I Loved a Woman (1933)

Art student John Hayden interrupts his studies in Greece to head his father's meat packing business on his father's death. He marries social climber Martha who taunts him for his ideals ... See full summary »

Director:

Alfred E. Green

Writers:

Charles Kenyon (screen play), Sidney Sutherland (screen play)

Stars:

Kay Francis, Edward G. Robinson, Genevieve Tobin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edward G. Robinson	...	John Mansfield Hayden
Kay Francis	...	Laura McDonald
Genevieve Tobin	...	Martha Lane
Robert Barrat	...	Charles Lane
Murray Kinnell	...	Davenport
Robert McWade	...	Larkin
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Shuster
Henry Kolker	...	Mr. Sanborn
George Blackwood	...	Henry
Walter Walker	...	Oliver
Henry O'Neill	...	Mr. Farrell
E.J. Ratcliffe	...	Theodore Roosevelt
William V. Mong	...	Bowen

Storyline

Art student John Hayden interrupts his studies in Greece to head his father's meat packing business on his father's death. He marries social climber Martha who taunts him for his ideals regarding worker happiness and meat purity. He begins supporting the musical career of singer Laura. During the Spanish American war he sells the Army tainted meat. Martha puts detectives on him and Laura. Indicted for fraud, he flees to Greece.

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Plot Keywords:

spanish american war | fraud | meatpacker | historical event | trust busting | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Red Meat

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Morgan Wallace is listed in studio records in the role of "Pollock", but he doesn't appear in the final print.

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Soundtracks

Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Boys Are Marching)
(1864) (uncredited)
Written by George Frederick Root
Sung with substitute lyrics by the soldiers

User Reviews

King of meat

Some plot strains from Citizen Kane are present in this melodrama involving meatpacking tycoon Edward G. Robinson who is married to Genevieve Tobin but his heart belongs to opera singing Kay Francis. Would that I Loved A Woman were as good as the Orson Welles masterpiece.

Robinson ages over 30 years in I Loved A Woman. When we first meet him he's a young art student on the holiday in Europe that rich young men had back in the day. That's when he hears his father has died and comes home to take over the business.

He becomes the Donald Trump of the meatpacking industry in the 1890s. In the famous tainted beef case of the Spanish American War he skates on that when Theodore Roosevelt can't bust the meat trust. But it's his personal life that this film is concerned with.

He marries Tobin, daughter of rival Robert Barrat, but as he eclipses Barrat in standing in the industry he finds she married him for social standing and to bring his business into dad's fold. It works the other way around however. Like Charles Foster Kane he finds a Susan Alexander with another aspiring singer Kay Francis. Naturally it's a given with me that Kay's voice was dubbed, but why would an aspiring opera singer be rehearing with Home On The Range?

In any Kay let's him down as well and soon things in the business world go bad on him. Let's just say Robinson made some bad business decisions and overextended himself.

British actor E.J. Ratcliffe plays Theodore Roosevelt in a brief scene with Robinson. He does his best, but when TR succeeded William McKinley TR was 42 years almost 43 our still youngest president. The 70 year old Ratcliffe was ridiculous in the part. In fact the whole story about TR's involvement in the scandal about the tainted beef is all wrong.

In the Citadel Film series book on the films of Edward G. Robinson we learn he wasn't happy with the script and story. Seeing what I saw I couldn't blame him. In fact no one in the cast look like they took it all too seriously.