent short film which was released in 1912, directed by D. W. Griffith from a screenplay by Anita Loos, and starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish.

<i>Camille</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by George Cukor

Camille is a 1936 American romantic drama film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed by George Cukor, and produced by Irving Thalberg and Bernard H. Hyman, from a screenplay by James Hilton, Zoë Akins, and Frances Marion. The picture is based on the 1848 novel and 1852 play La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The film stars Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Jessie Ralph, Henry Daniell, and Laura Hope Crews. It grossed $2,842,000.

<i>Tennessee Johnson</i> 1942 film by William Dieterle

Tennessee Johnson is a 1942 American film about Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by William Dieterle and written by Milton Gunzburg, Alvin Meyers, John Balderston, and Wells Root.

<i>Saratoga</i> (film) 1937 film by Jack Conway

Saratoga is a 1937 American romantic comedy film starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow and directed by Jack Conway. The screenplay was written by Anita Loos. Lionel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, Walter Pidgeon, and Una Merkel appear as featured players; Hattie McDaniel and Margaret Hamilton appear in support. It was the sixth and final film collaboration of Gable and Harlow.

<i>The Girl from Missouri</i> 1934 film by Jack Conway

The Girl from Missouri is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone. The movie was written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway.

<i>The Death Kiss</i> 1932 film

The Death Kiss is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film starring David Manners as a crusading studio writer, Adrienne Ames as an actress, and Bela Lugosi as a studio manager. The thriller features three leading players from the previous year's Dracula, and was the first film directed by Edwin L. Marin.

<i>The Show</i> (1927 film) 1927 film

The Show is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Tod Browning, based upon Charles Tenney Jackson's 1910 novel The Day of Souls.

<i>Ah, Wilderness!</i> (film) 1935 film

Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 American comedy-drama film adaptation of the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play of the same name. Directed by Clarence Brown, the film stars Wallace Beery and features Lionel Barrymore, Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, Spring Byington, and a young Mickey Rooney. Rooney stars as Richard in MGM's musical remake Summer Holiday (1948).

<i>True Confession</i> 1937 film

True Confession is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and John Barrymore. It was based on the 1934 play Mon Crime, written by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil. In 1946 it was remade as Cross My Heart.

<i>Castle on the Hudson</i> 1940 film by Anatole Litvak

Castle on the Hudson is a 1940 American prison film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien. The film was based on the book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, written by Lewis E. Lawes, on whom the warden in the film was based. Castle on the Hudson is a remake of the 1932 Spencer Tracy prison film 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, also based on Lawes's book.

<i>Naked Girl Killed in the Park</i> 1972 film

Naked Girl Killed in the Park is a 1972 giallo film directed by Alfonso Brescia, co-written by Gianni Martucci and starring Robert Hoffmann and Adolfo Celli.

<i>Rasputin and the Empress</i> 1932 film

Rasputin and the Empress is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Richard Boleslawski and written by Charles MacArthur. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the film is set in Imperial Russia and stars the Barrymore siblings. It is the only film in which all three siblings appear together.

<i>Calling Dr. Gillespie</i> 1942 film by Harold S. Bucquet

Calling Dr. Gillespie is a 1942 drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, starring Lionel Barrymore, Donna Reed and Philip Dorn. This was a continuation of the series that had starred Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare. Ayres, however, had declared conscientious objector status to World War II, and was taken off the film. Kildare's mentor, Dr. Gillespie, portrayed here and in earlier films by Barrymore, became the lead character. In this first Kildare-less entry, Gillespie has a new assistant, refugee Dutch surgeon Dr. John Hunter Gerniede.

<i>The Secret Bride</i> 1934 film by William Dieterle

The Secret Bride is a 1934 American drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Warren William. Based on the play Concealment by Leonard Ide, the film is about the attorney general of an unnamed state and the daughter of the governor who are forced to keep their recent elopement secret after the governor is accused of a crime. The initial plot concerns the governor taking a bribe in exchange for pardoning a white collar criminal. The investigation is about political corruption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madge Meredith</span> American actress

Madge Meredith was an American film actress who appeared in numerous films and television series between 1944 and 1964. However, she may have been best known for her wrongful conviction for kidnapping.

References