Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.
May Whitty
- Aunt Hester Fairfield
- (as Dame May Whitty)
Bunny Beatty
- Susan
- (as Lauri Beatty)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAdolphe Menjou's character in this film can't stand the sound of bells. Sir C. Aubrey Smith who portrayed Dr. Alliot in this film had a real life aversion to the sound of church bells after a quarrel he had with his mother when he was younger.
- GoofsFamily name of main characters is spoken throughout film as 'Fairfield' but given in end credits as 'Fairchild.'
- Quotes
Aunt Hester Fairfield: We Ought to know more about his family, Margaret you owe it to us all.
Sydney Fairfield: Bother with family, he will only be here about two days and we shalln't have any time to waste on family.
Aunt Hester Fairfield: and What may I ask that going to keep you so occupied
Sydney Fairfield: Kissing probably!
- ConnectionsVersion of A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
Featured review
Maureen O'Hara and Adolphe Menjou make marvellous performances in this rather confused play of confused relationships, where in the beginning everything seems all right as the mother is going to marry Herbert Marshall and Maureen has found her John, an Australian, they are in love and are going to be happy, and no one bothers about the creaking old aunt and her puritan objections to everything, but then something most unexpected happens, like a shocking surprise: the father comes home after having escaped from his asylum. He claims he is all right, but nothing can be all right any more from that moment on. Everyone's circles are upset, and the only way out of the sudden imposture of complications seems to escape. Here is entered a hornet's nest of complications and considerations, as the father's insanity is regarded as hereditary and incurable, there have been others in the family suffering from the same predicament, and this falls like a doom on the family. You will have objections to the credibility of such a plot, the matter of insanity in the family becomes like an obsession if not a superstition of a fixed idea, and those who just run away appear the sanest. But the acting is wonderful on all parts, there is lovely music as well, which actually plays an important part in the intrigue, this is a chamber play at its best, and it is enjoyable all the way.
Details
- Runtime1 hour 14 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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