Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Compton MacKenzie (novel)
Gladys Unger (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 January 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who...

Plot Keywords:

Disguise | Role Reversal | Marseilles France | Father Daughter Relationship | Smuggling

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Sylvia Scarlett
Cary Grant	...	Jimmy Monkley
Brian Aherne	...	Michael Fane
Edmund Gwenn	...	Henry Scarlett
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Turnkey (uncredited)
Bunny Beatty	...	Maid (uncredited)
May Beatty	...	Older woman on Ship (uncredited)
Daisy Belmore	...	Fat Woman on Beach (uncredited)
Carmen Beretta	...	Woman (uncredited)
Madam Borget	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Thomas Braidon	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Elsa Buchanan	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Colin Campbell	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Patricia Caron	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Harold Cheevers	...	Bobby (uncredited)
E.E. Clive	...	Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Edward Cooper	...	Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Adrienne D'Ambricourt	...	Stewardess (uncredited)
Kay Deslys	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Older woman (uncredited)
Harold Entwistle	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Gaston Glass	...	Purser (uncredited)
Daisy Goodill	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Robert Hale	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Alec Harford	...	Man Taking Half a Crown (uncredited)
Peter Hobbes	...	Steward (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Lilyan Irene	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Lorimer Johnston	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Connie La Mont	...	Girl at Park Scam (uncredited)
Gwendolyn Logan	...	Concerned Woman (uncredited)
Nola Luxford	...	Woman in Bathing Suit (uncredited)
Elsie Mackay	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Ella McKenzie	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Dennie Moore	...	Maudie Tilt - the Maid (uncredited)
Frank Moran	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Park Scam Onlooker (uncredited)
Leonard Mudie	...	Train Steward (uncredited)
George Nardelli	...	Frenchman (uncredited)
Natalie Paley	...	Lily Levetsky (uncredited)
Lionel Pape	...	Sergeant Major (uncredited)
Lennox Pawle	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Ethel Rawson	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Harrington Reynolds	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Roger Roughton	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Violet Seaton	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Dina Smirnova	...	Russian (uncredited)
Pat Somerset	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Jacques Vanaire	...	Steward (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff	...	Purser (uncredited)

Directed by
George Cukor

Writing credits
Compton MacKenzie		(novel) (as Compton Mac Kenzie)
Gladys Unger		(writer) &
John Collier		(writer) &
Mortimer Offner		(writer)

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman	....	producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph H. August		(as Joseph August)

Film Editing by
Jane Loring		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Van Nest Polglase

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Argyle Nelson	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Sturges Carne	....	associate art director

Sound Department
George D. Ellis	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Harry Redmond Sr.	....	special effects supervisor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Louie Anderson	....	grip (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Muriel King	....	costumes: Miss Hepburn
Bernard Newman	....	costumes: Miss Paley

Music Department
Philip Faulkner Jr.	....	music recordist (as P.J. Faulkner Jr.)
Roy Webb	....	musical director

Other crew
Patricia Doyle	....	stand-in: Katharine Hepburn (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

After a disastrous preview, director George Cukor introduced the Marseilles scene as an introduction to the original film, thus showing the feminine Sylvia Scarlette, with tresses and in a skirt, before showing the tom-boyish side of the character.

Quotes:

Sylvia Scarlett: You've got the mind of a pig.
Jimmy Monkley: It's a pig's world.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Aviator (2004)

Soundtrack:

WHO WANTS A KISS FROM ME?

Is she, or isn't he?

SYLVIA SCARLETT (RKO Radio, 1935/released early January 1936), directed by George Cukor, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Brian Aherne, is a movie that was somewhat ahead of its time. In the early 1970s during the so-called "nostalgia boom" era, I kept hearing about this being the worst Katharine Hepburn movie ever made. Because of that reputation, I became curious. Could it really be that bad? In a TV documentary about classic movies I saw many years ago, Hepburn was interviewed and said the majority of the theater patrons walked out long before the movie was over. Today it has gained a reputation as a "camp classic." Well, I finally got to watch this curious item for the first time on public television's WNET, Channel 13, in New York City in 1977 as part of the Katharine Hepburn Film Festival, which aired every Saturday night. After watching it, I kept wondering if this was supposed to be a comedy or drama. I guess a combination of both.

As for the plot, which opens in Paris, Henry Scarlett (Edmund Gwenn) commits larceny and takes off aboard ship with his daughter, Sylvia (Hepburn). To put the authorities off the track, she decides to cut her long hair and accompany him disguised as Scarlett's son, "Sylvester." They later meet up with a fast-talking swindler named Jimmy Monkley (Cary Grant) and travel with him around England like gypsies, making some easy money by cheating the public. Later, Sylvia, still disguised as Sylvester, encounters Michael Fane (Brian Aherne), an artist, and becomes interested in him, to later abandon her disguise to win him over.

Of the entire cast, Cary Grant comes off best in a very offbeat role, cockney accent and all, thus stealing every scene he's in. He even gets the closing shot sitting in a train compartment laughing himself silly after looking out the window and seeing Sylvia running off with Michael. Also in the cast are Natalie Paley as Lily, a Russian adventuress who tries to nab Henry Scarlett for herself, causing tragedy for him; and Dennie Moore as a daffy servant girl.

In spite of its reputation, SYLVIA SCARLETT is more interesting to see today because of the premise of a woman masquerading as a man/boy which pre-dates the more recent, VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982) with Julie Andrews. But let's not forget the 1933 MGM drama, QUEEN Christina in which Greta Garbo's character is mistaken for a young lad by an ambassador from Spain (John Gilbert), but at least that masquerade didn't go on for the entire movie. Unfortunately, Hepburn's version is an idea that might have looked good on paper, but not on screen. She does make a convincing boy, so to speak, in spite of her height, but I wonder how she felt about it years after it was made. A box office bomb at the time of its release, Hepburn and Grant did get to work together in screen again in three more comedies, BRINGING UP BABY (RKO, 1938), HOLIDAY (Columbia, 1938) and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (MGM, 1940). SYLVIA SCARLETT, which formerly played on American Movie Classics prior to 2000, can be seen on Turner Classic Movies, or as a video rental. (**1/2)