Lewis Stone

Letty Lynton

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Jerry and Letty

Letty Lynton tells the story of Madeleine Smith, who wanted to move on from a lover who didn’t want to move on from her. And so she killed him. The same story was also told in David Lean’s Madeleine in 1950 (good too) and in Dishonored Lady, starring Hedy Lamarr in 1947 (not seen it). Here it’s Joan Crawford who plays the deadly female, a rich flibbertigibbet first encountered in Montevideo dancing the night away with hot Latin lover Emile Renaul (Nils Asther). It’s obvious from the film’s opening moments that Letty has had enough of Emile, who’s a bit clingy for her liking. And so, instructing her maid Miranda (Louise Closser Hale) … Read more

The Thirteenth Chair

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Suspect Helen Trent (Elissa Landi)

A classic country-house whodunit from 1937, The Thirteenth Chair gets the whole thing done and dusted in just over an hour, which is more than you can say for a lot of these things. And it can boast May Whitty – billed as “the Distinguished English Actress Dame May Whitty” – in the lead role as a clairvoyant. Set in India during the Raj, it opens with Scotland Yard inspector Marney (Lewis Stone) and local man Commissioner Grimshaw (Matthew Boulton) discussing the recent murder of a man not universally loved by the expat community who lord it about in Calcutta. The dead man’s best friend, John Wales – “fanatical”, says Grimshaw, so obviously not … Read more