The Woman Accused

For die-hard Cary Grant fans, this movie is a must-see. A bit hard to track down but well worth the effort.

The Woman Accused in this story is Glenda. What is she accused of? Murder, of course. Why? When an old flame comes back to threaten her newfound happiness with fiancee Jeffrey (Cary), and even threatens to have him killed, Glenda does the only sensible thing and kills him before he gets the chance. She then takes off on a 3-day cruise with Jeffrey, convinced that it will be the only time they'll have before she is caught.

I won't tell you the ending, you'll have to see it for yourself. It's nice to see Cary Grant when he was just starting out, especially at the boyishly good-looking age of 29.

Watch it, you won't be sorry. 8/10

Glenda, (Nancy Carroll) a socialite, is about to marry her true love, lawyer Jeffrey (Cary Grant) but her past catches up with her.

This is a very watchable film with good performances, especially Carroll as the woman who is blackmailed by a sleazy former lover (Louis Calhern). She is later accused of murder by the victims friend (John Halliday). Grant's role at first seemed like just a colorless boyfriend role but he has a striking scene at the end which involves a whip and a gangster who seems like a tough guy at first. This makes the movie and has to be seen to be believed. Grant gives a fine performance and it's easy to see why he became such a big star. He had appeared with Carroll before in another good film "Hot Saturday" and has nice chemistry with her. It is too bad she retired at her peak in the late 1930s, she later came back in the 1950s to do TV work. The mock trial on a cruise ship is another highlight.

For an archivist researching a documentary of early thirties America, 'The Woman Accused' abounds in rich pickings; commencing with the opening film snapshots depicting the ten popular authors who contributed the preposterous plot in the form of a round robin; and including ample footage of the dawn of the Roosevelt administration, still feeling the bruises of the Wall Street Crash, but celebrating the repeal of prohibition. Little nuggets of contemporary information we learn include the fact that in 1933 the engaged tone was known as "the busy signal", and that in those days a murder trial with all the trimmings cost $100,000.

Baby-faced Nancy Carroll is the show here, modelling a variety of figure-hugging backless gowns (and a bathing suit), with a young Cary Grant serving as the arm candy while she is pursued during a pleasure cruise by creepy John Halliday, who devises an absurdly elaborate scheme to see her arrested for killing her loathsome old flame Louis Calhern - who for some unfathomable reason Halliday genuinely seemed to care about. Halliday happily enlists the aid of a hired thug played by an even more loathsome Jack La Rue despite presumably being aware that La Rue has previously killed people on Calhern's behalf. How Grant persuades La Rue to change his testimony has to be seen to believed, like something out of a pre-WWI rather than a Pre-Code movie (I'd love to know which of the authors came up with that gem)! 

As Carroll's devoted maid Martha - literally prepared to shed her own blood on her behalf - the scary Norma Mitchell (who also wrote Broadway farces) makes a striking film debut, but made only two more minor film appearances.

They didn't learn did they? The previous year Paramount made the utterly disjointed IF I HAD A MILLION with different directors making separate segments. This time it was different writers writing this film's nine different scenes...without seeing what the others had done! The result is like one of those improv shows where the audience shouts out what should happen next.

This crazy way of creating a script fortunately was at least weaved together by one single scriptwriter but each scene is so different in style it feels like we're watching different people with different personalities every ten minutes. Miraculously overseeing wordsmith Bayard Veiller and director Paul Sloane almost make it work....but not quite. There's one segment for example where Nancy Carroll is being taunted by her internal dialogue - we're hearing her thoughts. Quite interesting but you think you might have accidentally switched channels.

I'd love to know who wrote each part but it doesn't seem to be recorded anywhere. I think the reason for this is so that nobody would know who wrote that last chapter because nobody would want to claim responsibility for that. The first eight chapters kind of work together but that last scene is simply atrocious. Whoever wrote that should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves - they wouldn't want that publicised or they'd never work again. Unless you want to see how bad a mediocre film can get, switch this off after the mock courtroom scene, i promise you it will make more sense.

So, what's this about (as some of the writers clearly wondered)? Nancy Carroll kills a bad man and runs off with Cary Grant to escape the law. Depending on who's writing which bit, she's a strong/weak/ determined/sensitive/ neurotic young woman and he's a dashing sophisticated/naive/cynical/morally upstanding/morally corrupt lawyer. These two are actually both marvellous in almost making their impossible roles like real characters. Seriously, they really are good actors. They do actually make this pretty watchable.....apart from that last scene.

It's interesting to see this takes place on what was euphemistically called "a pleasure cruise." These were popular in the twenties and early thirties when you realise what they were. This was made at the end of 1932 before Prohibition was repealed so the scene when the stewards are knocking on everyone's door saying "The bar is open" was really significant: it meant that the ship had sailed into international waters so the three day bender was about to begin! Although this cruise ship seems very refined and genteel, that's more Paramount than reality. These hugely popular three-day pleasure cruises were more commonly known as Booze Cruses and were essentially floating speakeasies.

Presumably it was on such a cruse that the last scene was written.

The Woman Accused (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Glenda O'Brien (Nancy Carroll) is about to happily marry Jeffrey Baxter (Cary Grant) but before doing so an old flame calls her. At first she doesn't want to even go to his room but she's forced there and before long the man is threatening to have Jeffrey murdered. To prevent that from happening Glenda hits him over the head and it kills him. Glenda and Jeffrey go on a cruise to get away from it but it haunts her and matters aren't helped when Stephen Bessemer (John Halliday) begins asking questions.

THE WOMAN ACCUSED is a rather interesting little drama that works in large part to the three lead performances. Fans of this era's motion pictures will certainly want to check this one out thanks to the trio of acting talents but it's also very much worth watching for a number of other reasons.

For the most part it has a rather interesting story and also a rather interesting way of getting played out. On the cruise ship Glenda is pretty much stalked and harassed by Stephen who does several (probably) illegal things to try and get a confession out of her. This leads to a very bizarre mock trial where the woman eventually cracks. The film also contains some very memorable moments towards the end of the picture including a certain beat down that I won't spoil but man, it has to be seen to be believed!

As I said, the acting is the real stand out here with Carroll doing a nice job in her leading role. She basically has to play a frightened woman throughout the picture but I thought she was very believable in regards to the fear she shows. I also thought her scene with the former lover was very well played. Grant also gets a chance to act here. Most of his parts up to this one were just him looking pretty but this one here allowed him to show some dramatic range. Halliday is also extremely good as the menacing man who wants that confession.

There are certainly some flaws throughout the picture and there's no question that it's not a masterpiece but fans of this era should enjoy it.