IMDb > Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

Sylvia Scarlett (1935) More at IMDbPro »


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Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   1,214 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 15% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Compton MacKenzie (novel)
Gladys Unger (writer) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Sylvia Scarlett on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
3 January 1936 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who... more | add synopsis
User Comments:

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Katharine Hepburn ... Sylvia Scarlett a.k.a. Sylvester

Cary Grant ... Jimmy Monkley
Brian Aherne ... Michael Fane
Edmund Gwenn ... Henry Scarlett
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Additional Details

Runtime:
95 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Victor System)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Howard Hughes visited the set one day, landing his amphibious plane near the beach where they were filming. Hughes said he stopped by to say hello to his good friend Cary Grant but in actuality he wanted to meet Katharine Hepburn, whom he was fascinated by. The film The Aviator (2004) recreates this first meeting of theirs. more
Quotes:
Sylvia Scarlett: Well, we're all fools sometimes. Only you choose such awkward times. more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
HELLO! HELLO! WHO'S YOUR LADY FRIEND? more

FAQ

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11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful.
eh., 5 October 2005
5/10
Author: zygimantas from Lithuania

You can't really love this picture, to be honest, though I really do want to love anything with Hepburn. In fact, this was the first time I ever caught myself thinking she'd put in a second-rate performance, but that's arguable - some will say that her boyishness actually was well done, and I can't entirely disagree with that.

The truth is that this movie is bursting with melodramatic affectation, and that is rather off-putting to us who are so used to the post-Brando state of character representation. We have to believe that the actor IS the character for the whole thing (writing, characterization, acting, everything) to be a success. If we are embarrassed by what we perceive as a bad performance, the whole thing's in danger of being embarrassing. Now I am no expert on 30s cinema, but I have seen a lot of this kind of thing originating from that decade and I kind of reckon it was the expected style of performance, still left-over from the silent days when body language was all a performer had. Knowing what Hepburn would be capable of bringing later, I think it can't be that she relied on the melodrama like a crutch - instead it's my feeling that she was too easily by Cukor's direction, since many of the other cast members act similarly.

The script is also weak, as it relies on the audience using their imagination far too much in order to fill in the gaps we assume exist in the novel. A good writer/director team will indicate passage of time more fluidly than this; we are left with a lurching sensation, like weeks or months have passed for the characters but not for us, and some might even be confused by the sudden shift of action. If it hadn't been for this clumsiness, I would have given the picture another star for scope.

The film gets the five stars I gave it for Cary Grant's performance, which is one of the best of his career, a superb, well rounded job, and of course it is good enough to deserve a recommendation for the film, even if everything else about it was not-so-good.

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