By Violet LeVoit
Married and in Love
Brief Synopsis
Illicit lovers plot to desert their spouses and marry each other.
Cast & Crew
Read More
John Farrow
Director
Alan Marshal
[Doctor] Leslie Yates
Barbara Read
Helen Yates
Patric Knowles
Paul Wilding
Helen Vinson
Doris Wilding
Hattie Noel
Hildegarde
Film Details
Also Known As
Distant Fields
Genre
Romance
Drama
Release Date
Jan
19,
1940
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 Distant Fields by S. K. Lauren (London, 4 Oct 1937).
Technical Specs
Duration
59m
Film Length
5,351ft
(6 reels)
Synopsis
Two married couples become engulfed in a storm of emotional fury when Doctor Leslie Yates runs into writer Doris Wilding, his old college flame, whom he has not seen in ten years. After reminiscing about their past, Doris and Leslie make a dinner date with their respective spouses. On the eve of the Yates's dinner party, Leslie's wife Helen brings home a magazine article written by Doris, which sparks Leslie's memory of his separation from her. During the dinner party, Leslie notices a picture of Doris' father, which reminds him of her decision to marry Paul without telling him. Soon Doris rekindles a flame in Leslie, who compares her to his plain and prosaic wife. Meanwhile, Helen has inadvertently become drunk and needs to be taken home. When Helen brings up the sensitive issue of Leslie's past relationship with Doris, the troubled Leslie remembers when Helen selflessly gave him $5,000 to go to medical school. Frustrated, Leslie writes Doris a note instructing her not to accept Helen's invitation to a dinner she is planning and asks to meet with her privately. Doris invites Leslie to her private studio, where she usually writes in seclusion, only to be intruded upon by Paul, who walks in while the two are kissing. After Leslie admits his love for Doris to Paul, he seeks advice from his friends, who tell him to apprise Helen of the affair. Leslie agrees that Helen should be told, but Paul beats him to it. When the two couples assemble to dinner at the Yateses, Helen tells a moving story of how she and Leslie persevered through the hardest of times, thus leading all present to realize that no mistakes have been made in choosing their present spouses.
Director
John Farrow
Director
Cast
Alan Marshal
[Doctor] Leslie Yates
Barbara Read
Helen Yates
Patric Knowles
Paul Wilding
Helen Vinson
Doris Wilding
Hattie Noel
Hildegarde
Frank Faylen
Man in bar
Carol Hughes
Woman in bar
Crew
Albert D'agostino
Art Director Associate
J. Roy Hunt
Director of Photography
Arthur Lange
Music Score
S. K. Lauren
Story and Screenplay
Lee Marcus
Prod Executive
Harry Marker
Editing
Hugh Mcdowell Jr.
Recording
Argyle Nelson
Assistant Director
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Renié
Gowns
Robert Sisk
Producer
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
Distant Fields
Genre
Romance
Drama
Release Date
Jan
19,
1940
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 Distant Fields by S. K. Lauren (London, 4 Oct 1937).
Technical Specs
Duration
59m
Film Length
5,351ft
(6 reels)
Articles
Married and In Love
The innocuous title hides a much darker story. In a park one sunny day, Dr. Leslie Yates (Australian actor Alan Marshal, who recalls a more mannerly Errol Flynn) has a chance meeting with his former love, the blonde and polished writer Doris Wilding (Helen Vinson). It's been years since they've seen each other, and they're now married to other people: he to simple but loyal Helen (Barbara Read), and she to Paul (Patric Knowles), a courtly sophisticate whose witticisms barely contain his bitterness. They've both married inadequate partners, but do they have the courage to face the truth? Does it justify hurting their innocent spouses? And despite the passion they still feel for each other, what about the way they hurt each other in the past? Screenwriter S.K. Lauren, who also wrote the original play this picture was based on, also penned von Sternberg's Marlene Dietrich vehicle Blonde Venus (1934). His bittersweet awareness of human behavior in and out of erotic obsession brings an uncomfortable poignancy to an otherwise routine sojourn down the road not taken.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Married and In Love
The innocuous title hides a much darker story. In a park one sunny day, Dr. Leslie Yates (Australian actor Alan Marshal, who recalls a more mannerly Errol Flynn) has a chance meeting with his former love, the blonde and polished writer Doris Wilding (Helen Vinson). It's been years since they've seen each other, and they're now married to other people: he to simple but loyal Helen (Barbara Read), and she to Paul (Patric Knowles), a courtly sophisticate whose witticisms barely contain his bitterness. They've both married inadequate partners, but do they have the courage to face the truth? Does it justify hurting their innocent spouses? And despite the passion they still feel for each other, what about the way they hurt each other in the past? Screenwriter S.K. Lauren, who also wrote the original play this picture was based on, also penned von Sternberg's Marlene Dietrich vehicle Blonde Venus (1934). His bittersweet awareness of human behavior in and out of erotic obsession brings an uncomfortable poignancy to an otherwise routine sojourn down the road not taken.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Distant Fields. A 1937 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that RKO originally assigned Dorothy Yost to write the screenplay. Although a 1939 Variety news item called the story a "John Twist original," his contribution to the film has not been confirmed. According to a September 1939 Daily Variety news item, John Archer, a winner in Jesse L. Lasky's "Gateway to Hollywood" talent contest, was originally announced for the co-starring role. Hollywood Reporter production charts list actress Adele Pearce in the cast, but her appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.
