By Frank Miller
Journal of a Crime
Brief Synopsis
Before she can confess to shooting her husband's mistress, a woman succumbs to amnesia.
Cast & Crew
Read More
William Keighley
Director
Ruth Chatterton
Françoise
Adolphe Menjou
Paul [Moliet]
Claire Dodd
Odette
George Barbier
Chautard
Douglas Dumbrille
[Germaine] Cartier
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Crime
Release Date
Mar
10,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
First National Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the film Une vie perdue by Jacques Deval (Films de Paris, 1933).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 5m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Synopsis
Paul Moliet, a playwright, is in love with Odette, the star of one of his plays. Odette has used him to further her career and now threatens to end their affair if he does not divorce his wife Françoise. Paul attempts to tell Françoise, but she is determined to hold on to her husband. She goes to the theater, shoots Odette, and escapes without being seen. A man named Costelli is arrested for the crime, but Paul discovers his own revolver backstage and confronts Françoise. She refuses to confess and although Paul stays with her, she manages to visit Costelli before he is guillotined and confesses to him that she is guilty. Because he is responsible for another murder, he gallantly confesses to hers as well. Guilt overcomes Françoise, though, and she decides to confess, but on the way to the prosecutor's office, she is struck by a car when she tries to save a child from being hit. When Françoise recovers, she has lost her memory. Paul, who has now fallen in love with his wife, realizes she has regained her lost innocence and takes her to a villa by the sea where she can recuperate and be happy.
Director
William Keighley
Director
Cast
Ruth Chatterton
Françoise
Adolphe Menjou
Paul [Moliet]
Claire Dodd
Odette
George Barbier
Chautard
Douglas Dumbrille
[Germaine] Cartier
Noel Madison
Costelli
Henry O'neill
Doctor
Phillip Reed
Young man
Henry Kolker
Henri Marcher
Edward Mcwade
Rigaud
Walter Pidgeon
Baritone
Frank Darien
Stage manager
Clay Clement
Inspector
Elsa Jansen
Frau Winterstein
Sidney D'albrook
First truck driver
Paul Panzer
Second truck driver
Maurice Brierre
Teller
Harry Woods
Detective
George Magrill
Ambulance man
Jean De Briac
Butler
Montague Shaw
Ambassador
Ellinor Vanderveer
Ambassador's wife
Virginia Hammond
Guest
Jane Darwell
Large woman
Olaf Hytten
Victor
Harold Entwistle
George
Maidel Turner
Lady
Lowden Adams
Valet
Hazel Hayes
Mme. Razier
Edward Peil Sr.
Jailor
Claire Mcdowell
Sister
Leila Bennett
Maid
Rosalie Roy
Lorena Layson
Marjorie Lytell
Ann Hovey
Pat Wing
George Blackwood
Renee Whitney
Crew
Maude Allen
Screenplay clerk
Henry Blanke
Supervisor
G. Brandenburg
Assistant Camera
William Clemens
Editing
Olga Collins
Hair
Chuck Davis
Grip
Elmer Ellsworth
Men's wardrobe
Leo F. Forbstein
Vitaphone Orch Conductor
James Gibbons
Editing
Ernest Haller
Photography
Chuck Hansen
Assistant Director
F. Hugh Herbert
Screenwriter
John Hughes
Art Director
Charles Kenyon
Screenwriter
Charles Lang
Sound
Art Lueker
Second Assistant Director
Scotty Moore
Props
Orry-kelly
Gowns
Mr. Riley
Women's wardrobe
Al Roberts
2nd Camera
Bob Ross
Unit Manager
Bert Six
Still Photographer
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Crime
Release Date
Mar
10,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
First National Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the film Une vie perdue by Jacques Deval (Films de Paris, 1933).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 5m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Articles
Journal of a Crime -
This inexpensive crime drama ended the Warner Bros. career of Ruth Chatterton, a victim of declining box office and her vocal protests when the studio tried to cut salaries at the height of the Depression. She stars as a desperate wife trying to win playwright husband Adolphe Menjou back from the leading lady (Claire Dodd) he's fallen for. The plot would have given a lesser actress an excuse for scenery chewing, but Chatterton wisely played the role with restraint in a performance suggesting that the problems with her box office may have more to do with Warner's script choices than her own abilities. Completed a few months before strict Production Code enforcement began, the film is not constrained by the Code's insistence that all criminals be punished. As a result, the picture generates some actual suspense over whether or not Chatterton will get away with murder. Like many studio films of the era, Journal of a Crime is filled with recognizable faces, including Douglas Dumbrille as the district attorney, Henry O'Neill as a doctor, Jane Darwell as a party guest and, if you don't blink, Walter Pidgeon as Dodd's on-stage leading man.
By Frank Miller
By Frank Miller
Journal of a Crime -
This inexpensive crime drama ended the Warner Bros. career of Ruth Chatterton, a victim of declining box office and her vocal protests when the studio tried to cut salaries at the height of the Depression. She stars as a desperate wife trying to win playwright husband Adolphe Menjou back from the leading lady (Claire Dodd) he's fallen for. The plot would have given a lesser actress an excuse for scenery chewing, but Chatterton wisely played the role with restraint in a performance suggesting that the problems with her box office may have more to do with Warner's script choices than her own abilities. Completed a few months before strict Production Code enforcement began, the film is not constrained by the Code's insistence that all criminals be punished. As a result, the picture generates some actual suspense over whether or not Chatterton will get away with murder. Like many studio films of the era, Journal of a Crime is filled with recognizable faces, including Douglas Dumbrille as the district attorney, Henry O'Neill as a doctor, Jane Darwell as a party guest and, if you don't blink, Walter Pidgeon as Dodd's on-stage leading man.
By Frank Miller
Quotes
Trivia
The source is credited to a play onscreen, but it is actually a remake of the French film "Une vie perdue (1933)", written by the same author. Perhaps "screen play" was meant, since "screenplay" in the 30's was two separate words.
Leila Bennett (Maid) is supposed to be in this film, but she was not seen. Mollet's maid, Helene, did not look or sound like Bennett.
Notes
According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter, G. W. Pabst was originally assigned to direct. Jacques Deval's film was first called Silence de mort.
