Guilty hands

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Movie
Original title Guilty hands
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1931
length 69 minutes
Rod
Director WS Van Dyke
script Bayard Veiller
production Hunt Stromberg for MGM
music L. Andrieu ,
Domenico Savino
camera Merritt B. Gerstad
cut Anne Bauchens
occupation

Guilty Hands is an American crime film starring Lionel Barrymore and Kay Francis and directed by WS Van Dyke .

action

Richard Grant is a gifted criminal defense lawyer who charges horrendous sums for his services and lives a life of luxury but also according to his own rules. He firmly believes that under certain circumstances, the conscious and willful killing of people is not murder, but a service to society. His latest client is the well-known criminal Gordon Rich. At a glamorous gala dinner on Rich's stately home, Richard learns that his only child, young Barbara, has been seduced by Gordon and led into sexual addiction. That same evening, Gordon announces his engagement to Barbara. Shortly afterwards, a thunderstorm breaks out. Richard confronts Gordon in the drawing room and shoots him, but not without giving a long speech about the fact that nobody would find out about him. Richard has just put the pistol in Gordon's hand when Marjorie West, Gordon's lover, finds the body. She wants to call the police, but Richard stops her. She is the only beneficiary in Gordon's will and therefore the natural perpetrator. Richard makes a long plea in front of imaginary jurors to accuse Marjorie. Richard is about to go out and make the story public when the fingers in Gordon's hand tighten in rigor mortis, pull the trigger on the pistol and Richard falls, fatally wounded, to. Marjorie remains deeply shaken.

background

Kay Francis had been under contract with Paramount since 1929 , but the studio didn't really know what to do with the actress. She played all kinds of roles in a colorful sequence, mostly as a supporting actress, and only got really good leading roles if the studio loaned her out. Only shortly before had she had a great success with Passion Flower at MGM and those responsible willingly borrowed again. Guilty Hands was typical of Bayard Veiller, who had been one of the country's most famous playwrights since the 1920s. His plays were often and happily filmed as they offered ample opportunity for dramatic outbursts and emotional speeches. MGM in particular offered the author up to 150,000 US dollars for the adaptation of his pieces. The Trial of Mary Dugan with Norma Shearer and Paid with Joan Crawford were huge box office hits. Lionel Barrymore repeated in Guilty Hands the role he had played a few months earlier in A Free Soul alongside Norma Shearer and Clark Gable and which was to bring him the Oscar for best leading actor at the 1931 Academy Awards : the self-centered, self-confident star lawyer, who accepts no moral authority about himself. Here, too, the own daughter succumbs to an unscrupulous, amoral gangster and Barrymore can only save her from her fate by force.

Theatrical release

Production costs were very low by MGM at just $ 152,000. The film was very successful at the box office, grossing $ 452,000 domestically, with an additional $ 234,000 from abroad. With a cumulative total result of 686,000 US dollars, the studio was able to realize a high profit of 282,000 US dollars in the end.

criticism

The critics praised the speed with which director WS Van Dyke brought the not always believable story to the screen. The Los Angeles Examiner spoke favorably of the cast

“Kay Francis is fantastic as the friend of the murdered man. It's not an easy role, but Miss Francis always remains believable in these emotional fireworks. "

Web links

swell

  • Lynn Kear & John Rossman: Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career . McFarland & Company, 2006; ISBN 0-7864-2366-8 .
  • Scott O'Brien: Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten. Her Life on Stage and Film . BearManor Media, 2006; ISBN 1-59393-036-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kay Francis is splendid as the friend of the murdered man. It is not an easy role, but Miss Francis is always believable in the emotional fireworks.