''The Unguarded Hour'' is a 1936 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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

and starring

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1989. She received numerous honors including an Academy Awards ...

, Franchot Tone and Roland Young. In England, a prominent young

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

in a murder trial is unaware that his wife is involved. It is based on Bernard Merivale's 1935 play '' The Unguarded Hour'', an adaptation of an earlier Hungarian work by Ladislas Fodor. Some changes were made from the play in order to heighten the drama, including having the heroine as the elusive witness in connection with the trial. The film's set designs were overseen by

Cedric Gibbons Austin Cedric Gibbons (March 23, 1890 – July 26, 1960) was an American Art director#In film, art director for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. Gibbons de ...

, assisted by Edwin B. Willis and Joseph Wright. Dolly Tree designed the costumes.

Plot

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

Sir Alan Dearden is tipped to be Britain's next and youngest ever

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

. Shortly before he leaves for holiday on the

Continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

, his wife Helen is approached by a man claiming to have love letters written by her husband to his own estranged wife. Although these pre-date their marriage, Lady Helen worries that scandal would ruin her husband's career and reluctantly agrees to pay the

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

demand of £2,000. The following day, she draws the money out of the bank and meets the blackmailer in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, eventually leaving the money on the White Cliffs. While she is recovering the love letters, she sees a middle-aged man warning his wife not to go too near the edge. She is enjoying her holiday with her husband when he is urgently called back to London to take over a murder case at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. A man named Metford stands accused of pushing his wife over a cliff. A shocked Helen realises that she is the key witness in the case but elects to remain silent. During

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Law of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Austra ...

, Dearden hounds Metford over his claims that there was a female witness who saw him warning his wife to take care by pointing out a nationwide hunt has not produced this supposed witness. Helen does what she can to persuade her husband that Metford is innocent and that people often make poor witnesses when they are telling the truth, but he is unmoved. Then, during the trial, Dearden is approached by his former flame —- encouraged by her estranged husband —- who demands blackmail money from him. When shortly afterwards she is found murdered,

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

investigate and find suspicion is pointed at Dearden. While he has a genuine excuse of how she spent the "unguarded hour", his story sounds as unbelievable as Metford's. In a sensational development, Lady Helen is subpoenaed by the defence in order to clear the accused, which she does. She then manages to entrap the original blackmailer into revealing that he was the man who killed Metford’s wife.

Cast

as Lady Helen Dudley Dearden * Franchot Tone as Sir Alan Dearden * Lewis Stone as General Lawrence * Roland Young as William 'Bunny' Jeffers * Jessie Ralph as Lady Agatha Hathaway * Dudley Digges as Samuel Metford * Henry Daniell as Hugh Lewis * Robert Greig as Henderson * E. E. Clive as Lord Henry Hathaway * Wallis Clark as Inspector Grainger * John Buckler as Defense Counsel * Aileen Pringle as Diana Roggers * Ottola Nesmith as Mrs. Samuel Metford * Viva Tattersall as Eloise Cameron * Crauford Kent as Inspector Thorpe * Leonard Carey as Hilton - Alan's Assistant * C. Montague Shaw as Registrar * Lawrence Grant as Judge * Guy Bellis as Attorney in Court

Radio adaptation

''The Unguarded Hour'' was presented on '' Theatre Guild on the Air'' December 28, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Michael Redgrave and Nina Foch.

References

Bibliography

* Kabatchnik, Amnon. ''Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery and Detection''. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

* * *
1952 ''Theatre Guild on the Air'' radio adaptation of original play
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unguarded Hour, The 1936 films 1936 crime drama films American crime drama films American mystery drama films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Sam Wood Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films set in London Films set in Kent 1930s mystery drama films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language crime drama films English-language mystery drama films Films scored by William Axt