''Their Mad Moment'' 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 ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

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 Chandler Sprague and starring

Dorothy Mackaill Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 – August 12, 1990) was a British-American actress, most active during the silent-film era and into the pre-Code era of the early 1930s. Early life Mackaill was born at 20 Newstead Street in the Dukeries, Kin ...

Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...

and

ZaSu Pitts ZaSu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along wi ...

. An uncredited

Hamilton MacFadden Hamilton MacFadden (April 26, 1901 – January 1, 1977) was an American actor, screenwriter and film director. Early years MacFadden's parents were Rev. Robert A. MacFadden and Edith Hamilton MacFadden. His father died in 1909, leaving his mo ...

also directed some scenes. It is based on the 1927 novel ''Basquerie'' by Eleanor Mercein Kelly.Goble, Alan. "Their Mad Moment", The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. London: Bowker-Saur, 1999. A Spanish-language version ''Mi último amor'' was also produced.

Plot

American Suzanne Stanley, short of money, takes her stepdaughter Emily to

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

in order to find her a wealthy husband. She pushes her towards the dull Englishman Sir Harry Congers, but Emily is drawn instead to a poor

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

boatman Esteban. She agrees to go with him to the mountains to meet his family, intending to live romantically for a few days to compensate for a lifetime with Sir Harry. She knows she cannot cope with the harsh,

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

life in the mountains, and slips away to Biarritz. He reappears on the day of the wedding and takes her away on a yacht for England, revealing that he has made a fortune in America.

Cast

as Emily Stanley *

as Esteban Cristera *

as Miss Dibbs *

Nance O'Neil Gertrude Lamson (October 8, 1874 – February 7, 1965), known professionally as Nance O'Neil or Nancy O'Neil, was an American stage and film actress who performed in plays in various theaters around the world but worked predominantly in the Unit ...

as Grand Mere *

Lawrence Grant Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 – 19 February 1952) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as '' The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell the World'', '' Shanghai Express'', ''The Mask of Fu Manchu'' and '' ...

as Sir Harry Congers *

Leon Janney Leon Janney (April 1, 1917 – October 28, 1980) was an American actor and radio personality from 1920 to 1980. Career Leon Elbert Janney was born in Ogden, Utah, to Nathan Haines Janney and Bernice Rebecca Kohn. The names of his parents are con ...

as Narcio *

John St. Polis John M. St. Polis (born John Marie Sainpolis; November 24, 1873 – October 8, 1946) was an American actor. Biography St. Polis was born John Marie Sainpolis in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Marie Sainpolis and Marie Catherine Bor ...

as Hotel Manager *

Nella Walker Nella Walker (March 6, 1886 – March 22, 1971) was an American actress and vaudeville performer of the 1920s through the 1950s. Biography The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker, she was born and raised in Chicago. In 1910, she marrie ...

as Suzanne Stanley *

Mary Doran Mary Doran (September 8, 1910 – September 6, 1995) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 80 films from 1927 to 1944. Biography Doran was born in New York and attended public schools there before graduating and going to Columbia ...

as Stancia

References

External links

* 1931 films American black-and-white films Fox Film films American comedy films 1931 comedy films Films directed by Hamilton MacFadden Films set in France Films based on American novels 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub