The Case Against Mrs. Ames | |
---|---|
Directed by | William A. Seiter |
Written by | C. Graham Baker Gene Towne |
Based on | The Case Against Mrs. Ames by Arthur Somers Roche |
Produced by | Walter Wanger |
Starring | Madeleine Carroll George Brent Arthur Treacher |
Cinematography | Lucien N. Andriot |
Edited by | Dorothy Spencer |
Music by | Gerard Carbonara |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $334,971 [1] |
Box office | $339,443 [1] |
The Case Against Mrs. Ames is a 1936 American mystery drama film written by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne based on a serial of the same name by Arthur Somers Roche originally published in Collier's Weekly magazine in 1934, and then as a novel in 1936. [2] The film was directed by William A. Seiter and stars Madeleine Carroll and George Brent, and features Arthur Treacher, Alan Baxter, Beulah Bondi and Alan Mowbray. Paramount had originally intended to cast Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard in the lead roles. [3]
San Francisco socialite Hope Ames is accused of murdering her husband. She is prosecuted by District Attorney Matt Logan but is acquitted at her trial. However her mother-in-law now tries to gain custody of the couple's son.
Cast notes
The Case Against Mrs. Ames recorded a loss of $38,869. [1]
One Foot in Heaven is a 1941 American biographical drama film directed by Irving Rapper and starring Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Elisabeth Fraser. The film was adapted by Casey Robinson from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Arthur Veary Treacher was an English film and stage actor active from the 1920s to the 1960s, and known for playing English types, especially butler and manservant roles, such as the P.G. Wodehouse valet character Jeeves and the kind butlers opposite Shirley Temple in Curly Top (1935) and Heidi (1937). In the 1960s, he became well known on American television as an announcer/sidekick to talk show host Merv Griffin, and as the support character Constable Jones in Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). He lent his name to the Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips chain of restaurants.
Beulah Bondi was an American character actress; she often played eccentric mothers and later grandmothers and wives, although she was known for numerous other roles. She began her acting career as a young child in theater, and after establishing herself as a Broadway stage actress in 1925, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version.
Topper is a 1937 American supernatural comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Constance Bennett and Cary Grant and featuring Roland Young. It tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple.
Our Town is a 1940 American drama romance film adaptation of the 1938 play of the same name by Thornton Wilder, starring Martha Scott as Emily Webb, and William Holden as George Gibbs. The cast also included Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Frank Craven. It was adapted by Harry Chandlee, Craven and Wilder, and directed by Sam Wood.
Of Human Hearts is a 1938 American Drama Western film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Walter Huston, James Stewart and Beulah Bondi. Stewart plays a proud and ungrateful son who rebels against his preacher father and neglects his poverty-stricken mother. Bondi was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Remember the Night is a 1940 American Christmas romantic comedy trial film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and directed by Mitchell Leisen. The film was written by Preston Sturges and was the last of his scripts shot by another director, as Sturges began his own directorial career the same year with The Great McGinty.
Vivacious Lady is a 1938 American black-and-white romantic comedy film directed by George Stevens and starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The screenplay was written by P.J. Wolfson and Ernest Pagano and adapted from a short story by I. A. R. Wylie. The music score was by Roy Webb and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse.
Roxie Hart is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou and George Montgomery. A film adaptation of a 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist who found inspiration in two real-life Chicago trials she had covered for the press. The play had been adapted once prior, in a 1927 silent film. In 1975, a hit stage musical premiered, and was once more adapted as the Oscar-winning 2002 musical film.
Desire is a 1936 American romantic crime comedy-drama film directed by Frank Borzage, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, and produced by Borzage and Ernst Lubitsch. The picture is a remake of the 1933 German film Happy Days in Aranjuez. The screenplay was written by Samuel Hoffenstein, Edwin Justus Mayer, and Waldemar Young, based on the play Die Schönen Tage von Aranjuez by Hans Székely and Robert A. Stemmle. The music score was composed by Frederick Hollander and the cinematography was shot by Charles Lang and Victor Milner. Marlene Dietrich's wardrobe was designed by Travis Banton. The supporting cast features John Halliday, William Frawley, Akim Tamiroff, and Alan Mowbray.
Barricade is a 1939 adventure film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Alice Faye, Warner Baxter, Charles Winninger, Arthur Treacher, and Keye Luke.
Street Scene is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by King Vidor. With a screenplay by Elmer Rice adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, Street Scene takes place on a New York City street from one evening until the following afternoon. Except for one scene which takes place inside a taxi, Vidor shot the entire film on a single set depicting half a city block of house fronts.
Hearts Divided is a 1936 American musical film about the real-life marriage between American Elizabeth 'Betsy' Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon. It stars Marion Davies and Dick Powell as the couple. The film was a remake of the 1928 silent film Glorious Betsy, which was in turn based on the play Glorious Betsy by Rida Johnson Young. In real life, they were married in Baltimore, before sailing for Europe. Napoleon annulled the marriage, in spite of the existence of a child, and forced Jerome to marry Catharina of Württemberg, making him king of Westphalia. “Luckily, Hollywood treats the lovers Betsy and Jerome with a little more compassion. The couple is even granted a second chance at happiness by Claude Rains' Napoleon.”
The Captain Hates the Sea is a 1934 comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and released by Columbia Pictures. The film, which involves a Grand Hotel-style series of intertwining stories involving the passengers on a cruise ship, is notable as the last feature film of silent film icon John Gilbert and the first Columbia feature to include The Three Stooges in the cast, cast as the ship's orchestra. The film also stars Victor McLaglen, Arthur Treacher, Akim Tamiroff, Leon Errol and Walter Connolly.
Wife, Husband and Friend is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Loretta Young, Warner Baxter and Binnie Barnes in the three title roles, respectively. The film, based on a script by Nunnally Johnson, tells the story of a contractor and his wife, and how their musical ambitions result in marital tensions and a romantic triangle with a professional singer. The film was remade as Everybody Does It (1949), starring Paul Douglas as the contractor, Celeste Holm as his wife, and Linda Darnell as the singer.
Alan Edwin Baxter was an American film and television actor.
Bahama Passage is a 1941 American romantic drama film directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring Madeleine Carroll, Sterling Hayden, Flora Robson and Leo G. Carroll. The film was primarily shot on Salt Cay, Turks Islands in Technicolor. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Merton of the Movies is a 1947 American comedy film, based on the 1922 novel of the same name written by Harry Leon Wilson, and the play of the same name written by George S. Kaufmann and Marc Connelly, which opened on Broadway in 1922. It was previously adapted as a 1924 silent film and as the 1932 film Make Me a Star. The 1947 version stars Red Skelton and is directed by choreographer Robert Alton in his directorial debut.
Ready for Love is a 1934 American romantic comedy film directed by Marion Gering and presented by Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures. It stars Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, and Marjorie Rambeau. It is inspired by the play The Whipping by Eulalie Spence, based on the 1930 novel The Whipping by Roy Flanagan. The film is about school runaway Marigold Tate who "journeys to her retired aunt's home where she soon faces small-town bigotry", and falls in love with handsome newspaper editor Julian Barrow.
An Innocent Affair is a 1948 American comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Lou Breslow and Joseph Hoffman. The film stars Fred MacMurray, Madeleine Carroll, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Rita Johnson, Louise Allbritton and Alan Mowbray. It was released on October 15, 1948 by United Artists. In the United Kingdom, the film was released under the title Don't Trust Your Husband.
Notes