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Kind Lady
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 Henry Abbot is drawing on the sidewalk during a winter storm. |
 Waiting in the kitchen for the water to boil. He looks nice and harmless. |
"A brutal British crook melodrama works up plenty of suspense in this one on a kidnapping-in-the-home idea. But it's not very entertaining, and too cruel for the kiddies." —Photoplay, February 1936
"Miss Aline McMahon contributes a first-rate performance, but it is Basil Rathbone who carries the picture, lending to the whole thing a menacing touch that is icily sinister." —Pittsburgh Post Gazette, December 13, 1935
"Miss Aline MacMahon in the title role is expert in simulating pathetic bewilderment; and that the suave Basil Rathbone is a felicitous choice for the part of the double-crossing Henry Abbott. ... Unfortunately these services and those of the others are, as we say, insufficient to lift up Kind Lady to a point where it can be recommended to your attention without reservations. But at that we have the sneaking suspicion that it is of better quality than most of the other featured films currently on exhibition downtown." —Gilbert Kanour, The Baltimore Evening Sun, December 18, 1935
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Kind Lady This English crook story depicting criminals entirely different from the American variety offers something unusual, although whether the novelty will capture American fancy seems questionable. Basil Rathbone, heading a ring of art thieves, entrenches himself in the home of Aline MacMahon, owner of an extensive collection. Putting Miss MacMahon under the influence of a drug, Rathbone, with the help of Dudley Digges, Murray Kinnell, Ely Malyon and Barbara Shields, disposes of Nola Luxford, sole MacMahon servant, and arranges a sale of the art collection. Cleverly holding the prisoner, Rathbone, on the verge of success, is bested by Frank Albertson, who has married Mary Carlisle, Miss MacMahon's niece. Director George Seitz builds suspense, once the plot starts, with a scene where the gang closes in on Miss MacMahon. This serves as a tense climax. The cast, almost entirely British, gives good performances. Rathbone is a suave, cultured menace. Doris Lloyd, as Miss MacMahon's relative, is outstanding in support, and the performances of Miss Luxford as the maid and Miss Shields as the child show good possibilities for larger assignments in the future. Bernard Schubert wrote the screen play from Edward Chodorov's dramatization of Hugh Walpole's story. Lucien Hubbard, producer, aims at average spots and has made the picture acceptable. —Motion Picture Daily, November 29, 1935 |
"In Kind Lady you'll find a picture rating far above average in plot, drama and cast. It has a Hugh Walpole plot with which the producers have taken casual but not serious liberties. It has drama more sustaining than climatic. And it is decorated with acting of the sort you'd expect on the stage rather than on the screen. ... Basil Rathbone in the role of the master crook is sinister, icy, calculating—the ooziest of villains. His sundry and assorted aides in crime are a similarly bad lot, and they perform with a masterly mixture of hypnotism and bloodshed. ... It wouldn't be going too far to say in this picture will be found an excellent antidote for a dull evening. There's hardly anyone who could see it without liking it." —Sanford L. Cooper, The Pittsburgh Press, December 13, 1935
"Hollywood is going in for stories which are different from the usual run-of-the-mill this season. ... It's a brilliant idea, and well worked out in this suspense-laden thriller." —Movie Action Magazine, February 1936
 Mary Herries asks Abbot to leave because she doesn't want to be affected by his sob story. |
 She gives him an old coat for his wife and some money for shoes. |
"The suspense is excellently sustained, and both Basil Rathbone, in the role of the chief of the gang, and Aline MacMahon, in the part of the English lady, give suave and effectively calculated performances." —The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 24, 1935
"Perhaps the fact that this story is connected with the Christmastide festivity makes it seem more sinister and sardonic, since it is the antithesis of all that the happy season represents. ... The story is unusual and dramatic, the cast is good, and suspense is well maintained, but there is little humor, and the picture has scant ethical or social value." —Motion Picture Reviews, January 1936
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Kind Lady Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has brought one of last season's hits to the screen in Kind Lady. Those of you who saw this thrilling drama, by Hugh Walpole, know the strange story it tells. To other of our listeners we will say that you have a novel treat in store for you. You will be fascinated by the weird narrative and so we shall tell you no more, for that would spoil your interest. At times, Kind Lady is a shade depressing, for it pictures some rather horrible personalities. But there is a kindly, human side to counter balance the other. Aline MacMahon is splendid in the role of the Kind Lady. And while we loathe the character, we admire the work of Basil Rathbone as the interloper. We have endorsed Kind Lady for mature audiences since we feel that it has absolutely no interest for children. —Mary Harden Looram, The Brooklyn Tablet, December 21, 1935 |
"Kind Lady is a shudder-and-gasp piece, with Basil ('Schnozzle') Rathbone providing the shudders as the evil-eyed stranger whom the kind lady befriends one dark night and who promptly gets her in his power, the ungrateful dog! Most of the action takes place in a city home—ah, there's dirty work behind them closed shutters, stranger." —Edgar Hay, The Miami Herald, December 14, 1935
"On paper this production promised much. On the screen it results in so much plot and so little entertainment that few can understand what it's all about. Its showmanship availability is such a minor quality that possibilities for exciting prospective audience curiosity would try the ingenuities of a composite Einstein-Houdini." —Motion Picture Herald, December 7, 1935
 Mary informs Abbot he'll have to move Ada because she's closing the house. |
 He doesn't look so nice anymore. |
"For the mystery minded, Hugh Walpole's Kind Lady wins honors. ... Aline MacMahon is the kind lady who befriends an apparently poverty stricken man, Basil Rathbone. Once Rathbone wins the confidence of Miss MacMahon, he turns cruel and heartless in an effort to strip her of all her wealth. ... Honors for acting are evenly divided, the Walpole story losing none of its effect." —Bob Blake, The Oakland Post Enquirer, December 19, 1935
"The story of a cunning, depraved mind in the person of a handsome stranger ... Kind Lady is screen entertainment that will hold you spellbound to the thrilling climax!" —The Shreveport Journal, December 14, 1935
"Rathbone makes a suave villain." —Variety, January 1, 1936
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Kind Lady After his portrayal of hard-hearted Murdstone in David Copperfield, it was inevitable that Basil Rathbone should be chosen as the villain in other films. In Kind Lady, Mr. Rathbone is cast as an out-and-out criminal, and he builds up a character so ruthless and wicked that one can scarcely remember that he once played Romeo. Kind Lady belies its title. It is a crime mystery in the English style, and a good one. Hugh Walpole wrote the sinister story and Edward Chodorov adapted it for the stage. It ran for seventy-nine performances in New York last spring, with Grace George in the title role. Unlike the typical American crime mystery, Kind Lady depends for effect on mental cruelty and psychological horrors rather than multiple murders, comedy detectives and distracting clues. It succeeds admirably, but since it is lacking in gaudy showmanship, it will appeal to a limited audience of connoisseurs. It is hard even to hint at the plot without taking away much of the mystery which is built up so cleverly in the first half of the picture. Suffice it to say that Mr. Rathbone's Henry Abbott is a cunning scoundrel without a trace of softness in his nature. His polished-steel-like quality, consistently maintained, is unusual among film crooks, and the enormity of his crime—measured in terms of suffering inflicted on the victims—is augmented by his polish, good taste in art and courtly manners. —Donald Kirkley, The Baltimore Sun, December 17, 1935 |
"Aline MacMahon who is usually good and Basil Rathbone who is always good even if his role is 'bad,' face a pretty tough assignment in attempting to put over Kind Lady with audience appeal. The story morbidly depresses and sort of loosens the screws in one's mental mechanism. ... The picture's unpleasant after-taste offsets adequate portrayals by its actors." —The Paducah Sun, December 16, 1935
"Kind Lady has its moments of suspense, and its cast struggles sincerely to give it a semblance of credibility; but it is almost too much for them." —Press of Atlantic City, December 17, 1935
"All soft-hearted women may profit from the experience of Aline MacMahon, a highborn English lady, whose extremely good manners are the cause of her being taken advantage of by an ingenious band of crooks. Basil Rathbone is excellent as the head crook." —Silver Screen, March 1936
 Abbott scolds Ada for leaving Mary alone with the banker. |
 He tells the banker that Mary had a nervous breakdown. |
See pictures of Posters, Lobby Cards, and Promo Photos on page three.
Back to Page One, review of Kind Lady.
