''Action for Slander'' is a 1937 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Tim Whelan Tim Whelan (November 2, 1893 – August 12, 1957) was an American film director, writer, producer and actor best remembered for his writing credits on ''Harold Lloyd'' and '' Harry Langdon'' comedies, and his directing of mostly British films (e. ...

and starring

Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English film actor. After making his first screen appearance in 1920, Brook emerged as a leading British actor in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States ...

Ann Todd Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in 1945's '' The Seventh Veil''. From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed h ...

and

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 191715 July 2011), known professionally as Googie Withers, was an English entertainer who was a dancer and actress with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. ...

. The plot is about an army officer who is falsely accused at cheating at cards by a man whose wife he had an affair with and struggles to clear his name. It was an adaptation of the 1937 novel '' Action for Slander'' by

Mary Borden Mary Borden (May 15, 1886 – December 2, 1968) (married names: Mary Turner; Mary Spears, Lady Spears; pseud. Bridget Maclagan) was an American-British novelist and poet whose work drew on her experiences as a war nurse. She was the second of ...

Plot

Major George Daviot is left by his wife Ann due to their growing estrangement and her knowledge that he has fallen in love with another woman, Josie Bradford, the wife of one of his fellow officers. Daviot goes off with friends for a weekend party at a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peop ...

attended by a number of prominent figures including businessmen and politicians as well as Captain Bradford and his wife. The tension between Bradford and Daviot is obvious during

grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondria ...

shooting as Bradford is clearly aware of Daviot's affair with his wife. That evening, during a game of cards played for high stakes, Daviot is accused of cheating by Grant, a drunken player who has lost large amounts of money, a charge that is dismissed out of hand by the other players until Bradford seconds it. None of the other players believe the accusation, even though they are unaware of the grudge that Bradford has against Daviot. Bradford sticks to his story, even in the face of legal action from Daviot. The other guests frightened of their own reputations if the scandal becomes widely known, persuade all to hush the matter up. Daviot agrees to keep quiet for all their sakes, even though he still wants to clear his name. Daviot proposes to Josie that she leave her husband and live with him in spite of the scandal, but her lukewarm response leads him to realise that her interest in him is shallow. She subsequently reconciles with her husband and they go abroad to spend time together. Daviot tries to continue, but rumours about the affair begin to spread. Over the following year, his life disintegrates. He no longer finds himself welcome in his regiment or at his gentlemen's club and his friends begin to cut him socially, including those at the house party who know him to be innocent. Hounded out of his society, Daviot retreats to a cheap boarding house in

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, an ...

where he ceases to go out or even open

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alpha ...

. His one remaining hope, of receiving a transfer to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

serving on the Northwest Frontier is dashed and he begins to consider

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. Ann Daviot, meanwhile, has been touring around

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

aimlessly, possibly never to return to Britain. As soon as she hears he is in trouble she returns to help him, but he is unresponsive and derides her as an "Angel of Mercy". Eventually she goads him into facing his accusers, and he initiates court proceedings on the understanding that if he loses he will be allowed to take gentlemen's way out with a pistol. With the help of his

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

Sir Quinton Jessops, Daviot attempts to clear his name by suing Bradford and Grant for

slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

Cast

as Major George Daviot *

as Ann Daviot *

Margaretta Scott Margaretta Mary Winifred ScottBrian McFarlane, "Scott, Margaretta Mary Winifred (1912–2005)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 30 August 2020. (13 February 1912 – 15 Apri ...

as Josie Bradford *

Arthur Margetson Arthur Margetson (27 April 1887 – 13 August 1951) was a British stage and film actor. Margetson worked as a stockbroker before he became an actor. In 1936, Margetson married actress Shirley Grey. Filmography * ''Wolves'' (1930) as Mark (fi ...

as Captain Hugh Bradford *

Ronald Squire Ronald Launcelot Squire (25 March 1886 – 16 November 1958) was an English character actor. Biography Born in Tiverton, Devon, England, the son of an army officer, Lt.-Col. Frederick Squirl and his Irish-born wife Mary (Ronald's surname 'Sq ...

as Charles Cinderford *

Athole Stewart Athole Chalmers Stewart (25 June 1879 – 18 October 1940) was a British stage and latterly film actor, often in authoritarian or aristocratic roles. On stage, he played in the original production of Noël Coward's ''Hay Fever'' at the Ambassad ...

as Lord Pontefract *

Percy Marmont Percy Marmont (25 November 1883 – 3 March 1977) was an English film actor. Biography Marmont appeared in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1968. A veteran film actor by 1923, he scored a big hit that year in ''If Winter Comes'', later rem ...

as William Cowbit * Frank Cellier as Sir Bernard Roper * Anthony Holles as John Grant * Morton Selten as Judge Trotter *

Kate Cutler Kate Ellen Louisa Cutler (14 August 1864 – 14 May 1955) was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ''ingénue'' in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramati ...

as The Dowager *

Enid Stamp-Taylor Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor (12 June 1904 – 13 January 1946) was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear. Taylor first became known when she won a beauty pa ...

as Jenny * Francis L. Sullivan as Sir Quinton Jessops * Felix Aylmer as Sir Eustace Cunninghame * Laurence Hanray as Clerk of Court *

Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire. He ...

as Tandy *

as Mary *

Albert Whelan Albert Whelan (born Albert Waxman; 5 May 1875 – 19 February 1961) was an Australian popular singer and entertainer, who was prominent in English music halls during the first half of the 20th century. Biography The son of an immigrant Polish Jew ...

as Roper's butler *

Allan Jeayes Allan John Jeayes (19 January 1885 – 20 September 1963) was an English stage and film actor. Jeayes was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, the son of Isaac Herbert Jeayes, archivist and Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum. ...

as Colonel * Pauline de Chalus as Polly *

Edward Lexy Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little. Career He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...

as Collins (Porter)

Production

The film was made independently at Denham Studios by

Victor Saville Victor Saville (25 September 1895 – 8 May 1979) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962. Biography Saville produced his first f ...

with backing from

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)London Film Productions London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life o ...

.Low p.224 It was adapted from the novel '' Action for Slander'' by

that was released the same year.

Reception

The film was popular at its release and it was re-released several times during the 1940s. However, it has later been criticised as "stilted".

Rachael Low Rachael Low (6 July 1923 – 14 December 2014) was a British film historian, best known as the author of the seven-volume ''The History of the British Film''. The daughter of the cartoonist Sir David Low,Richards, Jeffrey. "Introduction" to Low ...

describes it as being "well-made and acted" although the "behaviour of the characters was too far-fetched to carry conviction". Writing for '' Night and Day'' in 1937,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

gave the film a mildly good review, summarizing the film as "a picture of which we needn't feel ashamed if it reaches the United States, even though the story is novelettish in the extreme". Despite expressing the view that Selten had been "badly miscast" for the role of the Judge, Greene generally praised the cast's acting and the direction which allowed "people on the whole obehave naturally - and shabbily", and noted that the "love scene for once is not written in". (reprinted in: )

References

External links

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''The History of British Film: Volume VII''. Routledge, 1997. * White, Terry. ''Justice Denoted: The Legal Thriller in American, British, and Continental Courtroom Literature''. Praeger, 2003. {{Tim Whelan 1937 drama films 1937 films British drama films Films directed by Tim Whelan Films based on British novels Films produced by Alexander Korda Films with screenplays by Ian Dalrymple Adultery in films Films produced by Victor Saville Films set in London Films set in Paris British courtroom films British gambling films London Films films United Artists films Films shot at Denham Film Studios British black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films