"The Lady of Scandal" kind of tells you everything in the title. It's like "Party Girl" (1930), "Ladies of Leisure" (1930), "Tarnished Lady" (1931), or "Ladies' Man" (1931). You know a "lady" is going to be part of a "scandal," you just don't know what the scandal is or whether or not she's an innocent party in it all.
The "lady of scandal" in this case was Elsie Hilary (Ruth Chatterton), a showgirl dating John Crayle (Ralph Forbes), a wealthy young man from an old, established, and wealthy English family. He desperately wanted to marry Elsie while the family was dead set against it.
It was shaping up to be a tame and predictable plot of rich boy, poor girl in which the stuffy old family would open up to Elsie once they got to know her, at which time they'd drop their prejudices and hate. Thankfully, there was a bit of a twist.
It turned out that Elsie's father, Hilary (Robert Bolder), wasn't keen on the marriage either. He feared that a marriage into an old wealthy family would take his daughter away from the stage where she dazzled crowds nightly. Funnily enough, he was willing to pay the Crayles to have them reel in their son. Since both Hilary and the Crayles were on the same page about the marriage they devised a plot to have Elsie willingly break it off. They surmised that Elsie was only going to marry John because she was being told not to. If they all consented to the idea, then she'd be bored within a few weeks and call it off.
Risky, but I liked it.
Then there was another twist that wasn't funny or even appealing. In fact, it was just low and wholly unnecessary. Elsie fell in love with John's cousin, Edward (Basil Rathbone), and he fell in love with her.
Why even add that? It was enough of a drama with Elsie trying to marry John without adding the superfluous soap-opera drama.
At first I thought it was part of a plan Elsie had cooked up just to cause disruption in the Crayle house. I was waiting to see how it was going to all play out, then we found out that she really loved the dude, which was a big downer. Mind you, Edward was already a family pariah for openly dating a married woman. Now he was professing his love for his cousin's fiance! Can't this guy find a woman of his own?
John Crayle was able to pick up on the OBVIOUS hints that there was something between Elsie and Edward, and because he was a gentleman he simply removed himself from the equation without letting on that he knew.
This addition of a love triangle completely ruined the movie. I hate love triangles in just about every case and some are worse than others. I thought the movie could've been really good with the conflict that already existed without throwing in something so foul and common.
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The "lady of scandal" in this case was Elsie Hilary (Ruth Chatterton), a showgirl dating John Crayle (Ralph Forbes), a wealthy young man from an old, established, and wealthy English family. He desperately wanted to marry Elsie while the family was dead set against it.
It was shaping up to be a tame and predictable plot of rich boy, poor girl in which the stuffy old family would open up to Elsie once they got to know her, at which time they'd drop their prejudices and hate. Thankfully, there was a bit of a twist.
It turned out that Elsie's father, Hilary (Robert Bolder), wasn't keen on the marriage either. He feared that a marriage into an old wealthy family would take his daughter away from the stage where she dazzled crowds nightly. Funnily enough, he was willing to pay the Crayles to have them reel in their son. Since both Hilary and the Crayles were on the same page about the marriage they devised a plot to have Elsie willingly break it off. They surmised that Elsie was only going to marry John because she was being told not to. If they all consented to the idea, then she'd be bored within a few weeks and call it off.
Risky, but I liked it.
Then there was another twist that wasn't funny or even appealing. In fact, it was just low and wholly unnecessary. Elsie fell in love with John's cousin, Edward (Basil Rathbone), and he fell in love with her.
Why even add that? It was enough of a drama with Elsie trying to marry John without adding the superfluous soap-opera drama.
At first I thought it was part of a plan Elsie had cooked up just to cause disruption in the Crayle house. I was waiting to see how it was going to all play out, then we found out that she really loved the dude, which was a big downer. Mind you, Edward was already a family pariah for openly dating a married woman. Now he was professing his love for his cousin's fiance! Can't this guy find a woman of his own?
John Crayle was able to pick up on the OBVIOUS hints that there was something between Elsie and Edward, and because he was a gentleman he simply removed himself from the equation without letting on that he knew.
This addition of a love triangle completely ruined the movie. I hate love triangles in just about every case and some are worse than others. I thought the movie could've been really good with the conflict that already existed without throwing in something so foul and common.
Free on Odnoklassniki.