By Glenn Erickson
Where Sinners Meet
Brief Synopsis
An eccentric millionaire kidnaps eloping couples to make sure they're meant for each other.
Cast & Crew
Read More
J. Walter Ruben
Director
Diana Wynyard
Anne
Clive Brook
Latimer
Billie Burke
Eustasia
Reginald Owen
Leonard
Alan Mowbray
Nicholas
Film Details
Also Known As
Dover Road, Where Lovers Meet
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Drama
Release Date
May
18,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play The Dover Road by A. A. Milne (New York, 23 Dec 1921).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 12m
Sound
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
When Leonard and Ann's automobile breaks down on The Dover Road, an infamous English thoroughfare used by lovers who are escaping by boat to France, their chauffeur, Saunders, escorts them to the home of the mysterious Mr. Latimer, who claims they are in a hotel. After being compelled to spend the night, Leonard and Ann finally realize Saunders was paid to bring them there. Latimer, a rich bachelor, then explains that his hobby is forcing impassioned couples to spend a week together before embarking on the long road of marriage, in order to prevent unhappy alliances. Latimer also tells them that another couple, whose "probation" is up the next day, is staying at the house. The following morning, the other couple is revealed to be Leonard's wife Eustacia and her ill lover Nicholas. Eustacia's biggest complaint about Leonard is that he never became ill so she could take care of him, whereas Nicholas caught a bad cold the first day at Latimer's. When Ann comes down to breakfast, Latimer imitates Leonard so that she might practice her marital behavior, but she insists that Latimer bring their car around. Leonard then wakes with a nasty cold, and while Ann is unsympathetic, Eustacia enters and cossets him. While Leonard and Eustacia resume their marital roles, Nicholas and Ann become acquainted, but by the third day, when Ann asks Nicholas for money to get home, he realizes the affair is a lost cause. Both men admit they are fed up with women and plan to escape from England. Latimer, meanwhile, schemes to make one of his servants ill to draw Eustacia's attention away from Leonard, and he himself pretends to contract uralgia, drawing Ann's sympathies. Although Latimer expresses his love to Ann, she takes off in his car. Before she has gotten very far, however, she discovers that Latimer is in the car with her and is determined to take her to Dover.
Director
J. Walter Ruben
Director
Cast
Diana Wynyard
Anne
Clive Brook
Latimer
Billie Burke
Eustasia
Reginald Owen
Leonard
Alan Mowbray
Nicholas
Gilbert Emery
Dominic
Phyllis Barry
The chambermaid
Walter Armitage
The footman
Katherine Williams
The chambermaid
Robert Adair
The footman
Vernon Steele
Saunders
Crew
David Abel
Photography
Pandro S. Berman
Executive Producer
Perry Ferguson
Art Director
H. W. Hanemann
Screenwriter
Jack Hively
Editing
David Lewis
Associate Producer
Ray Lissner
Assistant Director
Nick Musuraca
Photography
Walter Plunkett
Costumes
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Max Steiner
Music Director
Paul F. Wiser
Recording
Film Details
Also Known As
Dover Road, Where Lovers Meet
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Drama
Release Date
May
18,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play The Dover Road by A. A. Milne (New York, 23 Dec 1921).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 12m
Sound
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Where Sinners Meet -
When famed A.A. Milne created Winnie the Pooh in 1924, he was already a playwright and an author of detective stories. His 1921 play The Dover Road was first adapted as a silent picture, and then filmed by RKO as Where Sinners Meet (1934). The comedy of polite manners has an original, if bizarre premise: Clive Brook plays Mr. Latimer, an eccentric millionaire who kidnaps two eloping couples, locks them in his mansion, and puts them through various tests so they'll reconsider their rash decision to become runaway lovers. Runaway Eustasia (Billie Burke, the future Good Witch Glynda) drives her chosen partner Nicholas (Alan Mowbray) dotty with her fussing and fluttering, but finds that another runaway, hypochondriac Leonard (Reginald Owen) appreciates her mothering nature. Leonard's partner in elopement Anne (Diana Wynyard) eventually charms none other than the genteel kidnapper-host Latimer, who reveals that he took on this experiment because of his own two failed marriages. The advertising made much of the return pairing of Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook, the stars of the previous year's Best Picture Oscar winner Cavalcade (1933). Variety dismissed Sinners as 'silly ass English hokum,' but another review described the comedy as, "whipped cream amply sprinkled with charm," and praised its fast tempo.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
Where Sinners Meet -
When famed A.A. Milne created Winnie the Pooh in 1924, he was already a playwright and an author of detective stories. His 1921 play The Dover Road was first adapted as a silent picture, and then filmed by RKO as Where Sinners Meet (1934). The comedy of polite manners has an original, if bizarre premise: Clive Brook plays Mr. Latimer, an eccentric millionaire who kidnaps two eloping couples, locks them in his mansion, and puts them through various tests so they'll reconsider their rash decision to become runaway lovers. Runaway Eustasia (Billie Burke, the future Good Witch Glynda) drives her chosen partner Nicholas (Alan Mowbray) dotty with her fussing and fluttering, but finds that another runaway, hypochondriac Leonard (Reginald Owen) appreciates her mothering nature. Leonard's partner in elopement Anne (Diana Wynyard) eventually charms none other than the genteel kidnapper-host Latimer, who reveals that he took on this experiment because of his own two failed marriages. The advertising made much of the return pairing of Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook, the stars of the previous year's Best Picture Oscar winner Cavalcade (1933). Variety dismissed Sinners as 'silly ass English hokum,' but another review described the comedy as, "whipped cream amply sprinkled with charm," and praised its fast tempo. By Glenn Erickson
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Dover Road. A March 1934 Daily Variety news item announced that the title had been changed from Dover Road to Where Lovers Meet, but it is possible that the latter title might have been an error. RKO borrowed Diana Wynyard from M-G-M for the production. Her name is spelled "Wynward" on one frame of the opening credits. In 1927, William de Mille directed Vera Reynolds in The Little Adventuress, a De Mille Pictures' version of A. A. Milne's play (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.3103).
