Crime Without Passion (1934) User Reviews

Character study of Nietzschean proportions

[Perception_de_Ambiguity · 8/10 · 13 July 2013]

"Fascinating...those insects...the so-called human race. They don't look like porch climbers, murderers and wife beaters from here. You wouldn't think those harmless-looking little doodlebugs were full of greed and lust and all the seven deadly sins. I often wonder why people go on living...intelligent people, I mean. - Lee Gentry's (Claude Rains) first lines, spoken while gazing out of his office window

A character study of Nietzschean proportions of a lawyer whose only moral is intelligence and whose only real desire is to be loved. Lee Gentry made it his specialty to defend the worst criminals and to win those cases. Even though he is the protagonist the film dares to show him as the (in)human scum that lawyers are and while there isn't exactly ANYTHING likable about him he is admirable in some ways and above all he is a tragic figure as a case study of conflicting concepts in their purest form. It's the dramatic battle of a supreme analytical mind unclouded by morality against a very human (and very male) desire. On that basis I could very much relate to him as a more extreme reflection of myself. The tragedy is that Lee Gentry is self-aware about this inner conflict and he tries to find a practical way to make them work in union but we already know that he will get his comeuppance because the opening sets it up that way, "the Furies - the three sisters of Evil" are sure to get him sooner or later, the question is how. In this sense it's a bit of a precursor of film noir, hardly surprising coming from Ben Hecht.

Independently produced, directed and written by Ben Hecht together with his regular writing partner Charles MacArthur both of which are best known as writers of plays and Hollywood screenplays. IMDb also gives directing credit to cinematographer Lee Garmes ('Shanghai Express' and other von Sternbergs, Scarface,...) which probably hints at him being an important collaborator since Hecht and MacArthur were new to this whole directing thing. Furthermore he also did a very fine job photographing the picture, especially for an early talky it has some exquisite camera-work. It also has some bold editing rhythms. Overall the filmmaking by those first-time directors is stunningly self-assured and sophisticated and probably less surprising is that the film in the best sense doesn't exactly feel like it goes by the book. And perhaps inevitably for an early sound film there is a certain rawness to it that only made the whole endeavor more exciting for me.

The amazing surreal opening montage by Slavko Vorkapich which alone is for me up there with the most impressive experimental films of its time is just a great warm-up to one outstanding movie. It's been a while since I saw a film that got a physical reaction out of me and I sure am glad that I didn't listen to the naysayers who claimed that it is little more than a great montage sandwiching a fairly standard film, 'Crime Without Passion' reigniting my passion for cinema.

If you like films about amoral protagonists who think they stand above everyone else (Crime and Punishment, American Psycho,...) or if you feverishly rooted for Edward G. Robinson to get away with his crime in 'The Woman in the Window' (you'll see why I made that comparison) or if you enjoyed the raw energy of 'Baby Face' but also understood why the seemingly ruthless career climber would go for marriage in the end then 'Crime Without Passion' comes highly recommended.

The film debut of Margo, opposite Claude Rains

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 28 January 2014]

1934's "Crime Without Passion" is a rarely seen independent written, produced, and directed by regular writing team Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur ("The Front Page"), which was followed by three more in a span of two years- "The Scoundrel," "Once in a Blue Moon," and "Soak the Rich" (Hecht directed three more without MacArthur, who never directed again). Shot on Long Island in May-June 1934, this was Claude Rains' first feature since the phenomenal success of his Hollywood debut "The Invisible Man," and the actual film debut of actress/dancer Margo, niece of Xavier Cugat, remembered as the wife of GREEN ACRES' Eddie Albert, and mother of Edward Lawrence Albert (who looked just like his beautiful mother). Top billed Rains excels as Lee Gentry, smug, self-satisfied defense attorney, cool under fire in the courtroom, dismissing his guilty clients as little more than insects, using women much the same way. On one hand is long suffering lover Carmen Brown (Margo), who simply cannot let go, while he has since fallen for Katy Costello, who would rather they part as friends (played by Whitney Bourne, also making her film debut, finishing with less than a dozen credits). The lustful Gentry schemes to rid himself of Carmen, first falsely accusing her of seeing an old flame (Stanley Ridges), then confronting her in her apartment (with a loaded gun). Things go badly as he unintentionally shoots her, then must build an alibi for himself, desperately trying to maintain his composure with his own neck in the hangman's noose. A welcome last gasp of pre-code paranoia, a fascinating study of a most unlikable lead character; Claude Rains continued his newfound stardom in "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," "Mystery of Edwin Drood," and "The Clairvoyant." Surprise cameos from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur as reporters interviewing Gentry 10 minutes in, even more surprising cameos from their respective wives 48 minutes in, Fanny Brice and Helen Hayes, seen by the camera panning through a hotel lobby. Another feature debut is that of Paula Trueman, a ubiquitous presence playing elderly eccentrics in the 70s and 80s, looking very much like Fanny Brice's 'Baby Snooks' in her scene stealing role as Buster Malloy, Carmen's stage partner, who inadvertently aids the despised Gentry with his meticulously plotted alibi.

Don't miss the beginning...or the end.

[Dara-3 · 8/10 · 25 April 1999]

Beginning with an incredible sequence of the furies, this film about a successful attorney who believes he is far superior to the rest of mankind is a tour de force for the amazing Claude Rains. Very much an early 30's film with those wonderful Freudian overtones. (Margo, the dancer who plays Rains' mistress, was married to Eddie Albert, "Green Acres" and is the mother of Edward Albert, "Butterflies are Free".)

Brief review/insight

[boris-26 · 15 November 1998]

One of the first indie features. Made by writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (Of "The Front Page""Twentieth Century" fame at the Paramount Astoria Studios outside of NYC. (Rumor has it the filmmakers had poster a sign- "Screw Adoplh Zukor" on the studio door. Zukor was then head of Paramount!) Film begins with a wild montage of near nude furies soaring over Manhattan and attacking various sinners. It's a scene that will floor you, and keep you glued to the screen! Then we go to the center of the story, attorney Lee Gentry (a superb Claude Rains), a womanizing, authority hating egomaniac. During an argument with his mistress, singer Carman Brown (Margo) Gentry accidentally fires a gun at Carman. Thinking her dead, he builds up an alibi. Torn by the fear that he might get caught by a legal system he belittles, he goes deeper into insanity and crime. I won't say what happens, but those furies get the last laugh. Obviously a small budget was used here, but this is fantastic film-making. Don't miss!

Not your typical mid-1930s Hollywood fare, that's for sure

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 13 April 2020]

Offbeat crime yarn features one of the most impressive title sequences of any 1930s film, some innovative editing and fast cutting, a magnetic Claude Rains as the antihero-hero, and the unique Margo (then aged 17, but looking more like 27) with her unusual voice. In its style and presentation, it anticipates films made in later decades. *** out of 4.

Ultra-bizarre!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 June 2017]

This Claude Rains film is worth seeing simply because it is so ultra-bizarre, with the strangest opening sequence I've ever seen. It looks as if the film was written and directed by Salvador Dali at some points, not Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur!! You really have to see it to believe it and I couldn't do it justice trying to describe it further.

Rains plays Lee Gentry, a hot-shot lawyer who seems to be able to get guilty clients off for crimes with ease. Naturally the cops and prosecutors hate him but what can they do? Well, they can let Gentry destroy himself...which he does when he shoots a girlfriend in a fit of jealousy! What's next? Well, see for yourself.

The style is much better than the story itself and lovers of the strange MUST see this one! Clever and very original even if the story itself seems pretty weird.

Claude Reigns, Almost

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 29 June 2017]

This is actually a movie about a lost soul. Claude Rains plays a successful lawyer with virtually no moral standards. He is despised by his peers and embarrasses the police, time and time again. Beyond that, he is a cruel womanizer. He uses women and throws them away. He has a thing for a dancer in a nightclub. She had a previous affair with a serious adversary of Rains. Rains sets up a situation where the young woman can't win, and eventually he cruelly drives her to despair. This is quirky. See the first and last scene with the furies. Amazing stuff for the 1030's. I got a great kick out of this film.

Passion Without Crime.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 10/10 · 13 February 2015]

With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best titles of 1934,I started searching round a DVD sellers site,and I was pleased to spot a great sounding Film Noir,starring The Invisible Man himself: Claude Rains,which led to me getting ready to witness a passionate crime take place.

The plot:

Feeling confident that he has slithered his client away from a guilty verdict,a hot-shot lawyer called Lee Gentry leaves the court before the jury has even had the slightest chance to consider its verdict.Ignoring comments from the press over him getting criminals off the hook,Gentry gives all of his attention to cabaret singer Carmen Brown.Despite Brown expressing her love for him,Gentry is desperate to get rid of her,so that he can replace her with his latest piece of arm candy: Katy Costello,this leads to Gentry putting fake dating ads in the paper as Brown,in the hope she will get back with her ex Eddie White

Wanting Brown to reveal the suspected affair,Gentry starts attempting to give signals to White that the relationship is back on,with planted evidence.Taking his fake evidence to Brown,Gentry is horrified when Brown is still not willing to say that she is having an affair.Getting into a fight with Brown,Gentry ends up accidentally shooting her.Fearing that he could face the chair for murder,Gentry begins making plans on how he can use his slippery skills to escape from his own verdict.

View on the film:

For what was his 4th film role, Claude Rains gives a marvellous performance as Lee Gentry,with Rains making Gentry look like he is completely covered in grease that slides down Gentry's slick suits,which is highlighted by Rains painting Gentry as a ruthless Film Noir character,whose only emotion is getting one over all the "bugs" below him.Dipping into his Invisible Man past,Rains pulls the "id/ego" out of Gentry,and shows the "invisible" ego of Gentry to be a smooth talker,whose self-centred narrow vision stops Gentry from seeing the direction that the "bugs" are taking.Making her debut,16 year old Margo gives a tremendous performance as femme fatale Carmen Brown,thanks to Margo giving Carmen a smoking hot glamour style,with cracks which hint at a darker past hidden away.

Making their directing debut away from the studio system,writers/directors (with the uncredited,extremely generous help of Lee Garmes) Ben Hecht and Lee Garmes (who cameo in the title…with their wives!) unleash a charcoal Film Noir.Opening with a breath- taking opening effects scene designed by Slavko Vorkapich,Hecht & Garmes paint a world completely covered in grime. The directors superbly use overlaying images,to show Gentry's ego/ID overriding even the most basic morals,as tightly-held close ups of Gentry showing pushing away any doubts,with the knowledge that he will always win.

Opening with Gentry saying that he views the public as "bugs" the excellent screenplay by Hecht and Garmes pulls open every inch of darkness within the film.Keeping away from giving Gentry any likable features,the writers show every inch of Gentry to be dripping with a rich,decaying nihilism,that soaks up any possible light in its surroundings,with the sole goal of dragging even the smallest light (such as Carmen Brown) into a vicious Film Noir,as Gentry begins to find a passion for crime.

"They'll say Lee Gentry was a coward, but we know better"

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 28 November 2010]

This moody little independent film – written, produced and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (the men behind the popular play "The Front Page," the source for 'His Girl Friday (1940)') – was also the third major role for Claude Raines, fresh from his stunning debut in 'The Invisible Man (1933).' Though largely a down-to-earth, if slightly cerebral, crime drama, 'Crime Without Passion' opens with a jaw dropping prologue, in which frightening, barely-clothed nymphs rise from the ground and cackle ecstatically at the sin running rampart through the city: murder, violence, adultery.

In the main story, Lee Gentry (Raines) is a high-profile lawyer who makes his living from acquitting guilty men, even if that means lying and fabricating evidence. Gentry has a new woman in his life (Whitney Bourne), but can't rid himself of the old one (Margo Albert, or just plain Margo). When Gentry commits the ultimate crime, his lucid legal mind, speaking through a ghostly mental apparition, narrates him through the process of destroying evidence and establishing an alibi. But can he get away with it?

Though very tense for the most part, I did feel a little let down by the ending. We learn, too late for our increasingly paranoid protagonist, that Carmen Brown was not actually dead, and had merely fainted in response to Gentry's gunshot. This seems an unlikely misdiagnosis from the cool, methodical lawyer; perhaps such a character blunder could only arise in a period when cinematic murders were necessarily bloodless, as chartered by the Production Code. Or maybe this is Hecht and MacArthur suggesting that, despite Gentry's belief that he is always in control, his state of mind at that moment was no less garbled than your average two-bit criminal.

"I Live By Lies"!!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 29 October 2011]

Critics and public alike were dazzled by "Crime Without Passion" written, produced and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who had collaborated on many plays over the years. Having the Paramount Astoria, New York studio almost to themselves, photographer Lee Garmes and special effects director Slavko Vorkapich created many striking technical innovations often copied over the years.

For the small percentage of the public who happened to see this independently made film - the astonishing first few moments would have shocked them out of their seats. Near naked furies rise from a murdered woman's blood and with breaking glass and maniacal laughter show the sordidness of tawdry affairs. Lee Gentry (Claude Rains) is a brilliant but cynical attorney who claims there would be no-one in prison if there were more attorneys like him to defend them. In his private life he is not so brilliant as he is completely besotted with icy but socially prominent Katie (Whitney Bourne) and far above (in his opinion) Carmen Brown (Margo), his current inamorata, who is clingy but passionate and loving.

Lee thinks he knows all the angles involving criminal law which comes in handy when he accidentally kills Carmen - or does he??? Goaded on by his alter ego the all too human Lee, while setting up a certain Mr. White (Stanley Ridges, who was also excellent in "Black Friday" (1940)) to take a fall, accidentally drops a telegram on his way to Carmen's apartment, then bumps into a woman he wishes to avoid in the middle of setting up his alibi.

All too soon it is over, as dazzling as it began. Claude Rains, seen for the first time by movie goes (he was only heard in "The Invisible Man") scored brilliantly in the lead and Margo, in her screen debut was appropriately warm and passionate as Carmen.

Oh, the irony!

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 6 March 2016]

This is an unusual and surreal little film, starting from the beginning. The prologue says that the three furies go about the world enticing people to do evil. Then a shadowed figure of a man shoots a woman in cold blood and out of the droplets of the blood come the three furies, looking and laughing like female demons racing into the night.

Then we are in criminal attorney Lee Gentry's (Claude Rains) office. He is mentioning to his legal secretary how he wants to get rid of his current girlfriend, Carmen Brown, a cabaret dancer (Margo), but that instead of that he wound up in a flurry of kisses and vows with her, once again. He wants to dump her for the ice queen, Katy, who does not seem nearly as enthused about him as he is about her. Basically Gentry delivers a monologue about how he just can't resist figuring out what makes the women in his life tick, getting them head over heels in love with him, and then their adoration repels him and causes him to reject them. You get the feeling that maybe Gentry has a 50ish legal secretary exactly because he does not want his bad personal romantic habits to follow him into the office.

In the next scenes Gentry gets everybody on his bad side, the prosecutor, the police, he even sets up a situation to make it look like he feels Carmen has been unfaithful and that is why he is leaving her, making her feel their breakup is her own fault. Up to now everything Gentry has done is because he thinks he is better than everybody else, smarter, that he can take what he wants and not care for other people's feelings. And then he performs one unselfish act and it turns into what could be construed as murder. The police and prosecutors are certainly not going to go easy on him or believe him after he has made fools of them in court on a regular basis. So he sets out to make it look like he could not have committed the murder. His legal mind constructs an intricate alibi, even setting up an alternate fall guy for the murder.

How does this all pan out? Watch and find out. The ending is like a cross between something Robert Serling and Alfred Hitchcock would come up with. Highly recommended. This practically one man show will hold your interest throughout partly due to Ben Hecht's talented writing and direction, and partly due to Rains' outstanding performance.

Claude Rains as a narcissistic attorney

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 2 August 2021]

This won't be a popular review. I wasn't as crazy about this as the rest of the reviewers.

"Crime without Passion" is a 1934 film written by Ben Hecht and Charles McCarthur. In the beginning, we see begowned Furies rising up and evidently destroying men in Manhattan buildings who make unwarranted passes at women. Lots of broken glass.

The story concerns an attorney, Lee Gentry (Rains) who thinks he's God's gift to man and womankind. He has two women throwing themselves at him - the gorgeous Carmen Brown (Margo) - he's no longer interested in her -- and the lovely Katy (Whitney Bourne). During an argument, he accidently shoots Carmen. Believing her dead, he sets up an alibi for himself. You'll see what happens.

I found the acting and dialogue in this over the top and stilted, which is not unusual in an early '30s film. I believe this was only Rains' second film and the debut of Margo. It's amazing how different Rains looked (to me) with different teeth.

The special effects (those Furies) were very good.

Illusion and ego

[chaos-rampant · 15 September 2013]

This is simply directed by a duo of writers who financed themselves. Hecht was a new introduction for me but looking through his resume I realize I've seen several of his work (who hasn't?). He could really write, and this beats any of Hitchcock's stuff until Notorious which they wrote together.

This is a small film but wickedly clever, all about illusion and ego; indeed if you decide to track it down it must be for the weaving of these two notions.

We have a snooty intellectual, a lawyer, who looks down from his window on the dumb riffraff on the street that he now and then defends in court for amusement, for merely the intellectual challenge of outwitting the law. Justice doesn't play a part. It's all a big show; we see him early in court marvelously perform in front of a grand jury, acquitting a killer.

The film essentially begins when he accidentally kills a scorned girlfriend, setting off the divine farce where he will have to face a higher law. Anticipating the case, our fool walks around setting alibis, doctoring clues, constructing the story he will present to an audience. Leaving her building, he feels that he may be watched from every window. Paranoia creeps in. We watch all this unfold in real time.

This isn't some abstract notion at play, and what separates the truly great films is that they can take it up in its full significance. Namely, that we all carry this intellectual mind constantly trying to plan stories ahead of us, master the narrative. That most of the time we put it to destructive use and only obscure the true world where those things are one.

You'll notice in the film that for all its mechanical cleverness his constructed story is ultimately proved false; the world itself outwits him. That it creates for him so much useless drama and anxiety out of nothing. And that had he been simply honest, to himself first, he would have been with the woman he loves.

Of course it all happens so this intellectual who thinks himself better, above others and law, will find himself down here in the world of human passions, punished by the gods of noir.

What struck me the most however was the following bit. As he begins to plot his escape story, a hovering ghost self (his 'legal mind') appears next to him, dictating the story. It isn't cinematic to see because it creates an easy duality: real and not real, madness and sanity on clean sides.. But it is that illusory self separated from the world, and in the separation it plainly shows the human left behind, lapsing into hallucination.

Cornerstones of noir, and we have them here so clearly: hovering mind, fates and hallucination.

When noir proper would roll around this hovering mind attempting manipulation becomes the elusive fabric of noir world, leaving behind the schmuck to lapse into hallucination. The scene near the end here where the girlfriend appears to him may as well be hallucinated.

Noir Meter: 3/4

Once watched you'll want to tell everyone you meet to watch it too.

[1930s_Time_Machine · 9/10 · 8 December 2022]

This is so obviously written by a couple of newspapermen used to creating attention-grabbing headlines. The whole film's style is written in massive bold print - you will not be able to ignore it - you will not want to ignore it - you will be hooked.

This is a fantastic film which even before the titles come up begins with what look like the brides of Dracula emerging from the allegorical swirling blood-soaked smoke of mankind's sin and depravity flying wildly, fangs poised, at your screen. This weird, spooky and for 1934, incredibly well-made mood-setting few minutes is quite unique and although is a bit on the pretentious side, certainly gives this film an instant wow factor. This title sequence is easily as iconic as is the start of a James Bond film.

Contemporary reviewers criticised this, Hecht and MacArthur's first film - written by, directed by and produced by themselves as being self indulgent - too florid and lacking the critical eye of an outside editor but none of this will be noticed by a modern viewer. Although it is clearly made by writers who love writing, it's not just a "wordy" film. Bear in mind that although Hech in particular was called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood" creating scripts as diverse as for Scarface, the most violent gangster film of the 30s, screwball comedies and even Gone With The Wind, neither of them were high-brow novelists sitting in their lofty ivory towers. Their backgrounds were from grimy, smoke-filled newsrooms in the dirty, violent, crime ridden streets of Chicago. This grounded them in the zeitgeist of the time and makes this story outstanding.

It's the story of a totally unscrupulous but incredibly clever and eloquent lawyer. He is an awful person but played so magnificently by Claude Rains in his first film (I am discounting the awful, awful Invisible Man) that you find it impossible not to totally adore this monster! His character has the depth and layers which was very rare in films from this era. Modern productions would take several hour long episodes to develop such a character which Rains manages in just over an hour.

The gripping story, the witty script, the imaginative cinematography and the high production values make this enthralling and exciting from start to finish. You will expect a surprise ending but even forewarned, you won't not expect the surprise ending you'll get.

One Of Hollywood's Greatest Unknown Films!

[malvernp · 8/10 · 20 February 2021]

Congratulations! Your presence on this movie site says that you are familiar with one of the most remarkable yet least known American films of the budding sound era. Crime Without Passion (CWP) is the film Claude Rains made immediately following his great success in The Invisible Man. It was produced at the Paramount Astoria New York Studios of Paramount---where two early Marx Brothers comedies (Coconuts and Animal Crackers) were also made. CWP is unique in many ways:

1. Although released by Paramount, it really was a joint project primarily derived from the creative talents of three individuals---Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur and Lee Garmes. All three were given co-directing credit (although the evidence suggests that Garmes did most of it). Hecht and MacArthur claimed the writing credit (from an original story by Hecht). Garmes was the official cinematographer on the film and both Hecht and MacArthur appear in CWP as extras.

2. Rains (who was 45 at the time) played one of the few leading man romantic roles in his long Hollywood career---opposite Margo as his mistress ((then 17!) and Whitney Bourne as his "real girl friend" (then 20!). For those who have criticized Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Debra Paget and Kim Novak for accepting many leading lady roles opposite much older male stars, CWP may be referred to as an example of the identical practice but at a much earlier time in movie history.

3. The CWP special effects in general and its remarkable photographic effects in particular were extraordinary for their time---as other IMDB readers have also noted.

4.Esther Dale, who graced many films of the 1930s and 1940s in enjoyable supporting roles, appears here as Rains's wise and understanding secretary in an uncredited performance.

5. Paula Trueman, who often played much older characters, appears here in a "Baby Snooks"-like role (including costume) as Margo's friend in an uncredited performance. The real "Baby Snooks" creator, Fanny Brice, is in CWP as an extra.

6. Claude Rains as the mordant and unscrupulous lawyer Lee Gentry presents us with a character he will revisit often during his movie career (e.g. They Won't Forget (1937), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), etc.).

7. CWP is another in a long line of superb performances by Rains that were unrecognized by an Academy Award nomination (e.g. Now, Voyager (1941), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Kings Row (1942), etc.).

8. The principal credit information appears at the end of the film---an unusual practice for that time.

Primarily because of his height and age, Claude Rains was not a major leading man-type star during his peak Hollywood years. When he made his first Hollywood film (The Invisible Man), he was already a middle-aged gentleman. In the end, nothing kept him from attaining his undeniable status as one of the greatest actors in motion picture history.

First (Partially) Directed Ben Hecht and Charlie MacArthur Movie

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 30 March 2023]

Can scriptwriters make great directors? In the long history of cinema, there's no question they do, examining the great body of work from writers such as Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Ingmar Bergman, John Huston, Paul Anderson. One of Hollywood's most successful writers emerging in the early years of talkies was former reporter Ben Hecht and playwright partner Charlie MacArthur. They were given their chance at handling a full-blown production in August 1934's "Crime Without Passion." After delivering several highly entertaining scripts such as 1931's "The Front Page" and 1932's "Scarface," the two were offered by Paramount Pictures to try to rejuvenate New York City's film industry by handling their first movie.

"Neither Charlie nor I had ever spent on hour on a movie set," remembered Hecht. "We knew nothing of casts, budgets, schedules, booms, unions, scenery, cutting, lighting." But the two agreed to the proposition proposed by Paramount Pictures to chose their own script they composed and take charge of its filming. They hired Lee Grimes, an Academy Award winning cinematographer, to work the camera. Grime's agent called him with the writers' offer. "They don't believe in directors," said the agent. "They don't want to have the typical Hollywood director because somehow or other they don't feel that the stories they've written have always come off on the screen the way they should come off."

Grimes ultimately directed about 70 percent of the movie, which concerns a pompous lawyer, Lee Gentry (Claude Rains), whose specialty was to get his clients out of the electric chair by rigging up evidence exonerating them. Gentry treats his women as coarsely as any sadist would, and accidentally fatally shoots one, cabaret dancer Carmen Brown (Margo). Using his legalese expertise, he attempts to cover-up the killing.

The cameraman-turned-part-time director recalls starting each morning on the Astoria, New York City, set at nine with the two writers arriving two hours later. "They set the style of how they wanted the dialogue done," said Grimes, "and I would direct the whole physical side of it." The cameraman remembers Hecht and MacArthur playing backgammon in the back of the studio while the crew was setting up. They stopped playing once the action began. But if an actor made a mistake or blew a line, they would start rolling the dice to resume their game, signaling to everyone that a reshoot was in order. "This happened all the time," said Grimes. "They were really a couple of screwballs, but I loved working with them, every minute of it."

"Crimes Without Passion" was a hit for Paramount. The reviewer for The New York Times called it "a drama blessed with marked originality and photographed with consummate artistry." The movie was also famous for its opening montage of three female Furies who infest Gotham city with their sin and evilness. The special effects sequence was in the hands of Slavko Vorkapich, a Hollywood pioneering montage optical expert. The Serbian's early 1920s experimental short movies motivated movie studios to hire him as the go-to creative artist to come up with some mesmerizing sequences, including those in 1934's "Manhattan Melodrama," 1937's "The Good Earth," and 1941's "Meet John Doe."

Actor Claude Rains, in only his third film after his debut in 1933's "The Invisible Man," plays the devious lawyer. Sporting a thin mustache, Rains' role in "Crimes Without Passion" was his most sinister anlongside Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 "Notorious." His victim, dancer Carmen Brown, was played by actress Margo, shortened from her Mexican name María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O'Donnell, in her film debut at 17. The real-life wife of actor Eddie Albert (TV's "Green Acres"), Margo's career hit a bump in the road in the early 1950s when she was targeted in a sweep of Hollywood personalities for her progressive views and for her support for the 'Hollywood Ten.' She rebounded, albeit smaller roles, appearing in several movies until 1970's "Diary of a Mad Housewife." After "Crimes Without Passion," Hecht and MacArthur returned with Grimes for two more films, while Hecht and Grimes, without MacArthur, collaborated on another three. As film critic Richard Corliss noted, "All their collaborations are moody and oppressive, looking as if they were lit with a couple of flashlight batteries." The Hecht/MacArthur team are acknowledged as forerunners for producing movies containing many elements belonging to the future 'film noir' genre.

Putting the clock on trial.

[theowinthrop · 12 August 2004]

This rarely seen film was the third one made by Claude Rains, and only his second talkie. It was made just after THE INVISIBLE MAN, which gave Rains one of moviedom's best introductory film roles. So CRIME WITHOUT PASSION was sort of hidden by it's predecessor. This is rather curious because it was an early independent film, and it's creators were Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (the authors of TWENTIETH CENTURY and THE FRONT PAGE; Mr. MacArthur was also the husband of Helen Hayes). This was the first of two independent films made by them, the other being THE SCOUNDREL, a film about an amoral publisher played by Noel Coward. Both are interesting movies, though neither are above better - than - average. Being relatively cheaply made, their defects are too glaring (special effects are quite modest and...well cheap!).

If people remember CRIME WITHOUT PASSION it is because of an early scene where Rains' clever lawyer wins an acquittal by putting a grandfather clock on the stand (symbolically, of course - it doesn't begin speaking and answering questions). The acting is uneven. Rains is superb, but Margo was always a heavy breathing/heavy speaking actress. Probably, she was available from Broadway productions in nearby Manhattan (the film was shot in the Astoria Paramount Studios).

The role of the crooked "mouthpiece" probably was based on William Fallon, the leading criminal attorney in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Fallon frequently won acquittals of notorious gangsters, crooked politicians, and criminals. He was not afraid of going beyond the law - even getting into bribing juries. But he was a gifted attorney when he concentrated on his job (unfortunately he was also a heavy drinker, which destroyed his career and shortened his life). Unlike Rains, however, Fallon never killed anybody.

The furies manipulate the over-confident mind.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 24 March 2024]

When film is great, you can watch it over and over, but when a film becomes a work of art, it deserves to be seen in a museum. Claude Rains delivers a performance that is as much a work of art as any statue or painting, and with the script and direction of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, this film enters the cannon of the all time greats, one that's unfortunately been forgotten.

As seen preparing for a day in court, Rains is overly certain that once again, he'll prevail with an innocent verdict even though it's more for him than the unseen client he loathes. The film deals more with his social life, his affair with cabaret singer Margo while seeing a more glamorous woman (Whitney Bourne) who's part of high society. Margo is barely above vaudeville or burlesque, and thus only worthy of a good time and nothing permanent. Her neuroses when he tries to end it results in her accidental death and his determination not to be implicated in murder.

The film will always be remembered by those who see it for the presence of the furies in the opening segment, flying around laughing maniacally as they manipulate men into sinning. Fanny Brice has a major uncredited role as Margo's friend who isn't fond of Rains, certainly nothing close to her image from "Funny Girl" even though she's in her Baby Snooks outfit.

I did catch Marjorie Main in her non-speaking extra role, but Helen Hayes not visible at all. Esther Dale has good lines as Rains' unfiltered secretary, very funny. Good special effects and psychological themes adds to the greatness of this film, up there with "Blood Money" and "A Kiss Before the Mirror" of pre-code dramas barely remembered that should be classics. Rains is completely worthy of the Oscar here, delightfully smarmy as an incurable meglomaniac.

Jealousy and the Law

[EdgarST · 8/10 · 31 January 2021]

There is a better term to classify a film like this: it is more a dramatic comedy, than a crime melodrama. Although it is melodramatic here and there and little crimes do occur, there is a funny undercurrent all the time in this fascinating little movie based on Ben Hecht's short story «Caballero of the Law».

As cinephiles know, Hecht was a prominent storyteller, playwright and screenwriter. In the first Oscar ceremony in 1929, he won the Best Story award for Josef von Sternberg's «Underworld», a tale that was remade twice as «Scarface». His list of credits (with colleague Charles MacArthur) is impressive, from writing classics like «Notorious» for Hitchcock, to rewriting «Gone with the Wind», for which he received 10 thousand dollars, but no credit. The Oscar went to someone else.

Hecht also directed several features with MacArthur and cinematographer Lee Garmes. I recently watched «Crime Without Passion», their promising first film, a story of lust, jealousy and corruption, centered on the cynical lawyer Lee Gentry (Rains), a surname if not suggesting his origins, at least it does point at his aspirations. He is an expert in freeing criminals from prison or death, through his ability to find technicalities and loopholes that support his allegations, or simply by cheating.

However, Gentry's downfall is his jealousy: he wants to marry an elegant, upper-class blonde (Bourne), but he can't break up with Carmen Brown (Mexican Margo, who was only 16 when she made this, her first movie). Carmen is a showgirl he perversely harasses and she answers back tempting him. The verbal battles abound here, but you rarely hear this slick and fascinating vocabulary anymore. The vision of the film is pleasant, its plot is enlightening and it has a delicate humorous touch - evident, for example, in the Hecht-MacArthur play «The Front Page», which has been filmed so many times, including the Howard Hawks classic «His Girl Friday»).

I must add that what really led me to the film was its prologue conceived by Serbian editor and director Slavko Vorkapich, and available independently from the picture. In the introductory montage, a woman is shot by a (surely jealous) man and the three avenging Furies (Roman version of the original Greek deities Erinyes) emerge from three drops of her blood, fly above the city, spot several couples in private foreplay and laugh out with lethal echoes. The prologue alone is memorable, but watch the whole film. The delirium and richness of its visuals and verbal exchanges made in 1934, and still with so much relevance, are not frequent these days. Neither are people like Ben Hecht.