By Violet LeVoit
Strictly Unconventional
Brief Synopsis
A woman looks up her philandering mother-in-law for advice on adultery.
Cast & Crew
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David Burton
Director
Catherine Dale Owen
Elizabeth
Paul Cavanagh
Ted
Tyrrell Davis
Arnold Champion-Cheney, M. P.
Lewis Stone
Clive Champion-Cheney
Ernest Torrence
Lord Porteous
Film Details
Also Known As
The circle
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Jan
1930
Premiere Information
release: 19 Apr or 3 May 1930
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham (London, 3 Mar 1921).
Technical Specs
Duration
54m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
4,970ft
(6 reels)
Synopsis
Elizabeth, the wife of ambitious and foppish Clive Champion-Cheney, finds her marriage a bitter disappointment because of her husband's puritanical ideas. She consequently falls in love with Ted, a young Canadian who is visiting them. Clive's mother, Lady Catherine, who ran away from her husband 30 years before with a lover, pays them a visit, and when Elizabeth connives to leave with Ted, her mother-in-law warns her against it, citing her own life as an example of the consequences. Clive, learning of his wife's intentions and advised by his divorced father, tries to regain his wife's affections; she agrees to stay with him, but when Ted takes matters in his own hands Elizabeth returns to her young lover.
Director
David Burton
Director
Cast
Catherine Dale Owen
Elizabeth
Paul Cavanagh
Ted
Tyrrell Davis
Arnold Champion-Cheney, M. P.
Lewis Stone
Clive Champion-Cheney
Ernest Torrence
Lord Porteous
Alison Skipworth
Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney
Mary Forbes
Mrs. Anna Shenstone
Wilfred Noy
Butler
William O'brien
Footman
Crew
Film Details
Also Known As
The circle
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Jan
1930
Premiere Information
release: 19 Apr or 3 May 1930
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham (London, 3 Mar 1921).
Technical Specs
Duration
54m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
4,970ft
(6 reels)
Articles
Strictly Unconventional -
Pre-Code movies often get pigeonholed as sordid guttercrawls, but sometimes what makes them so unprecedented is simply acknowledging the reality of what women want. Elizabeth (Catherine Dale Owen) thought marriage would be a dream come true, but life with the self-absorbed and prudish Clive Champion-Cheney (Lewis Stone) is no fun at all. But Elizabeth finds an unlikely role model in her husband's mother, Lady Kitty (the elegant and formidable Alison Skipworth), who years ago bravely left her own dud of a husband to find satisfaction in the arms of a lover. Lady Kitty warns Elizabeth that following her passions has plenty of repercussions, but younger man Ted (Paul Cavanaugh) looks better every day to the unsatisfied bride. Based on M. Somerset Maugham's comedic play The Circle (and with additional dialogue by Sylvia Thalberg, sister of Irving), this is the sound remake of MGM's 1925 silent version.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Strictly Unconventional -
Pre-Code movies often get pigeonholed as sordid guttercrawls, but sometimes what makes them so unprecedented is simply acknowledging the reality of what women want. Elizabeth (Catherine Dale Owen) thought marriage would be a dream come true, but life with the self-absorbed and prudish Clive Champion-Cheney (Lewis Stone) is no fun at all. But Elizabeth finds an unlikely role model in her husband's mother, Lady Kitty (the elegant and formidable Alison Skipworth), who years ago bravely left her own dud of a husband to find satisfaction in the arms of a lover. Lady Kitty warns Elizabeth that following her passions has plenty of repercussions, but younger man Ted (Paul Cavanaugh) looks better every day to the unsatisfied bride. Based on M. Somerset Maugham's comedic play The Circle (and with additional dialogue by Sylvia Thalberg, sister of Irving), this is the sound remake of MGM's 1925 silent version.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Initially reviewed as The Circle, this film is a remake of the 1925 film of that title, q. v.
