The Woman Accused (1933) User Reviews

A highly entertaining pre code Cary Grant film

[Jimmy_the_Gent4 · 7/10 · 25 April 2018]

Glenda, (Nancy Carroll) a socialite, is about to marry her true love, lawyer Jeffrey (Cary Grant) but her past catches up with her.

This is a very watchable film with good performances, especially Carroll as the woman who is blackmailed by a sleazy former lover (Louis Calhern). She is later accused of murder by the victims friend (John Halliday). Grant's role at first seemed like just a colorless boyfriend role but he has a striking scene at the end which involves a whip and a gangster who seems like a tough guy at first. This makes the movie and has to be seen to be believed. Grant gives a fine performance and it's easy to see why he became such a big star. He had appeared with Carroll before in another good film "Hot Saturday" and has nice chemistry with her. It is too bad she retired at her peak in the late 1930s, she later came back in the 1950s to do TV work. The mock trial on a cruise ship is another highlight.

Entertaining courtroom drama

[robb_772 · 6/10 · 15 October 2006]

A rather routine storyline of a woman (Nancy Carroll) accused of killing her former lover (Louis Calhern), and subsequently skipping town on a cruise ship with her new beau (Cary Grant), is kept fairly engaging with some unique twists thrown into the mix. Most of the film's big set pieces are reasonably well-handled for relatively rushed production. Calhern's abusive behavior and eventual murder are staged with a fair degree of realism (for the time period, anyway), and John Halliday's shipboard inquisition of Carroll brims forth with an oddball, near-surreal quality. The performances are all agreeable, with a young Cary Grant emerging as a formidable presence in the film's final quarter.

In the end, however, the picture never really gels into a cohesive whole. The film was adapted from a magazine serial in which each segment was written by a different mystery author, which probably explains why the film's narrative unfolds so disjointedly, as well as the reason many of the characters seem to come across somewhat inconsistently from scene to scene. Although if the viewer can let go of the reasonable assumption that the movie will move coherently from beginning to end, then The Woman Accused can certainly be enjoyed on a scene-by-scene basis. The film is far from flawless, but it will provide 73 minutes of good, solid entertainment.

"We Want Murder!!"

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 10 March 2017]

For an archivist researching a documentary of early thirties America, 'The Woman Accused' abounds in rich pickings; commencing with the opening film snapshots depicting the ten popular authors who contributed the preposterous plot in the form of a round robin; and including ample footage of the dawn of the Roosevelt administration, still feeling the bruises of the Wall Street Crash, but celebrating the repeal of prohibition. Little nuggets of contemporary information we learn include the fact that in 1933 the engaged tone was known as "the busy signal", and that in those days a murder trial with all the trimmings cost $100,000.

Baby-faced Nancy Carroll is the show here, modelling a variety of figure-hugging backless gowns (and a bathing suit), with a young Cary Grant serving as the arm candy while she is pursued during a pleasure cruise by creepy John Halliday, who devises an absurdly elaborate scheme to see her arrested for killing her loathsome old flame Louis Calhern - who for some unfathomable reason Halliday genuinely seemed to care about. Halliday happily enlists the aid of a hired thug played by an even more loathsome Jack La Rue despite presumably being aware that La Rue has previously killed people on Calhern's behalf. How Grant persuades La Rue to change his testimony has to be seen to believed, like something out of a pre-WWI rather than a Pre-Code movie (I'd love to know which of the authors came up with that gem)! 

As Carroll's devoted maid Martha - literally prepared to shed her own blood on her behalf - the scary Norma Mitchell (who also wrote Broadway farces) makes a striking film debut, but made only two more minor film appearances.

Entertaining Story and Some Good Performances

[Michael_Elliott · 11 March 2017]

The Woman Accused (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Glenda O'Brien (Nancy Carroll) is about to happily marry Jeffrey Baxter (Cary Grant) but before doing so an old flame calls her. At first she doesn't want to even go to his room but she's forced there and before long the man is threatening to have Jeffrey murdered. To prevent that from happening Glenda hits him over the head and it kills him. Glenda and Jeffrey go on a cruise to get away from it but it haunts her and matters aren't helped when Stephen Bessemer (John Halliday) begins asking questions.

THE WOMAN ACCUSED is a rather interesting little drama that works in large part to the three lead performances. Fans of this era's motion pictures will certainly want to check this one out thanks to the trio of acting talents but it's also very much worth watching for a number of other reasons.

For the most part it has a rather interesting story and also a rather interesting way of getting played out. On the cruise ship Glenda is pretty much stalked and harassed by Stephen who does several (probably) illegal things to try and get a confession out of her. This leads to a very bizarre mock trial where the woman eventually cracks. The film also contains some very memorable moments towards the end of the picture including a certain beat down that I won't spoil but man, it has to be seen to be believed!

As I said, the acting is the real stand out here with Carroll doing a nice job in her leading role. She basically has to play a frightened woman throughout the picture but I thought she was very believable in regards to the fear she shows. I also thought her scene with the former lover was very well played. Grant also gets a chance to act here. Most of his parts up to this one were just him looking pretty but this one here allowed him to show some dramatic range. Halliday is also extremely good as the menacing man who wants that confession.

There are certainly some flaws throughout the picture and there's no question that it's not a masterpiece but fans of this era should enjoy it.

A little mystery in this drama, and an intriguing finish

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 9 May 2022]

"The Woman Accused" is a drama and mystery that would be more accurately billed as the latter. It's an interesting film about a young woman, Glenda O'Brien, who falls in love with a young attorney, Jeffrey Baxter. Only she has something of a past that comes out when a former lover, Leo Young, returns from Europe. After being gone five years, he has rented an apartment in the same building two floors above Glenda. Now he calls her up to his apartment with threats and demands that they resume their affair. When she says she is in love with another man, he picks up the phone to call a hit-man, Little Maxie, who had done at least one job for him before - killing a guy he wanted out of the way. When he says this to Glenda, and before he can tell Maxie the name of the guy he wants to have killed, Glenda grabs a marble statue and whacks him on the head. Well, he's dead, and she flees the scene.

Now, Leo was apparently a lawyer also, and a partner in a firm with Stephen Bessemer. Bessemer had met him before this and told him to get his old girl friend out of his mind and concentrate on his work. They have a pile of files at the office that need attention. But after Young is found dead, the police can find no clues. That's because Glenda's maid, Martha, who loves her like a mother, hurried her away to go a three-day pleasure cruise with her fiancé; while Martha snuck up to Young's apartment to wipe and replace the marble statue. But, with the door locked when Young's body was found, they knew the killer must have used the fire escape. And Bessemer knew that O'Brien lived in the same building, so he suspected her. But the District Attorney says they have no evidence on which to even book O'Brien.

So, Bessemer cooks up a plan to try to get trap Glenda into admitting that she killed Young. Bessemer used some chicanery to get to the cruise boat, getting a police boat to drive him out; and Glenda knows that he is on to her and may try to trap here. The best part of this film is the next two-thirds with Bessemer hatching one clever scheme after another, and Glenda getting closer and closer to admitting her action. Finally, back on land, Bessemer produces Maxie as a witness seeing Glenda leave her apartment building the night of the murder, before the cruise left. Glenda then tells her story, how she had hit Young to stop him from giving Jeff's name to the hit-man to have him killed. So, the DA has to take her into confinement.

Now, Jeffrey knows something about Maxie being a shady character, and he follows hm to his apartment where he uses a leather Australian stick of some sort to whip and beat the hardened crook into changing his story. He then takes him to the DA's office where Maxie says he can't be sure he saw Glenda as he had said. So, now Jeff suggests that the DA drop the whole matter, of having a trial of Glenda. Everyone knows she would be acquitted, but it wouldn't serve justice any better and only cost the county $100,000 which would be a black-eye in those hard times. Although the script doesn't mention the Great Depression that the country and world were then in, that point comes across clearly. So, Bessemer shrugs it off and the DA agrees not to prosecute and Jeff and Glenda leave to get married.

The cast all go a good job here, but none are exceptional. Nancy Carroll is Glenda, Cary Grant plays Je3frey, John Halliday is Bessemer, Louis Calhern is Young, Jack La Rue is Maxie, and Irving Pichel plays the district attorney.

While this film is interesting and entertaining as a mystery, its conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. The question of justice being served must still be in the minds of many viewers. Because the audience knows about the dead man, a partner with this other lawyer, having using a hit-man to kill another man in the past. That crime surely wasn't solved. Yet, here's a situation in which the dead man told a woman, Glenda, that he had arranged it himself. So an obvious question is did the DA really care about justice being served, letting a hit-man off the hook form a previous crime? And, did Jeffrey Baxter, an attorney and fiancé of Glenda, really care about justice being served with Little Maxie not prosecuted for an earlier murder? For that matter, might not Bessemer himself be connected in some way to past crimes, since Young was his partner?

I think just a few more minutes of film, with a trial of Glenda, would have exonerated her but exposed to the public the past crime and possible connection with Bessemer. The publicity about the earlier man's killing would have led to justice in prosecuting Little Maxie. Oh, well, Hollywood was probably thinking more about the end of prohibition which would come 10 months after this film came out.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Jeffrey Baxter, "Glenda, look, we're going a three-day cruise on the Steamship Florida." Glenda O'Brien, "Well, where can you go in three days?" Cora Matthews, "That's the beauty of it - you can't go anywhere. You just go round and round and round."

Martha, "I'll be here waiting - a scream will bring me." Glenda, "A scream from whom?" Martha, "Well, the way things are going nowadays, it's be hard to tell which one would scream first. I'll come whichever calls."

Glenda, "How much do you love me?" Jeffrey, "I'd crawl miles and miles n my hands and knees over broken bottles just for a little kiss."

Guilty People Used to Crack Easily

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 18 November 2023]

"Woman Accused" is one of those movies of which I liked the ending so much it almost completely erases its earlier mistakes.

Glenda O'Brien (Nancy Carroll) was in love with Jeffrey Baxter (Cary Grant). He proposed to her, but she declined. She attempted to tell him why, but he cut her off. She was going to tell him that she had belonged to another at one time which was a way of saying she wasn't a virgin--or in other words, she wasn't fit for marriage to a man like Jeffrey. Jeffrey didn't want to hear it. He wasn't concerned with her past, he only knew he loved her.

I've seen that same thing done in other movies only to have it be an issue later on. It seems the men are OK with marrying a woman with a past so long as they don't have to come face to face with it.

Glenda was on cloud nine. The man she loved was going to marry her in spite of her having a past affair.

Then her past came calling. His name was Leo Young (Louis Calhern). He was back in America and he wanted her back desperately. He wanted her so badly he moved into an apartment two floors above hers. He told her to come up and see him or he'd come down to her apartment to see her.

It wasn't an easy decision and perhaps whatever decision she made wouldn't have been the right one, but she decided to go up to him to let him know it was over between them. She went to his place secretly to avoid questions from her guests and her fiance. When she got to Leo's place things didn't go well.

She emphatically told him they were through and he tried to hold her captive. When she told him that she was engaged to Jeffrey Baxter, Leo put in a call to his goon Maxie (Jack La Rue). Leo would have Maxie kill Jeffrey. If he couldn't have her, no one could.

To prevent Jeffrey from completing his order to Maxie, Glenda hit Leo over the head with a heavy statue and killed him. She then went back downstairs via the fire escape, told her maid Martha (Norma Mitchell), and then went on a cruise with Jeffrey and friends. Even if she was going to have to go to prison, she at least wanted three heavenly days with Jeffrey.

This is where the movie had to do some acrobatics to advance the plot. Leo's friend Stephen Bessemer (John Halliday) found Leo dead. He was convinced that he was killed by Glenda. Why? No reason other than a weak plot device. Not only was he convinced that Glenda killed Leo, he wouldn't let it go. He would get the evidence himself to prove it regardless of how.

First, he sent a cop downstairs to question Glenda. The cop entered the home via the fire escape window which was a clear case of entering without a warrant. I don't think the laws have changed so much since 1933 that a cop could enter a home of a potential suspect without a warrant.

Secondly, Bessemer boarded Glenda's cruise ship.

When the cop illegally entered Glenda's home he found Glenda's maid Martha there and brought her upstairs for questioning. She said that Glenda was on a cruise. For normal people with normal resources this would be the end of the hunt until a more opportune time.

Not for Bessemer.

He got a ride via police boat out to the cruise ship where he boarded AND got a room! He then went to work trying to get a confession out of Glenda. He tried a couple of tactics until he settled on a very improbable one.

While many of the guests were swimming and having a gay old time, he halted the gaiety and convinced the passengers to hold a mock trial for fun.

Are you serious?

I remember doing some games aboard a cruise ship but not at the behest of a guy asking for the attention of a bunch of people already enjoying themselves.

Of course, they all agreed. He then said that he'd randomly choose a defendant from a hat. Of course, he had it rigged where Glenda's name would be chosen. She agreed to be the defendant because it was supposed to be a mock trial about a woman suing a banker. Only a few questions into the mock trial he gave a signal whereby a seemingly impartial member of the party asked the crowd if they'd like to make it a mock murder trial, to which they all agreed.

At this point Glenda became visibly nervous which I thought was not a realistic response. It was a mock trial, so who cares what it's about, it's not real. Bessemer made the mock trial as real as possible by grilling her with questions regarding Leo's murder. Instead of laughing it all off and treating it like a game she broke down and confessed.

Nancy Caroll did a similar thing in her role in "The Kiss Before the Mirror." In that movie her character had an overtly guilty reaction at a trial in which she wasn't involved. She was simply in the galley and her guilt was so strong she stood up and shrieked when her husband came to the climax of his argument.

Well, in "The Woman Accused" Nancy Carroll's character had such a weak constitution she gave Bessemer everything he needed during A GAME. At this point I wasn't liking the movie too much. It was operating on the assumption that decent people can't keep their feelings of guilt hidden, or that women can't. Both assumptions are ridiculous.

What's worse is that Bessemer wanted to use her confession in a mock trial as an admissible confession in the court of law. He had just about all he needed to convince the D. A. (Irving Pichel) to prosecute after the cruise, he only needed the corroboration of Maxie to get the D. A. to act.

Maxie gave the D. A. the testimony Bessemer needed though it was lies. It was after this that the movie made a turn for the better.

Jeffrey followed Maxie home and confronted Maxie about his lies. This was a dangerous move because Maxie was packing and Jeffrey was now in Maxie's residence. He could shoot him and claim self-defense, then Glenda would have no fiance and no one to defend her.

When Maxie pulled out his gun to shoot Jeffrey he knocked the gun out of his hand with a footlong rawhide whip then proceeded to beat him mercilessly. Maxie was crying out like a frightened child. The man who was a tough guy a few seconds earlier was now a hollering wimp. Jeffrey whipped him so bad that he recanted everything he told the D. A.

Now, truthfully, a recanted testimony from a guy who'd been beaten would not hold a lot a weight. I'm actually surprised that Jeffrey, a lawyer, would take a man that he beat to the D. A. in the condition he was in to have him recant. Had a gangster done the same thing he would've been arrested for assault. But for the sake of having a happy ending Jeffrey's assault was overlooked and Maxie's recant was accepted.

I loved it and hated it at the same time.

The lover of truth and justice in me applauded Jeffrey's move because it exonerated a woman who was justified in her actions. The hater of law enforcement beating confessions out of people hated that Jeffrey could beat a man to get him to tell the truth with no repercussions. I was torn, but I sided with the lover of truth and justice in me.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

A very young Cary Grant

[MtDewdependant · 8/10 · 19 April 2004]

For die-hard Cary Grant fans, this movie is a must-see. A bit hard to track down but well worth the effort.

The Woman Accused in this story is Glenda. What is she accused of? Murder, of course. Why? When an old flame comes back to threaten her newfound happiness with fiancee Jeffrey (Cary), and even threatens to have him killed, Glenda does the only sensible thing and kills him before he gets the chance. She then takes off on a 3-day cruise with Jeffrey, convinced that it will be the only time they'll have before she is caught.

I won't tell you the ending, you'll have to see it for yourself. It's nice to see Cary Grant when he was just starting out, especially at the boyishly good-looking age of 29.

Watch it, you won't be sorry. 8/10

A Classy Production All Round

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 27 July 2008]

A scrappy she-didn't-mean-to-do-it in which the principals are forced to do their best to act out a somewhat foregone drama—admittedly with a few clever twists here and there. By and large, Carroll, Grant and Halliday manage rather well, and it's certainly not their fault that they tend to out-stay their welcome, allowing the histrionic thunder to be stolen by the support team headed by Jack LaRue (a small part, but you'll never forget him in this one), Louis Calhern (a really nasty piece of work), Norma Mitchell (a stage actress who made only three films, of which this is the first), the effervescent Lona André ("round and round") and Irving Pichel, the smooth-talking D.A. who knows which side of a legal argument will win him the most votes.

Production credits are great, with a special nod for Sloane's silky direction and Struss' marvelously fluid, super-attractive camera-work.

A story of love and murder

[jamesjustice-92 · 9/10 · 22 April 2020]

When I started watching this movie I didn't expect anything extraordinary of it and it didn't disappoint me one bit. This is a story of a young woman whose previous love interest comes back into town and wants to regain his possession of her although it is too late as she is almost engaged but this man doesn't take "no" for an answer so she chooses the only possible way out of this mess. Nancy Carroll plays her heart out in this picture and shows a great variety of emotions through and through. Young Cary Grant here is absolutely fabulous too and I don't believe I have ever seen him in a similar role (and I had watched about 60 of his movies). The whole movie doesn't belong to any specific genre being more of a mixture between a detective story, drama, romance and a little comedy and it shines in every one of them. People will always ask: how far will you go down the despicable road in the name of love? I'd say - far enough, if you're pure in heart and soul about a person you're going this road for.

"I accuse you of Murder!!!!"

[kidboots · 8/10 · 20 October 2009]

In 1933, this film opened to mixed reviews. It was based on a serial in Liberty magazine in which 10 well known authors each contributed a chapter and Paramount thought it was on to a winner. It was clear by the opening credits that the writers were promoted as the real "stars" of the film and the actors were relegated to "also rans". Unfortunately, that was what a lot of critics disliked about it - "too many cooks" and "everything was in it but a plot" where some of the comments. I think you could even tell where one writer stopped and another took over - you would have a scene where not much was happening but laughter and music, then all at once there was a plot complication involving a bloodied dress!!! Now that Nancy Carroll films are more widely available, people can make up their own mind and the verdict with this film is - it's pretty good. I have seen quite a few of her films now and the story that her career fell apart after "Night Angel" is an absolute myth (in my opinion).

Glenda O'Brien (Nancy Carroll) and Jeffrey Baxter (Cary Grant) are in love and plan to take a 3 day cruise and have the ship's captain marry them. Meanwhile, an old flame of Glenda's, Leo (Louis Calhern) telephones her and insists she come to his apartment. He wants her back but Glenda is adamant - No!!! He then says he will send Maxie (a chilling Jack La Rue) to murder Jeffrey, but while he is telephoning instructions Glenda picks up an statuette and kills him. Hysterical and with a blood spattered dress she bursts into her apartment where she is comforted by her loyal maid Martha (Norma Mitchell). She decides to go on the cruise and at the end of it, to tell Jeffrey the truth.

Back on shore, events are moving along. Stephen Bessemer (John Halliday) Leo's best friend, is determined to bring Leo's killer to justice but Martha swears to Glenda's innocence and even has a plausible reason for the blood found on the dress. Glenda is just about to retire to her cabin when she hears a tug boat pull up and sees Stephen alight. During the last evening Bessemer arranges a "mock" trial. He plays the prosecutor. To the other guests it is a riot from start to finish but to Glenda and Bessemer it is a struggle of wills. During the cross examination he opens a suitcase, produces a blood-stained dress and says dramatically - "I accuse you of Murder!!!" Glenda's nerves are strained to breaking point and when a fake telegram is produced saying fingerprints where found on the statuette, she breaks down and confesses.

Back in New York, Glenda reverts to her original story, that she didn't see Leo that night and that on the ship she was only playacting. Maxie is produced and swears that hers was the voice he heard on the phone but Jeffrey follows him to his apartment and thrashes him until he confesses that maybe he was mistaken and she wasn't the girl.

Nancy Carroll could not only sing dance and act but she had style and grace and enhanced any film she appeared in.

Recommended.

Disappointing

[LLAAA4837 · 4 January 2009]

I really like Cary Grant, but this film came off weak. This is probably Cary Grant's worst performance, although it isn't that bad. Overall, the film comes off more like a series of anti-climaxes and half-assed plot devices. I will give the film credit for it's ambition. The film is actually quite fun to watch, but it feels lifeless and weak and it just sort of falls apart before anything really interesting happens. The love story plot on the boat doesn't really make much sense and gives the film a more experimental film than I would like. I guess it comes off as more a series of events that don't really add to too much. I did like the opening scenes involving the phone call that Nancy Carrol gets. I thought her performance was actually better than Cary Grant's as a matter of fact. However, she does some pretty thoughtless and unrealistic stuff that really didn't help the believability factor one bit. Overall, there are some things I like about this film, but there's ore that I don't like and I cannot quite recommend the movie unless you are a die-hard fan of Cary Grant.