''Maid of Salem'' is a 1937 film made by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, directed by

Frank Lloyd Frank William George Lloyd (2 February 1886 – 10 August 1960) was a British-born American film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its preside ...

, and starring

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

and

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

Plot

It tells the story of a young girl in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the ...

, 1692, who has an affair with an adventurer. She is sentenced as a witch, but saved by him.

Cast

Reception

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' 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 positive review, describing the dialogue as "pompously period", but praising the story as one allowing for "a little authentic horror [] to creep in". (reprinted in: )

References

External links

* * * * 1937 films Paramount Pictures films 1930s English-language films American historical drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by Frank Lloyd 1937 drama films 1930s historical drama films Films scored by Victor Young Films set in Massachusetts Films set in the 1690s Films set in the Thirteen Colonies Drama films based on actual events Salem witch trials in fiction 1930s American films {{historic-film-stub