sylvia scarlett synopsis

Director George Cukor and star Katharine Hepburn were years ahead of their time when they brought the cross-dressing comedy-romance Sylvia Scarlett to the screen in 1935. His daughter Sylvia (Hepburn) has stolen some expensive lace which they hope to smuggle from France to England. Snow has just passed away. Katherine Hepburn puts her talent at full display with Sylvia Scarlett, displaying a range of emotions from anger to comedy to romance. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. Synopsis It is puzzling in its tangents and sudden jumps plus the almost poetic lines that are given to Miss Hepburn. Be the first to contribute! [9], The film is mostly known for its queer elements, with Hepburn's character continuing to do drag even after it is not necessary anymore for the character,[10] which "confused and disconcerted in equal measures. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. The success of the subterfuge is in large part due to the transformation of Hepburn by RKO makeup artist Mel Berns. Along the way, they meet a con artist named Jimmy Monkley. "[7], A Turner Classic Movies article suggested that the film's themes of sexual politics were ahead of its time and that the film's reception has improved over the years. This film was the first pairing of Grant and Hepburn, who later starred together in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), and The Philadelphia Story (1940). | Overview Full Credits Full Synopsis Notes Music Screenplay Info Original Print Info Genre Keywords. They are joined by amiable con man Jimmy Monkley, then, after a brief career in crime, meet Maudie Tilt, a giddy, sexy Cockney housemaid who joins them in the new venture of entertaining at resort towns from a caravan. data from AFI catalog. Although their initial encounter does include a con, they ultimately decide to go into the grifting business together. "The Current Cinema". Read Full Synopsis Parts of the story are a trifle illogical but the direction, acting and some very delightful photography make it seem almost possible. | Complications ensue when Henry falls for Maudie, and Sylvia falls for an artist named Michael Fane, who they meet during one of their performances. ", "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies", Sylvia Scarlett (1936): Starring Katharine Hepburn as Boy and Cary Grant before he became Star, Queering Classic Hollywood: The Allure of Queer Romance in “Sylvia Scarlett”, Historic reviews, photo gallery at CaryGrant.net, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sylvia_Scarlett&oldid=990079859, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 November 2020, at 18:11. Though they would pay for their forward thinking at the box office, the film would later be hailed as a decidedly advanced treatment of sexual … To divert attention away from him, Jimmy snitches on Henry to the customs officials, and Henry has to … [8] In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100. [12] It also resulted in movie audiences walking away from the movie, especially since it was insinuated or shown that both male and female characters were attracted to Hepburn's character, in and out of drag. Sylvia Scarlett proves to be not only Katherine Hepburn’s best film in the 30s, but also George Cukor’s best film since Dinner at Eight. Marseilles based seamstress Mme. Indeed, it is that part of the film with Hepburn in breeches that is best. She is the star of the film, even pushing sexy Cary Grant to the side, who admittedly was still rising to fame around this time. Brian Aherne admitting his attraction to Katharine Hepburn, disguised as a boy, in Sylvia Scarlett. Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who, to avoid detection, "disguises" herself as a boy, "Sylvester." [13], Some have argued that "Gender as a separate concept from sexuality or physical sex wouldn’t come about for another twenty years, so audiences had no context for Sylvia’s odd apparel" through the movie. While on the channel ferry, they meet a "gentleman adventurer", Jimmy Monkley (Cary Grant), who partners with them in his con games. When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others. Taglines But the film has a sprawling, confused and unaccented way of telling its story that might easily be the result of too literal a dramatization of just that sprawling kind of book. After a disastrous test screening, Cukor and Hepburn reportedly begged producer Pandro Berman to shelve the picture if they agreed to make their next film for free. But it was altered radically and was weakened, with the result that it has made an uninteresting comedy. "'Sylvia Scarlett' with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Brian Aherne". "[6] The Monthly Film Bulletin declared, "A very entertaining film. The review added that "Cary Grant, doing a petty English crook with a Soho accent, practically steals the picture. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s. Sylvia Scarlett (1936) MAIN Links. According to RKO records, the film lost a whopping $363,000,[1] and thus began a downturn in Hepburn's career (causing her to be branded "box office poison") from which she would eventually recover. Although he initially decides not to take his daughter Sylvia with him, she convinces him to go along as she will disguise herself as a boy named Sylvester, the disguise as the authorities would not be looking for a man and his son. At moments the film skirts the border of absurdity and considerable of its mid-section is downright boresome." | Approved | 1h 35min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 3 January 1936 (USA) When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others. The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, "The Screen: Katharine Hepburn and Edmund Gwenn in 'Sylvia Scarlett,' at the Radio City Music Hall. Sylvia Scarlett (1935) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Hepburn plays the title role of Sylvia Scarlett, a female con artist masquerading as a boy to escape the police. After the death of her mother, Sylvia Scarlett (Katharine Hepburn) decides that she can help her debt-ridden father, Henry (Edmund Gwenn), by dressing like a young man in order to move more freely in society. Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie. Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who, to avoid detection, "disguises" herself as a boy, "Sylvester." User Reviews Other Reviews Articles Money Awards Quotes Trivia Home Video Reviews Misc Notes Alternate Versions Theatrical Aspect Ratio Video Fan … Through all this, amazingly no one recognizes that Sylvia is not a boy...until she meets handsome artist Michael Fane, and drama intrudes on the comedy. Sylvia has to decide whether to come out as a girl not only to Michael, but to Jimmy and Maudie as well. "[4] Harrison's Reports stated, "The material in the two novels, from which this story was supposedly taken, could have made an outstanding picture. It is now seen as "a monument to the sapphic impression Hepburn left in Hollywood", [16] with the film implying "that Sylvia might stay as Sylvester forever", even as she enters a relationship with a man. Summaries. (Grant used the Cockney accent in only a few other films, notably 1939's Gunga Din and Clifford Odets' None but the Lonely Heart in 1944.) To elude police, she cuts her hair short and disguises herself as a man. Henry, while employed as a bookkeeper for a lace factory, was discovered to be an embezzler. [17] Some, on the other hand, have considered that "these deliciously cheeky invitations are met with sexual panic and a predictable retreat into befrocked femininity".[18].

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