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Hester and Sydney discuss Hilary's talent as a composer, and Sydney plays an unfinished sonata on the piano that Hilary had written before going to war. Hilary returns home after having escaped from the asylum. He chats with Sydney but they engage in a heated argument that shows their similarities as
402:
On
Christmas Eve, Meg hosts a party in her English manor. Sydney happily discusses her future with Kit, as do Meg and Gray. When the group dedicate their performance of the song "God Bless the Master of This House" to Gray, Hilary's sister Hester objects because she considers Hilary to be the master
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Sydney then begins contemplating her own plans with Kit. After the doctor tells her that her children would be at risk of inheriting Hilary's mental problems, she breaks her engagement to Kit and sends him away. Hilary vacillates between accepting Meg's love for Gray and pleading with her to change
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When Meg returns from church, she is shocked to find Hilary. She has not loved him for years, is frightened by him and has been counting on her upcoming marriage to Gray, who helped her obtain a divorce based on Hilary's insanity. However, Hilary assumes that Meg will welcome him back. He cannot
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Middle-aged
Englishwoman Margaret "Meg" Fairfield's family includes her 15-year-old daughter Sydney, Sydney's fiancé Kit Humphreys, fiancé Gray Meredith and husband Hilary, who has been a patient in a mental institution for 15 years. Sydney seems to have inherited Hilary's psychiatric problems.
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Hilary finally regains his will to do what is best, and he has Sydney send Meg and Gray away. When Sydney returns to Hilary, she tearfully embraces him and they agree that they will live together. They sit together at the piano, cheerfully experimenting with new endings to his sonata.
518:, but Selznick did not like her appearance and was afraid that she would not be received well by audiences. However, Cukor cast Hepburn, beginning a lifelong professional and personal relationship with her. Hepburn was declared "a new star on the cinema horizon" by
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On
Christmas morning, while Meg and Gray are at church, the asylum telephones to inform the family that Hilary has gone missing, and Hester unintentionally reveals to Sydney that insanity runs in the family. The family has blamed Hilary's troubles on
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as a reaction to a law passed in
Britain in the early 1920s that allowed insanity as grounds for a woman to divorce her husband. It was the second screen adaptation of the play; the first was a 1922 British silent film also titled
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According to RKO records, the film earned a profit of $ 110,000 during its first year of release after cinema circuits deducted their exhibition percentage of box-office ticket sales.
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accept that the marriage has long since ended until his family doctor arrives and admonishes Hilary, telling him in Sydney's presence that his children should not have been born.
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her mind. Meg succumbs to his pressure, but when he sees her talking with Gray, Hilary realizes how much she loves Gray and how miserable she feels.
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Hall, Mordaunt (October 3, 1932). "The Screen: John
Barrymore, Billie Burke and Katherine Hepburn in a Film of a Clemence Dane Play".
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of the house even though he is psychotic and institutionalized.
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51:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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510:, who had disagreed about casting the 24-year-old
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349:in her film debut. It is based on the
60:"A Bill of Divorcement" 1932 film
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1690:1930s English-language films
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264:September 30, 1932
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1594:Light's Diamond Jubilee
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1046:It Should Happen to You
603:, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p39
578:List of Christmas films
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161:Harry Wagstaff Gribble
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1282:What Price Hollywood?
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1142:Love Among the Ruins
1134:Travels with My Aunt
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1482:Made for Each Other
1434:The Garden of Allah
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950:Keeper of the Flame
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772:
764:
754:George Cukor
717:Lobby poster
705:
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654:, retrieved
649:
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508:George Cukor
501:
458:Billie Burke
444:
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370:RKO Pictures
359:
339:George Cukor
337:directed by
326:
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281:Running time
257:Release date
202:Billie Burke
170:
147:George Cukor
107:
98:
88:
81:
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67:
55:
43:Please help
38:verification
35:
18:
1370:Viva Villa!
1322:Our Betters
1038:The Actress
830:Our Betters
558:Kino Lorber
516:screen test
413:World War I
409:shell shock
272: (U.S.)
240:Max Steiner
184:Produced by
143:Directed by
1625:1932 films
1619:Categories
1597:(1954, TV)
1538:Spellbound
990:Adam's Rib
584:References
553:Home media
498:Production
335:drama film
316:Box office
285:70 minutes
268:1932-09-30
153:Written by
71:newspapers
1070:Les Girls
902:The Women
656:March 21,
538:, critic
528:Reception
319:$ 531,000
311:$ 250,000
226:Edited by
16:1932 film
1402:Reckless
1298:Rockabye
1250:Betrayal
1226:Roulette
958:Gaslight
822:Rockabye
691:AllMovie
686:Synopsis
572:See also
332:pre-Code
298:Language
236:Music by
194:Starring
167:Based on
1506:Rebecca
1126:Justine
886:Holiday
878:Camille
566:Blu-ray
542:called
302:English
290:Country
266: (
85:scholar
1605:(1957)
1589:(1954)
1581:(1950)
1573:(1949)
1565:(1948)
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1314:Topaze
1309:(1932)
1301:(1932)
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1277:(1930)
1269:(1929)
1261:(1929)
1253:(1929)
1245:(1929)
1237:(1928)
1229:(1924)
1169:(1981)
1161:(1979)
1153:(1976)
1145:(1975)
1137:(1972)
1129:(1969)
1121:(1964)
1113:(1962)
1105:(1962)
1097:(1960)
1089:(1960)
1081:(1957)
1073:(1957)
1065:(1956)
1057:(1954)
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769:(1930)
766:Grumpy
308:Budget
87:
80:
73:
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1210:Films
704:1946
411:from
92:JSTOR
78:books
894:Zaza
680:IMDb
658:2022
564:and
506:and
435:Cast
387:and
376:Plot
345:and
64:news
710:at
689:at
678:at
562:DVD
391:in
368:by
176:by
47:by
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592:^
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89:·
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