The Lady Escapes
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Eugene Forde
Gloria Stuart
Michael Whalen
George Sanders
Cora Witherspoon
Gerald Oliver-smith
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Prominent New York attorney Michael Hilton is exasperated with the numerous wedding rehearsals his bride-to-be, Linda Ryan, and her thrice-divorced mother, Fanny Ryan Worthington, insist on because of changes in minor details. Michael convinces the judge, an old friend, to marry them in the next rehearsal, and Linda is pleasantly surprised, although Fanny faints. On the night of their first anniversary, after one of their frequent arguments, Michael suggests a divorce, and when Linda replies that she could not live alone, Michael offers to find a new husband for her. Although their argument ends in a kiss, over the next few weeks, they become an item in Walter Winchell's column, as they frequent a football game, wrestling match and clubs, while Michael ostensibly searches for a husband. When Linda tries to pique his jealousy over her tango teacher, they get into another row, and she threatens to go home to her mother. Michael then suggests that Linda go to France. He drives her to the dock, where she stumbles into the arms of French playboy and playwright Rene Blanchard, and a photograph is snapped of the two of them. The next day, Michael gets a call from Blanchard's fiancée Dolores, a dancer who was Michael's former client, and she asks him to represent her in a suit against Blanchard. After he realizes that the woman in the newspaper photo is his wife, Michael convinces Dolores to accompany him and his cousin, Reggie Farnworth, to France to stop Dolores from creating a scandal. Reggie, who is waiting for his ninety-five-year-old uncle George to die so that he can become an earl, and Dolores go to Paris, while Michael continues to Cannes, where Blanchard and Linda have gone. Trying to make Michael jealous, Linda tells him that she has fallen madly in love with Blanchard. Michael, whom Linda introduces to Blanchard as her lawyer, joins them in all their activities during the next few days, but she manages to give him the slip for the following three days. Fed up, Michael asks Linda to go back with him to New York, but she refuses; however, she secretly has the hotel clerk book her a reservation on the express train to Paris next to Michael. Before leaving, Michael challenges Blanchard to a fight, and even though Blanchard is a champion of kick-boxing, Michael beats him. Linda is happily surprised to find Blanchard unconscious, and as she is bending over him administering smelling salts, Dolores, who has learned that Michael was stalling her, arrives with reporters and photographers. Linda runs to Michael's room, where Michael is packing. He acts like he wants to leave alone, but when Dolores and the reporters enter, he announces that Linda is his wife and that they are vacationing as Blanchard's guests. He convinces Dolores to go along with the story for the publicity, and he and Linda take the train to the docks at Paris, where he says that he is going to China. After Fanny appears with a new husband, Reggie's uncle George, Linda joins Michael, and they embrace on the boat.
Director
Eugene Forde
Cast
Gloria Stuart
Michael Whalen
George Sanders
Cora Witherspoon
Gerald Oliver-smith
June Brewster
Howard Hickman
Joseph Tozer
Don Alvarado
Maurice Cass
Franklin Pangborn
Tom Ricketts
Syd Saylor
William Wagner
Charles Williams
Milton Kibbee
Theresa Harris
Claire Dubrey
James Morton
Jack Adair
Charles Tannen
Milton Owen
Jean Masset
Regis Toomey
George Ducount
Dick Lever
Eugene Borden
Fred Kelsey
Tom Hanlon
Sherry Hall
Sidney Fields
Lon Chaney Jr.
Joe Merlo
Robert Lowery
Crew
Lucien Andriot
Arthur Berthelet
Joe Bim
Harry Brand
Gene Bryant
Eddie Collins
Al De Gaetano
Lillie Dirigo
Ed. Ebele
Don Ettlinger
Cecil Eveland
Adele Farnum
Eddie Fitzgerald
William Forsyth
Bernard Freericks
Hank Gersen
Dick Hamilton
Herschel
Albert Hogsett
Frances Hyland
Lou Johnson
Samuel Kaylin
Harry Kornfield
Leslie L. Landau
Leslie L. Landau
E. Lavelle
Harry M. Leonard
W. H. Leverett
Ferdinand Meine
M. M. Musselman
Roger Sherman
Jack Vernon
Sam Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Escape from Love and Lady in Flight. While the screen credits state that the film was based on Heltai's novel and play, information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department in the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library note that the film was also based on the screenplay to an earlier Fox production, the 1935 Señora casada necesita marido, which, in turn, was based on the works by Heltai. The screenplay of the earlier Fox film was written by José López Rubio. According to Hollywood Reporter, this was Leslie L. Landau's first producer assignment from Twentieth Century-Fox. According to the legal records, some scenes were shot at Franklin Canyon in Los Angeles, and Rafael Corio was originally signed to play the role of "Antonio." According to publicity for the film, during a fight scene with George Sanders, Michael Whalen fell and broke two fingers of his left hand. In the studio's trade advertising billing sheet, Michael Whalen is listed above Gloria Stuart. Variety called the film "one of those giddy romances currently in fashion."
