Sylvia Scarlett

Last updated
Sylvia Scarlett
Sylvia Scarlett (1935 poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Cukor
Screenplay by Gladys Unger
John Collier
Mortimer Offner
Based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett
1918 novel
by Compton MacKenzie
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Starring Katharine Hepburn
Cary Grant
Edmund Gwenn
Brian Aherne
Natalie Paley
Cinematography Joseph H. August
Edited by Jane Loring
Music by Roy Webb
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
December 25, 1935
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$641,000 [1]
Box office$497,000 [1]

Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 American romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett , a 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s. Hepburn plays the title role of Sylvia Scarlett, a female con artist masquerading as a boy to escape the police. The success of the subterfuge is in large part due to the transformation of Hepburn by RKO makeup artist Mel Berns.

Contents

This film was the first pairing of Grant and Hepburn, who later starred together in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), and The Philadelphia Story (1940).

Grant's performance as a dashing rogue sees him incorporate a Cockney accent and remains widely considered the first time Grant's famous personality began to register on film. (Grant used the Cockney accent in only a few other films, notably 1939's Gunga Din , 1943's Mr. Lucky and Clifford Odets's None but the Lonely Heart in 1944.) Cockney was not, however, Cary Grant's original accent. He was born and grew up in Bristol, which has a very different accent from that of London, where he only spent part of two years in his mid-teens working with a Vaudeville troupe. In the U.S., by sixteen, he began to attempt to sound more American to broaden the range of theatre roles for which he could be cast a decade before he ever appeared in a Hollywood "talkie".

Plot

Somewhere in France, Henry Scarlett and his daughter, Sylvia, are mourning the death of Sylvia's mother. Henry whines that he has gambling debts and must leave the country. Sylvia reveals that her mother left her a little money and offers to give it to him. Henry wants to escape on his own and not arouse suspicion by traveling with a young girl, so Sylvia insists that she go along and decides to pose as a boy for safety and practicality. Henry also plans to smuggle yards of lace into England to avoid paying import duty and then sell it on the black market. Most likely, Henry stole the lace from the factory where he was a bookkeeper for 20 years, along with funds from the company that he used for gambling.

On the channel ferry to London, they meet a "gentleman adventurer," Jimmy Monkley and Henry soon explains his smuggling plan over drinks. Monkley exposes Henry's plan to customs officials, who take him in for interrogation. Later, Henry meets Sylvia/Sylvester on the dock and they race for the train. After settling into a car, which coincidentally contains Monkley, he confesses he is a smuggler, too, and he told the customs police about Henry to avoid being searched himself. The trio join up and try unsuccessfully to run con games together. During a planned ruse to steal pearls from a society household, Sylvia/Sylvester drunkenly exposes their plan to the house maid, Maudie, who decides to join them as they travel to "the seaside."

Posing as a traveling troupe of entertainers, they perform for a rowdy local crowd but one of the hecklers, a roguish artist named Michael Fane, catches the interest of Sylvia who decides to reveal her true identity. She is rejected when his former girlfriend, Lily Levitsky, returns and they taunt her for being childish. Later that night, during a wild storm, Henry runs out of the caravan after Maudie, who he thinks has run off with another man. In the morning, Sylvia and Monk find Henry's body on the rocks below near the beach. They decide to take up together when Sylvia hears a woman screaming from the ocean below. Sylvia rescues the woman, who turns out to be Lily. Sylvia hopes to reunite the couple and fetches Michael, but when they return, the caravan is gone.

On their search, Michael and Sylvia spend a night in jail for speeding, then take the train to Paris where they discover Lily and Monk. Instead of confronting their former partners, Michael and Sylvia share their feelings toward each other and they leave the train together.

Cast

Reception

After a disastrous test screening, Cukor and Hepburn reportedly begged producer Pandro Berman to shelve the picture if they agreed to make their next film for free. According to RKO records, the film lost a whopping $363,000, [1] and thus began a downturn in Hepburn's career (causing her to be branded "box office poison") from which she would eventually recover. [2]

In a review published two days before his death, Andre Sennwald of the New York Times wrote "With what accuracy Compton Mackenzie's novel has been transferred to the screen this deponent knoweth not. But the film has a sprawling, confused and unaccented way of telling its story that might easily be the result of too literal a dramatization of just that sprawling kind of book." [3] Variety wrote "Despite good production values and some strong performances, 'Sylvia Scarlett' is not a reliable candidate for public favor. The story is hard to get. It is puzzling in its tangents and sudden jumps plus the almost poetic lines that are given to Miss Hepburn. At moments the film skirts the border of absurdity and considerable of its mid-section is downright boresome." The review added that "Cary Grant, doing a petty English crook with a Soho accent, practically steals the picture." [4]

Harrison's Reports stated "The material in the two novels, from which this story was supposedly taken, could have made an outstanding picture. But it was altered radically and was weakened, with the result that it has made an uninteresting comedy. The story is far-fetched and somewhat unpleasant. And the fact that Miss Hepburn goes through most of the picture in male attire may disappoint her followers." [5] John Mosher of The New Yorker was positive and found that despite Hepburn's difficult role, the picture was "charming, sparkling with the feeling that Compton Mackenzie gave his novel of romantic vagrants. Indeed, it is that part of the film with Hepburn in breeches that is best. When at last she puts on skirts and is a girl again, and a girl in love, she is more like most of the movie heroines we have known, and the fantasy fades out in an almost perfunctory happy ending." [6] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "A very entertaining film. Parts of the story are a trifle illogical but the direction, acting and some very delightful photography make it seem almost possible." [7]

A Turner Classic Movies article suggested that the film's themes of sexual politics were ahead of its time and that the film's reception has improved over the years. [8] In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100. [9]

The film is mostly known for its queer elements, with Hepburn's character continuing to do drag even after it is not necessary anymore for the character, [10] which "confused and disconcerted in equal measures." [11] It is considered that the sexual ambiguities and gender misunderstandings of the films were too daring for the time period, which made the audiences fail to see the humor in cross-dressing and mistaken identity. [12] It also resulted in movie audiences walking away from the movie, especially since it was insinuated or shown that both male and female characters were attracted to Hepburn's character, in and out of drag. While in drag, Sylvia is kissed by a woman, and Monkley comments that he'd made "a proper hot water bottle" when they are changing to go to sleep. At the same time, Fane shows more interest in Sylvia while in drag, and losing it after she revealed she is a woman. [13]

Some have argued that "Gender as a separate concept from sexuality or physical sex wouldn’t come about for another twenty years, so audiences had no context for Sylvia’s odd apparel" throughout the movie. [14] Nevertheless, the film is considered one of the few of the Golden Age of Hollywood to represent queerness respectfully. [15] It is now seen as "a monument to the sapphic impression Hepburn left in Hollywood", [16] with the film implying "that Sylvia might stay as Sylvester forever," even as she enters a relationship with a man. [17] Some, on the other hand, have considered that "these deliciously cheeky invitations are met with sexual panic and a predictable retreat into befrocked femininity." [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Grant</span> English-American actor (1904–1986)

Cary Grant was an English-American actor known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comedic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award, received an Academy Honorary Award in 1970, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Hepburn</span> American actress (1907–2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.

<i>Stage Door</i> 1937 film by Gregory La Cava

Stage Door is a 1937 American drama film directed by Gregory La Cava. Adapted from the play of the same name, it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds and Lucille Ball. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures. Eve Arden and Ann Miller, who became notable in later films, play minor characters.

<i>The Philadelphia Story</i> (film) 1940 American film

The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Ruth Hussey. Directed by George Cukor, the film is based on the 1939 Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry, about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. The socialite, played by Hepburn in both productions, was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904–1995), a Philadelphia heiress known for her hijinks, who married a friend of playwright Barry.

<i>Bringing Up Baby</i> 1938 film by Howard Hawks

Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.

<i>None but the Lonely Heart</i> (film) 1944 film by Clifford Odets

None but the Lonely Heart is a 1944 American drama romance film which tells the story of a young Cockney drifter who returns home with no ambitions but finds that his family needs him. Adapted by Clifford Odets from the 1943 novel of the same title by Richard Llewellyn and directed by Odets, the movie stars Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, and Barry Fitzgerald.

<i>Morning Glory</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by Lowell Sherman

Morning Glory is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film which tells the story of an eager would-be actress and her journey to stardom, and her gains and losses. The picture stars Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Adolphe Menjou, was adapted by Howard J. Green from a then-unproduced stage play of the same name by Zoë Akins, and was directed by Lowell Sherman. Hepburn won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for this movie. Morning Glory was remade in 1958 under the title Stage Struck.

<i>Mary of Scotland</i> (film) 1936 film by John Ford

Mary of Scotland is a 1936 American historical drama film starring Katharine Hepburn as the 16th-century ruler Mary, Queen of Scots. Directed by John Ford, it is an adaptation of the 1933 Maxwell Anderson play, with Fredric March reprising the role of Bothwell, which he also performed on stage during the run of play. The screenplay was written by Dudley Nichols. Ginger Rogers wanted to play this role and made a screen test, but RKO rejected her request to be cast in the part feeling that the role was not suitable to her image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Gwenn</span> English actor (1877–1959)

Edmund Gwenn was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film Mister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for his appearances in four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

<i>Little Women</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by George Cukor

Little Women is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, and Jean Parker. The screenplay, written by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman, is based on the 1868-1869 two-volume novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott.

<i>Undercurrent</i> (1946 film) 1946 film directed by Vincente Minnelli

Undercurrent is a 1946 American film noir drama directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, and Robert Mitchum. The screenplay was written by Edward Chodorov, based on the story "You Were There'" by Thelma Strabel, and allegedly contained uncredited contributions from Marguerite Roberts.

<i>Holiday</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by George Cukor

Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.

<i>In Name Only</i> 1939 film by John Cromwell

In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, and Kay Francis, directed by John Cromwell. It was based on the 1935 novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer. The fictional town where it is set, Bridgefield, Connecticut, is based on the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

<i>Sinister Street</i> 1913-14 novel by Compton Mackenzie

Sinister Street is a 1913–1914 novel by Compton Mackenzie. It is a kind of Bildungsroman or novel about growing up, and concerns two children, Michael Fane and his sister Stella. Both of them are born out of wedlock, something which was frowned upon at the time, but to rich parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Newman (designer)</span> American fashion and movie costume designer

Bernard Newman was the head designer for Bergdorf Goodman and head costume designer for RKO Pictures. He designed costumes for some 35 movies, dressing stars including Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Helen Broderick. He was posthumously included in the Costume Designers Guild Hall of Fame in 2004.

Mel Berns was an American make-up artist. He was the Head of Makeup at RKO Pictures for more than twenty years.

Katharine "Kay" Brown Barrett was a Hollywood talent scout and agent beginning in the 1930s. She is most famous for bringing Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind to the attention of David O. Selznick, for whom she worked, in 1936. She had a long career as representative, talent scout and agent with Leland Hayward, MCA and International Creative Management ("ICM").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennie Moore</span> American actress (1902–1978)

Dennie Moore was an American film and stage actress.

Jane Loring (1890–1983) was an American film editor and producer active during the 1920s through the 1940s. She was related to screenwriter Hope Loring.

<i>Sylvia Scarlett</i> (novel) 1918 novel

The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, often shortened to Sylvia Scarlett, is a 1918 novel by the British writer Compton Mackenzie. The heroine of the story had previously appeared in Mackenzie's Sinister Street. It was followed by a sequel Sylvia and Michael in 1919.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p58
  2. ↑ "Sylvia Scarlett (1936)" — Notes, TCM.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  3. ↑ Sennwald, Andre (January 10, 1936). "The Screen: Katharine Hepburn and Edmund Gwenn in 'Sylvia Scarlett,' at the Radio City Music Hall." New York Times. 16.
  4. ↑ "Film Reviews: Sylvia Scarlett". Variety. January 15, 1936. 18.
  5. ↑ "'Sylvia Scarlett' with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Brian Aherne". Harrison's Reports. December 28, 1935. 207.
  6. ↑ Mosher, John (January 18, 1936). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 61.
  7. ↑ "Sylvia Scarlett". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 3 (27): 51. March 1936.
  8. ↑ Frank Miller, "Sylvia Scarlett (1936)" — Articles at TCM.
  9. ↑ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 25, 1998). "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020.
  10. ↑ Sylvia Scarlett (1935), combustiblecelluloid.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  11. ↑ Sylvia Scarlett Review
  12. ↑ Sylvia Scarlett (1936): Starring Katharine Hepburn as Boy and Cary Grant before he became Star, emanuellevy.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  13. ↑ Queer & Now & Then: 1935, film comment.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  14. ↑ A Year With Kate: Sylvia Scarlett (1936), thefilmexperience.net. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Queering Classic Hollywood: The Allure of Queer Romance in 'Sylvia Scarlett'", the-take.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Forgotten queer media: Sylvia Scarlett", thecampanil.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  17. ↑ Reel Pride: Sylvia Scarlett (1935), talkfilmsociety.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Bi-Polar Gender-Blender: 'Sylvia Scarlett'" (2002), sensesofcinema.com. Accessed May 18, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.