Still image from the 1932 film Emma.

Emma

Directed by Clarence Brown

A housekeeper faces unexpected snobbery when she marries her boss.

1932 1h 13m Drama TV-G

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CAST
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Clarence Brown, Director
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Clarence Brown
Director

1

Marie Dressler, Emma [Thatcher Smith]
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Marie Dressler
Emma [Thatcher Smith]..

2

Richard Cromwell, Ronnie [Smith]
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Richard Cromwell
Ronnie [Smith]

3

Jean Hersholt, Mr. [Frederick] Smith
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Jean Hersholt
Mr. [Frederick] Smith..

4

Myrna Loy, Isabelle [Countess Marlin]
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Myrna Loy
Isabelle [Countess Ma..

5

John Miljan, District Attorney
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John Miljan
District Attorney

FULL SYNOPSIS

Inventor Frederick Smith's wife dies during the birth of their fourth baby, Ronnie, leaving the family in the care of their faithful housekeeper Emma. Twenty years later, after Smith's inventions have made the family rich, the affable Ronnie, who is Emma's favorite, arrives home from college, announcing that he wants to quite school and become a flier. The other Smith children, Bill, Gypsy and Isabelle, have all grown into spoiled adults, but Emma lovingly indulges them all, making excuses for their bad behavior to their father and everyone else. As Emma leaves for her first vacation in thirty-two years with the family, the absent-minded Frederick sadly takes her to the station. She gets cold feet and decides to stay home, but Frederick won't let her and decides to go along with her to Niagara Falls. Waiting for their train, Frederick proposes and Emma accepts, even though she is afraid that people will talk. When the children learn about the marriage, Ronnie is happy for them, but the other children are embarrassed by the blot on their social record. On their honeymoon, as the happy Frederick and Emma row on the lake, they are teased by some young vacationers, prompting Frederick to take the oars from Emma. The exertion causes a mild heart attack and they return home. As the contented Frederick listens to Emma sing to him, he dies, and a short time later, the family learns that he has left his entire estate to Emma. Though Emma wants to give the money back to the ch...


VIDEOS
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Airport
Movie Clip
Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
Hosted Intro
Ronnie
Movie Clip

ARTICLES
Marie Dressler was a most unlikely movie star. Ungainly, unlovely, not young, she nevertheless projected great warmth and an indomitable spirit. She had impeccable comic timing and some of the best double-takes in the business. And she was as adept at tragedy as she was at comedy. Audiences of the early 'thirties adored her. The road to movie stardom was a long and rocky one for Dressler. She had been a vaudeville headliner at the turn of the century. Her first film, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), co-starring Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand, was an adaptation of Dressler's stage hit. In the 1920's, her career foundered, and she was nearly destitute until her friend, screenwriter Frances Marion, got her back into movies in 1927. Dressler won an Academy Award® as Best Actress for the tragicomedy, Min and Bill (1930), and Emma (1932) which was also a drama, earned her another Oscar® nomination. Emma is a typical Dressler character -- earthy and maternal, she becomes the housekeeper for the family of widower Jean Hersholt, and raises a bunch of ungrateful brats who resent her when she marries their father. By all accounts, Dressler was as generous and kind-hearted as the character she played. Two young actresses in the cast never forgot her thoughtfulness. Child actress Dawn O'Day had played one of Dressler's children in The Callahans and the Murphys (1927). By 1932, O'Day was going through an awkward age, and was having trouble getting work. Th...

ARCHIVES
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 Movie Poster from the movie 'Emma'
Emma
Movie Poster

NOTES

According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter, the prologue to the story, about the birth of "Ronnie," was shot and added to the picture after M-G-M executives saw the thought-to-be complete product in late November 1931. Marie Dressler received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the film.

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