Woman in Distress (1937), with May Robson

[rmichaelpyle]

Last night I watched a wonderful small programmer called "Woman In Distress" (1937) with May Robson in the lead. This is the second May Robson film I've watched in the last couple of months. My lord, where in the world has she been hiding? Her films are marvelous! Most people only know her, or remember her, from her "Apple Annie" character in "Lady for a Day" (1933). Irene Hervey and Dean Jagger (with a full head of hair, by the way!) were the characters who have most to do in "Woman in Distress", a wonderful little crime drama/comedy/mystery/romance. Others include Charles Wilson and Douglas Dumbrille (playing the baddie, of course!). It's only 58 minutes long, but there was a lot of fun in this caper about finding a missing Rembrandt painting that was given to Robson by her lover - a lover who died just before he was to marry her many years before. The painting supposedly had been burned up in a fire years before the lover gave it to her, but obviously it wasn't really. Anyway, no more spoilers. This is another one most would want to see if only they could find it. It's a perfect way to while away an hour at dinner.

[Larry's 66 Diner]

Gosh, Michael, where are you coming up with all these classics that sound like goodies? :huh: ;D Again, I can't say I'm very familiar with these actors either.

Of course, I haven't been DVD shopping in a while either, so I guess perhaps it's time I check things out again. This one sounds like a "winner"! :thumbsup:

[Midge]

I've been a May Robson fan since I saw her in the original version of A Star is Born (as Granny). What a marvelous character actress she was! Her forte was playing tart, crusty matrons. Her forthright, common-sense manner and a twinkle in her eye made all her roles, no matter how small, much more than the sum of their parts.

Miss Robson's life was just as interesting as any part she played on the screen. Mary Jeanette Robison was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1858, one of four children of a British Navy sea captain. She was educated in London, Brussels and Paris. At sixteen she ran away from home and eloped with an 18-year-old named Charles Livingston Gore.

The teenaged Mr. and Mrs. Gore then settled in Fort Worth, Texas, to try their hand at ranching. They had no luck, so they went to New York. There May's young husband died, leaving her with three small children. Miss Robson tried to make a living by teaching art and embroidering, but it was not easy supporting a family on those meager earnings.

One day in 1884 Miss Robson passed a theatrical agency and on a whim went in to apply for a job. That is how she began her acting career at age 26. Sadly, two of her children died of diptheria and scarlet fever. She had one surviving son, Edward. In 1889 she remarried a Dr. A. H. Brown.

In her decades-long stage career, Miss Robson played ingenues, supporting roles and even Shakespeare, but she didn't hit her stride until she started playing character parts in 1907. She would continue appearing on stage until the 1930's. One of her early successes was filmed, which was the beginning of a new career for Miss Robson in silent films.

Robson was in a handful of silents from 1915 to 1927, but her greatest fame would come in sound films. Some of her memorable roles were in Dinner at Eight, Red-Headed Woman, If I Had a Million, Beauty for Sale, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Bringing Up Baby and Granny Get Your Gun. Miss Robson's last movie was Joan of Paris in 1942, the year of her death.

[rmichaelpyle]

Only recently, I watched May in "The She-Wolf", where she plays Harriet Breen, a character based on the lady known as "the she-wolf of Wall Street", Hetty Green, an actual person who was famous for her stinginess - to the point of nearly starving her children! This, while she became the wealthiest woman in the world, and possibly the wealthiest person in America (at the outset of the Great Depression, to boot). "The She-Wolf" is a forgotten classic in the true sense of the word. It was fabulous. So now, I've gone on a hunt for more of her leading roles. She was simply amazing in them. Her character roles are wonderful, and they're relatively easy to find, too, because she played in some of the most famous films of the 30's, but it's her leading roles which are not at all easy to find. But the search is worth it every step of the way.