Cradle Song
Cast & Crew
Mitchell Leisen
Dorothea Wieck
Evelyn Venable
Sir Guy Standing
Louise Dresser
Kent Taylor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Spain, a beautiful orphan woman, Joanna, leaves her beloved adopted family to join St. Mary's convent and become a nun. The convent's only contact with the outside world is through the doctor, however, the nuns are strictly forbidden from showing their faces even to him. Having known Joanna before she entered the convent, he sees that years of solemn convent life have quelled some of her spirit. When a baby is left in the torno wheel, a rotating door where food is traditionally left, Joanna instantly takes to the child. Although the vicaress is against keeping the baby, the doctor offers to officially adopt the girl, so the convent agrees to raise her. The girl, Teresa, grows under the loving care of Joanna and brings new life to the convent. For her seventeenth birthday, the doctor brings Teresa a beautiful dress from Madrid. Joanna is upset by this intrusion from the outside world and fears losing her "daughter." A fellow nun, Marcella, advises her that her love for Teresa has become selfish, but the doctor believes she is simply suffering the trials of motherhood. After Joanna selflessly urges Teresa to explore the world outside the convent, the doctor takes Teresa to see the construction of a train station, where she is smitten with the foreman, Antonio Perez. After courting, Teresa accepts Antonio's marriage proposal and the nuns busy themselves sewing a fashionable wedding gown. Joanna again sacrifices her desire to witness Teresa's wedding so that they may be married before Antonio's mother, who is an invalid and is unable to travel to the convent from Madrid. As they make their sad farewells, the nuns grant Antonio his wish that he may see their faces before he takes Teresa away. After their departure, the nuns return to their life of solemn prayer.
Director
Mitchell Leisen
Cast
Dorothea Wieck
Evelyn Venable
Sir Guy Standing
Louise Dresser
Kent Taylor
Gertrude Michael
Nydia Westman
Gail Patrick
Georgia Caine
Dickie Moore
Marion Ballou
Eleanor Wesselhoeft
Diane Sinclair
Rosita Butler
Mischa Auer
Howard Lang
David Durand
Bonita Granville
Gertrude Norman
R. D. Mclean
Yvonne Pelletier
Crew
Marc Connelly
Karl Hajos
W. Franke Harling
W. Franke Harling
Charles Lang
H. D. Mills
Nina Moise
Frank Partos
Ralph Rainger
Leo Robin
E. Lloyd Sheldon
Robert Sparks
Jerome White
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to Mitchell Leisen's bound script, the final revised script was completed on August 22, 1933, and screenplay credits were given to Marc Connelly and Frank Partos. According to a contemporary article in Hollywood Reporter, Paramount planned a Spanish version of this film to be shot at the same time as the English language version, but the Spanish version was never made. This film marked Dorothea Wieck's American feature film debut. A remake of the film entitled Cancion de cuna was made in Argentina in 1941, directed by the author of the play, Gregorio Martinez Sierra and released through Gallart Productions. In 1956 and 1960, NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame series included Cradle Song. Both productions were directed by George Schaefer and starred Judith Anderson and Siobhan McKenna. The 1960 release also starred Helen Hayes.
