''That Certain Woman'' is a 1937 American

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 ...

written and directed by

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwi ...

and starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and r ...

, and Anita Louise. It is a remake of Goulding's 1929 film '' The Trespasser'',

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

's first

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

Plot

The

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

-like plot of the Warner Bros. release focuses on Mary Donnell, a naive young woman married to Al Haines, a bootlegger who is killed during the St. Valentine's Day massacre. In order to support herself she has taken a job as a

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

to married

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

Lloyd Rogers, who finds himself attracted to her but keeps his feelings secret out of respect for his wife. Jack Merrick, Jr., the playboy son of a wealthy client, elopes with Mary, but his disapproving father interferes and has the marriage

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

. Soon after Mary discovers she is pregnant and decides to have the child without informing Jack. Jack later marries Florence ”Flip” Carson, a woman of his own social class, who later is left crippled by an automobile accident. Mary returns to working for Lloyd Rogers. Lloyd dies several years later at Mary's apartment. He leaves Mary the bulk of his estate. There's an immediate uproar in the press, bringing out Mary's past. Jack shows up and offers to adopt Mary's son, and discovers he's the boy's father. Lloyd's wife, believing Mary's son is her husband's illegitimate child, attempts to overturn the will. When Jack's father learns the boy is his, the elder Merrick institutes proceedings to have Mary declared unfit and the child removed from her custody. Jack is furious and he argues all night with him. Florence visits Mary the next morning and, to her surprise, Mary finds Florence kind and sympathetic. Mary insists that Jack stay with Florence and allows Jack and Florence to have the child. Mary leaves for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. When Florence later dies, Jack tracks Mary down and says he's coming over to her.

Principal cast

''from closing credits of film'' *

as Mary Donnell *

as Jack Merrick, Jr. * Anita Louise as Florence Carson Merrick, ”Flip” * Ian Hunter as Lloyd Rogers *

Donald Crisp Donald William Crisp (27 July 188225 May 1974) was an English film actor as well as an early producer, director and screenwriter. His career lasted from the early silent film era into the 1960s. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor ...

as Jack Merrick, Sr. * Hugh O'Connell as Virgil Whitaker * Katherine Alexander as Mrs. Rogers * Mary Phillips as Amy *

Minor Watson Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), '' Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), '' Kings Row'' (1942), '' Gu ...

as Tildon *

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his p ...

as Detective Neely *

Charles Trowbridge Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958. Biography Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...

as Dr. James * Norman Willis as Fred *

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

as Dr. Hartman * Tim Henning as Kenyon * Dwayne Day as Jackie *

Jeff York Jeff York (March 23, 1912 – October 11, 1995) was an American film and television actor who began his career in the late 1930s using his given name, Granville Owen Scofield. He was also sometimes credited as Jeff Yorke. Career York served in ...

as Reporter (uncredited)

Principal production credits

Art Direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

..... Max Parker *

Costume Design Costume design is the creation of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume may refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. In many cases, it may contribute to the fullness of the arti ...

.....

Orry-Kelly Orry-Kelly was the professional name of Orry George Kelly (31 December 1897 – 27 February 1964), an Australian-American Hollywood costume designer. Until being overtaken by Catherine Martin in 2014, he was the most prolific Australian-bor ...

Critical reception

In his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Frank S. Nugent declared, "For all the heaviness of its theme, for the hopeless monotony of its heroine's ill-fortune, the picture has dramatic value . . . Miss Davis performs valiantly as usual, giving color to a role which, in lesser hands, might have been colorless." ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine described it as "what is known as a players' picture; everyone gets the call, and everyone responds with all the theatrical craft he can summon up." '' Variety'' said, "The production has class and atmosphere . . . a finely made picture which deserves and will get extended first runs and which shoves Bette Davis a round or two higher as box office lure . . . tdemands more of her talent than any film in which she has appeared . . . She displays screen acting of the highest order." Of the film, Bette Davis herself said

" twas certainly not one of my favorite scripts. There was a falseness to the whole project. But I did meet and work with Edmund Goulding for the first time. He concentrated on attractive shots of me - in other words, gave me the star treatment. It was the first time I had this. I was always a member of the cast - a leading member - but not made special in the way Goulding made me special in this film."

Davis and Goulding went on to collaborate on three more films: '' Dark Victory'' (1939), '' The Old Maid'' (1939), and '' The Great Lie'' (1941).

References

External links

* * * * {{Edmund Goulding 1937 films American black-and-white films Sound film remakes of silent films Remakes of American films 1930s English-language films Films scored by Max Steiner Films directed by Edmund Goulding 1937 romantic drama films American romantic drama films Warner Bros. films 1930s American films