Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

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 | Hidden Identity | Father Daughter Relationship | Gender Disguise | Chase

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Sylvia Scarlett a.k.a. Sylvester
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 | French

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:

Howard Hughes visited the set one day, landing his amphibious plane near the beach where they were filming. Hughes said he stopped by to say hello to his good friend Cary Grant but in actuality he wanted to meet Katharine Hepburn, whom he was fascinated by. The film The Aviator (2004) recreates this first meeting of theirs.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE

Kate's A Drag

Sylvia Scarlett marks the first time that Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant worked together and it's amazing that the three succeeding films they did all became classics. This one just became a curiosity.

Edmund Gwenn is her father and he's been doing a little embezzling on the side in France. Before the law catches up with him the thing to do is flee across the English Channel. So to disguise themselves, Kate cuts off her long tresses and puts on men's clothes.

No need to go into the rest of the story, but it was daring enough in 1935 just as The Code was taking affect in Hollywood. The situations Hepburn gets herself involved in are just like those that you've seen in Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, and any number of other films. But the censors clamped heavily down in those days.

She's got two men interested in him/her, Cary Grant and Brian Aherne. Grant is a cockney con artist and his role is actually closer to the real Archie Leach that became Cary Grant. Just being Cary Grant was probably the biggest stretch of his talent. Brian Aherne is debonair and charming as Brian Aherne always is.

Sylvia Scarlett, when viewed with Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, and The Philadelphia Story just doesn't measure up to those three. Still it's interesting to watch.