''East Lynne'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

film version of Ellen Wood's eponymous 1861 novel, which was adapted by Tom Barry and Bradley King and directed by

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

. (The adaptation was sufficiently different from Wood's original novel that the screenplay was in turn novelized for a

Grosset and Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. In recent years, through the P ...

Photoplay Edition by Arline de Haas.) The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture but lost to RKO-Radio's ''Cimarron''. ''East Lynne'' is a

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

starring

Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. Harding was a regular on Broadway and on tour in the 1920s. In the 1930s Harding, was one of ...

Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English stage and 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 Unit ...

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1940, a ...

and

Cecilia Loftus Cecilia Loftus (born Marie Cecilia Loftus Brown; 22 October 1876 – 12 July 1943) was a Scottish actress, singer, mimic, vaudevillian, and music hall performer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life Loftus was born in Glasgow, ...

. Only one print of the film is known to exist, though bootleg DVD copies exist minus the final scene. This print is in good shape, although several frames have an "X" on them, indicating they were to be removed in the film editing stage. One frame has a "crosshairs" on it, while several frames have ink marks. People may view the film at

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

's Instructional Media Lab, Powell Library, after arranging an appointment. The film's copyright was renewed, so will not fall into the public domain until 2027. The film is the third adaptation of the book produced by Fox. Previous versions are the 1916 release with

Theda Bara Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...

and the one in 1925 starring Alma Rubens. Anne Harding Clive Brook East Lynne 1931

Plot

The

trophy wife A trophy wife is a wife who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband. The term is often used in a derogatory or disparaging way, implying that the wife in question has little personal merit besides her physical attractiveness, requires subs ...

of a stodgy man of wealth yearns for a more interesting life. A daughter of a nobleman, her solution leads to scandal, ruin, and an odd denouement.

Cast

as Lady Isabella *

as Captain William Levison *

as Robert Carlyle (name changed from Archibald Carlyle in the book) *

as Cornelia Carlyle *

Beryl Mercer Beryl Mercer (August 13, 1882 – July 28, 1939) was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States. Early years Beryl Mercer was born to British parents in Seville on 13 August 1882. Her father was ...

as Joyce * O.P. Heggie as Lord Mount Severn *

Flora Sheffield Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Sometimes b ...

as Barbara Hare * David Torrence as Sir Richard Hare * J. Gunnis Davis as Dodson, the Butler (uncredited) *

Eric Mayne Eric Mayne (April 28, 1865 – February 10, 1947) was an Irish born American actor. Mayne was born in Dublin and was a star on stage in London in the early 20th century, at the London Lyceum and at Drury Lane. In 1908 and 1910 he played Prince H ...

as Doctor * Ronnie Cosby as William as a child * Wallie Albright as William as a boy

Awards

The film was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

in 1931.

Other filmed versions based on the novel

* 1912 ''East Lynne'' – Short Film - Directed by

Theodore Marston Theodore Marston (August 10, 1868 in Minnesota – October 2, 1920 in Los Angeles, California, United States) was an American silent film director and writer during the early silent period. He directed films including '' Aurora Floyd'' in 19 ...

- with Florence La Badie and

James Cruze James Cruze (born Jens Cruz Bosen;Sadoul, Georges (1972). Dictionary of Films'. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 53. . See also: * Parish, James Robert; Pitts, Michael R. (1974). Film Directors: A Guide to Their American Fi ...

* 1913 ''

East Lynne ''East Lynne, or, The Earl's Daughter'' is an 1861 English sensation novel by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs. Henry Wood. A Victorian-era bestseller, it is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot centering on infidelity and dou ...

'' - British Film - Directed by Bert Haldane - with Blanche Forsythe and

Fred Paul Fred Paul (1880–1967) was a Switzerland, Swiss-born United Kingdom, British actor and film director. Paul was born in Lausanne in 1880 but moved to Britain at a young age. He was a prolific actor and director in the 1910s and 1920s, but his car ...

* 1915 ''East Lynne'' – Short Film - Directed by Travers Vale - with Louise Vale and Alan Hale * 1916 ''

'' – Directed by Bertram Bracken - with

and Ben Deeley * 1921 ''East Lynne'' – Directed by

Hugo Ballin Hugo Ballin (March 7, 1879 – November 27, 1956) was an American artist, muralist, author, and film director. Ballin was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Academy of Design. Biography Ballin was born in New ...

- with

Mabel Ballin Mabel Ballin (née Croft; January 1, 1885 – July 24, 1958), was an American motion-picture actress of the silent film era. Early life and career Mabel Croft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1885. Some sources give 1887 as h ...

and

Edward Earle Edward Earle (16 July 1882 – 15 December 1972) was a Canadian-American stage, film and television actor. In a career which lasted from the 1910s to 1966, he appeared in almost 400 films between 1914 and 1956. He was born in Toronto and died ...

* 1922 ''

'' - Australian Film - Directed by Charles Hardy - with Ellen Jerdan and Don McAlpine * 1925 ''

'' – Directed by

Emmett J. Flynn Emmett John Flynn (1882 – June 4, 1937) was an American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. Early life Emmett John Flynn was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1882. He graduated from Regis University, Sacred Heart College of Denver. Car ...

- with Alma Rubens and

Edmund Lowe Edmund Sherbourne Lowe (March 3, 1890 – April 21, 1971) was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. Biography Lowe's childhood home was at 314 North 1st Street, San Jose. He attended Santa Clara Coll ...

* 1930 '' Ex Flame'' - Directed by

Victor Halperin Victor Hugo Halperin (August 24, 1895, Chicago, Illinois – May 17, 1983, Bentonville, Arkansas) was an American stage actor, stage director, film director, film producer, producer, and writer. The majority of his works involved romance film, rom ...

- with Neil Hamilton and

Marian Nixon Marian Nixon (born Marja Nissinen; October 20, 1904 – February 13, 1983) was an American film actress. Sometimes credited as Marion Nixon, she appeared in more than 70 films. Career Born in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1904, to parents of Finnish d ...

* 1976 ''East Lynne'' – British Television Series - directed by Barney Colehan - with Polly James and

Christopher Cazenove Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove (17 December 1943 – 7 April 2010) was an English film, television and stage actor. Early life and career He was born Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove, on 17 December 1943, the son of Brigadier Arnold de Leri ...

* 1982 ''East Lynne'' – British Television Film - directed by David Green - with

Lisa Eichhorn Lisa Eichhorn (born February 4, 1952) is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film ''Yanks'', for which she received two Golden Globe nominations. Her international career has included ...

and

Tim Woodward Timothy Oliver Woodward (24 April 1953 – 9 November 2023) was an English actor. His credits included ''Galileo'' (1975), '' Piece of Cake'' (1988), ''Families'', '' Heartbeat'', '' The Europeans'' (1979), '' Tales of the Unexpected'' (1982), ' ...

References

External links

''East Lynne''
at Best Picture Derby
''East Lynne''
at

TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

* *
Novelization
of the screenplay {{East Lynne 1931 films 1931 drama films Fox Film films Films about adultery in the United Kingdom American drama films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films based on East Lynne Films directed by Frank Lloyd Films set in England 1930s American films