Waterloo Bridge (1931)

Director:

James Whale

Writers:

Robert E. Sherwood (from the stage play by)
Benn W. Levy (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

1 September 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

In World War I London, Myra is an American out of work chorus girl making ends meet by picking up men on Waterloo Bridge...

Plot Keywords:

Bridge | Zeppelin | Air Raid | Chorus Girl | Nipples Visible Through Clothing

Cast

Mae Clarke	...	Myra Deauville
Douglass Montgomery	...	Roy Cronin (as Kent Douglass)
Doris Lloyd	...	Kitty
Frederick Kerr	...	Major Fred Wetherby
Enid Bennett	...	Mrs. Mary Cronin Wetherby
Bette Davis	...	Janet Cronin
Ethel Griffies	...	Mrs. Hobley, Landlady
Rita Carlyle	...	The Old Woman (as Rita Carlisle)
Ruth Handforth	...	Augusta, the Maid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Bevan	...	Soldier on the Make (uncredited)
Louise Emmons	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
James Whale

Writing credits
Robert E. Sherwood		(from the stage play by)
Benn W. Levy		(adaptation and added dialogue) (as Benn Levy)
Tom Reed		(screen play)

Produced by
Carl Laemmle Jr.	....	producer

Original Music by
Val Burton		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson

Film Editing by
Clarence Kolster
James Whale		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Charles D. Hall

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph A. McDonough	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C. Roy Hunter	....	recording supervisor
William Hedgcock	....	sound (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special effects photography (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Maurice Pivar	....	supervising editor

Other crew
Carl Laemmle	....	presenter
Richard Schayer	....	scenario supervisor

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1931) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Waterloo Bridge" by Robert E. Sherwood opened at the Fulton Theatre on January 6, 1930 and ran for 64 performances.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Although the film is set in 1918 the cast are wearing early-1930s fashions

Quotes:

Mrs. Mary Cronin Wetherby:You must come with us, Myra.
Major Fred Wetherby:Why, of course she must. You don't suppose I'm going to Camden without her. Motoring all day with my own family? Not likely.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

God Save the King

Heart-stirring performance reveals Mae Clarke to have been an exceptional actress!

This sensational 1931 pre-code classic is the first of three films based on the play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who felt the film had improved on his play. Carl Laemmle, Jr. (charge of production since 1929), son of Carl Laemmle (founder of Universal Pictures), bought the rights to Waterloo Bridge in early 1931 and initially felt none of the director's under contract with Universal could pull off a film adaptation of the play. However, he had seen the little-known film based on a play (by playwright R.C. Sheriff) entitled, Journey's End (1930), which featured a volatile setting and theme of World War I. It was the first film directed by the then relatively unknown James Whale, who had directed the play in New York and London as well. He was hired by Laemmle to direct Waterloo Bridge, however, Whale found himself uncertain about the original screenplay, which he demanded for a new screenwriter. Benn W. Levy and Tom Reed wrote a new screenplay, bringing the story back to a drama film (instead of a war movie). With Universal having serious difficulties financially, Laemmle reportedly gave Whale an insignificant budget of $250,000 and only 26-day's to shoot the film.

Rose Hobart (a Universal contract player) had been originally given the part of Myra Deauville (a chorus girl), but when she discovered that the studio was not renewing her contract, she regrettably refused to do the film. Whale chose then Columbia contract player Mae Clarke to replace Hobart. (Laemmle agreed to cast Clarke from her recent popularity in The Public Enemy.) Her co-star would be Douglass Montgomery (appearing as Kent Douglass) as the roll of Roy Cronin (an American soldier under Royal Canadian Forces). Even though they were filming on a tight schedule, with Montgomery being heavily inexperienced, Whale would take three days out of production just to work with him. The film also features a 23-year old Bette Davis in a small roll as Cronin's sister Janet. It would be Davis' third and final film with Universal before signing a seven-year deal with Warner Bros.

Waterloo Bridge opens with a fantastic shot of a stage show and the individual shots of the chorines are brilliant, with each looking smutty and profane. Afterwards, Myra backstage (singers and dancers making lots of noise in their underwear) saids goodbye to her gig as a chorus girl. (Myra becomes stranded in England after her show closes at the beginning of World War I.) A couple of years past, Myra is on the streets selling her body to the soldiers who spill out from the Waterloo Station. During an air raid in London, Roy meets Myra, and falls in love with her, unaware she is a prostitute. Montgomery's Roy is a handsome blonde but in many ways is clueless. He's certainly a likable heartfelt young man who is much too dull to identify a prostitute when he sees one. Clarke plays Myra as a intelligent woman, but frightened, secretly unhappy, and susceptible to outbursts. Really, Clarke amazingly complies Myra's conflicted emotions and impulses in a courageous portrayal of a woman horribly suffering. She believes herself to be nothing but trash and she's wrong - just as Roy's mother Mrs. Mary Cronin Wetherby (Enid Bennett) believes herself to be a fine woman.

Whale's direction was truly incredible, as he added a delicate mixture of realism and impressionism, but what makes Waterloo Bridge is Clarke's astonishing performance and the very real chemistry between her and co-star Montgomery (Whale stages the dialogue with great sophistication and slyness). Clarke will always be remembered as the wife (Elizabeth) of Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the 1931 Frankenstein (also directed by Whale) and for the girl that received half a grapefruit in the face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931). However, in Waterloo Bridge, she proves to be more than just that, as she gives a striking performance that even two-time Academy Award winner Vivien Leigh herself couldn't come close to matching in the restrained 1940 remake. Of course, she was never a staple name like Leigh, however, she is simply a pleasure to watch as the main character - without question the finest performance of her unfortunate career. James Whale's 1931 Waterloo Bridge is vastly superior to the 1940 remake, as well as, the 1956 remake Gaby.