Basil Rathbone: The Barretts of Wimpole Street

A play by Rudolf Besier, arranged in three acts and five scenes by Katharine Cornell. Cornell had produced this play at the Empire Theatre, New York City, in 1931, but Basil Rathbone was not part of the Broadway production. This production, which starred Basil Rathbone as Robert Browning, was performed during a seven-month transcontinental tour beginning at the Erlanger Theatre in Buffalo, New York, December 2, 1933.

Produced by Katharine Cornell, staged by Guthrie McClintic, setting and costumes by Jo Mielziner. General Representative, Gertrude Macy; Company Manager, Allan Attwater; Technical Director, Kay Drain Lawson; Stage Manager, James Vincent; Assistant Stage Manager, R. Birrell Rawls; Assistant in Advance, Morton Nathanson; Advance Representative, Ray Henderson.

Period furniture by Hampton Shops; other furnishings by William Burns, and Lavezzo Brothers. Costumes and uniforms executed by Helene Pons Studio. Production built by T. B. McDonald Construction Co. and painted by Robert Bergman Studios. Electrical equipment by Century Lighting Company. Shoes by I Miller & Sons, Inc. Wigs by A. Barris.

Cast of Characters

Doctor Chambers	Arthur Chatterton/David Glassford
Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett	Katherine Cornell
Wilson (the maid)	Brenda Forbes
Henrietta Moulton-Barrett	Helen Walpole
Anabel Moulton-Barrett	Harriet Ingersoll/ Pamela Simpson
Octavius Moulton-Barrett	Orson Welles
Septimus Moulton-Barrett	Irving Morrow
Alfred Moulton-Barrett	Charles Brokaw
Charles Moulton-Barrett	Lathrop Mitchell
Henry Moulton-Barrett	Reynolds Evans
George Moulton-Barrett	George Macready
Edward Moulton-Barrett	Charles Waldron
Bella Hedley	Elizabeth Dana/Margot Stevenson
Henry Bevan	John Hoysradt
Robert Browning	Basil Rathbone
Doctor Ford-Waterlow	A. P. Kaye
Captain Surtees Cook	Francis Moran
Flush (cocker spaniel)	Flush

The Barretts of Wimpole Street was one of three plays that Katharine Cornell and her company performed during a transcontinental tour from November 1933 through June 1934. Details of the tour can be found here: Cornell Tour 1933-1934 .

Rudolph Besier's play, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, tells of the romance of two of England's great poets: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.

Elizabeth is the oldest of nine children living with their stern father at No. 50 Wimpole Street in London. The children live in fear and dread of their father whose tyranny is unrelenting and dreadful. An invalid, Elizabeth escapes through writing poetry, some of which has been published and thus attracted the attention and admiration of Robert Browning. After having read her poems, he has fallen in love with her. They began to exchange letters. Browning was determined to meet Elizabeth, and so he paid a visit to Wimpole Street. The play traces fearful events in this household through Elizabeth's courtship, to the last moment of misunderstanding with her father. Elizabeth leaves for Italy, but the stern heart of her father remains unshaken. He is so angry, he orders a son to kill her pet dog. But she had taken the dog with her.

Playwright Rudolf Besier had been reading the letters which were exchanged between Barrett and Browning when Hugh Walpole, the English novelist, suggested there might be a play in the Barrett-Browning romance. The two writers began a collaboration, but Walpole withdrew, declaring he could get nowhere with the idea. Besier then wrote the drama himself and has made nearly half a million dollars in royalties as a consequence. (source: The San Francisco Examiner, January 15, 1934)

According to The Los Angeles Times (January 17, 1934), The Barretts of Wimpole Street would never have reached the stage if the descendants of its chief characters had had their way. Living relatives of Elizabeth Barrett's father attempted to stop the English production of the drama because of the light it cast upon the elder Barrett's actions, according to information from the play's sponsors. George Bernard Shaw came to the defense of Rudolf Besier, the author, in this matter and declared that only by explaining Barrett in this fashion was there any humane or plausible reason for the manner in which he behaved toward his children.

When The Barretts of Wimpole Street played on Broadway in 1931, Charles Waldron, Brenda Forbes and Flush were part of that production. Because Brian Aherne played Robert Browning in the Broadway production of Barretts, some critics of the 1933-1934 production compared Rathbone's portrayal of Browning to Aherne's.

Regarding Katharine Cornell's portrayal of Elizabeth Barrett, Basil Rathbone wrote, "Her Elizabeth Barrett was not only the greatest performance of her life, it was also one of the greatest performances by an actress that I have ever seen." (In and Out of Character, p. 120)

Miss Cornell Gives Oakland of Her Finest

Any doubt that producers may have had about Oakland's willingness to support the spoken drama were dispelled last evening at the Auditorium Theater. not only was the spacious tabernacle cluttered form pit to dome with votaries but they occupied every inch of legal space that would hold an extra chair or a pair of feet, and one diamond bedecked worshiper sat in the aisle with the only the threadbare carpet for a pillow.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which brought Miss Cornell to undenied eminence as the first lady of the theater is a story of mid-Victorian England when fathers were fathers and children obeyed them even after they acquired gray hairs of their own.

Against this background is enacted the charming and exciting love story of Elizabeth Barrett who was snatched from the horrendous surroundings of 50 Wimpole Street by the impetuous and adventurous poet, Robert Browning. It is a love story that threatens to take on classic proportions. ...

The presentation last evening had color and individuality in many circumstances.

An accident in Los Angeles had required several changes in the minor roles and while these changes did not materially affect the general performance, the very presence of new persons in the familiar roles served to keep the principals so much on the qui vive that the play took on freshness to belie its many performances.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street rises or falls on the success of three players—Miss Cornell as the famous English poetess; Basil Rathbone as her colleague and admirer, and Charles Waldron as her fiendishly stern father. They responded to the enthusiasm of a packed house last night with three performances that they may equal but will never better.

Miss Cornell's drinking of the porter held the house breathless; her scene with her repentant father sent chills up the assembled spines; her romantic episodes with her lover evoked ripples of delight; and her farewell to Wimpole Street, done almost entirely in pantomime brought the multitudes to their feet with a salvo of applause. ...

Rathbone was at the peak of his form last evening and he swept through his scenes with assurance and color.

—Wood Soanes, Oakland Tribune, February 7, 1934

"The Browning of the play is not, fortunately, as we bewildered students have pictured him if indeed we squandered a thought but a tremendously virile fellow possessed of swagger, good looks and rush. The drawing may or may not be authentic but it is plausible. Basil Rathbone plays the man and makes a handsome job of it. The dram's scant allotment of humor is largely in his hands and the various quick points are deftly made. Altogether Mr. Rathbone is immensely an asset, for he enlivens the pace, gives vigor to the somewhat still and sultry mood of the piece and contributes through his poet the health that it so sorely needs." —Richard S. Davis, Milwaukee Journal, December 5, 1933

"Rathbone's Browning is much more perspicuous than some of Mr. Browning's poetry, and the role gains in credibility in his hands as the play proceeds. At first meeting with him, he is rather more startling than our fondest notions of the poet would have him." —Irving Ramsdell, Milwaukee Sentinel, December 5, 1933

"Katharine Cornell has delighted two capacity audiences in Madison in her re-creation of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street. ... We see in Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Robert Browning, and his persistent battle against the tyranny of Elizabeth's father, a Browning we desire to remember." —Wisconsin State Journal, December 13, 1933

"Miss Cornell as Elizabeth Barrett is superb. Her performance delights the intelligence with its skill and enthralls the emotions with its power. It is not only that she has lived the part on the stage so many times that every tone of her rich voice and every gesture of her expressive face and body conveys the desired shade of meaning; there is an inner fire of the spirit, a warm glow of feeling that vivifies the portrayal and makes the characterization a vital, human entity. ... Basil Rathbone, who, as Robert Browning, shares with Miss Cornell the vibrant and beautiful love story of Wimpole Street, naturally shares the major interest of the audience. He accomplishes with apparently buoyant ease the difficult assignment of portraying genius on the stage and making it convincing. It is his task to make the audience believe that there before their eyes is Robert browning, bringing to Elizabeth Barrett the potent love that lifts her existence from oppression and drab invalidism into the full joy of life, and this Mr. Rathbone does." —The Oregonian, January 3, 1934

"Basil Rathbone, whom many of you know through his screen work, is a splendid opposite as the impetuous Browning, far more the actor than his celluloid appearances, fine though they have been, have shown him." —The Oregon Daily Journal, January 3, 1934

"Basil Rathbone's Robert Browning leaves nothing to be desired. His very atmosphere is that of the poetic Browning and his wooing is ardent enough for the most romantic of souls." —The Oregon Daily Journal, January 4, 1934

"Basil Rathbone makes one forget Brian Aherne as Browning, so splendidly does he act the character. ... Mr. Rathbone is a different browning from his predecessor; a more polished poet without losing anything of the fire that makes him alive and tremendous in his power of will. He wears the dress of the fifties gallantly and is a delight to ear, eye and intellect. He and Miss Cornell are glorious foils for each other." —George C. Warren, San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 1934

"Rathbone's Browning is a fine impersonation, better in many respects than the original of Brian Aherne [part of the Broadway cast]. The Aherne Browning was a youth, since Aherne is a youth, and as such it was a fine portrayal, vivacious, interesting and decorative. The Rathbone Browning has these qualification too, but it possesses in addition a maturity of will and a more manly and dominant outlook on life. Thus Rathbone's performance became less a picturesque show and more a sincere portrayal of character. His is more a well-rounded performance, dramatic, invigorating and carefully attuned to Miss Cornell's Elizabeth." —Oakland Tribune, January 16, 1934

"Basil Rathbone was a slightly different Browning than his predecessor, Brian Aherne, but he was as winning a one, surely. To the Aherne vigor and dash he added a deeper note that bespoke sincerity." —The Oakland Post Enquirer, February 7, 1934

"Rathbone's delineation of Browning was impulsive, at times a trifle declamatory, but always likable." —The Sacramento Union, February 8, 1934

Katharine Cornell Reveals Talent in a Forceful Way

The fragile charm of the ailing English girl, as portrayed by Miss Cornell, was poignantly beautiful. Only sincerity of acting and talent such as that she possesses could give conviction to a drama, which, although said to be historically correct, seems almost too weird for reality. Against the austere setting of the English home, the cameo which was her clear cut interpretation of the beloved of Robert Browning, was a valiant foil.

A mobile voice, richly intoned, slurred a little bit but never was unintelligible. Tapering fingers equally expressive, and grace of body contributed to the almost faultless picture. The actress' eyes, set far apart in her heart-shaped face, with its frame of brunette hair, reflected the emotional heights and depths of her dramatic performance.

Basil Rathbone was Robert Browning, in a delightfully romantic fashion. His portrayal of the character held a substantial part of the play's appeal. Charles Waldron gave a strong interpretation of a difficult role, that of Edward Moulton-Barrett, whose repressed personality ruled his household, tearing from him eventually his self confessed only child of love, Elizabeth. ...

The one room, in which all the action of the play takes place, is changed only by a series of artistic lighting effects and the picturesque costumes of its occupants, which form and reform, tableaux of exceeding beauty. By moonlight, lamplight and in the dimmed brightness of curtained sunlight, it was the background for the richness of garnet satin and velvet, the sheen of orchid taffeta with lace, the military brilliance of scarlet and gold and countless other costuming effects.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street became for Sioux Cityans a major event of theatrical history.

—Editha K. Webster, The Sioux City Journal, March 17, 1934

"As Robert Browning, the man in whose courage Elizabeth Barrett found strength, who taught her to live fearlessly, Basil Rathbone gives a performance highly finished, presenting him as an impetuous, invigorating personality. Some my quarrel perhaps with his interpretation, but Mr. Rathbone was in the main forceful and convincing, and in the critical scenes in particular proved himself a persuasive lover." —Salt Lake Tribune, February 11, 1934

"Rathbone's embodiment of the poet Browning as a fiery young man was one of the richest features of the performance." —Fred Speers, Denver Post, February 14, 1934

"The English actor, Basil Rathbone, gave a thoroughly watchable and engaging performance in the role of Robert Browning, and if he suggested less the popular conception of a poet, he was nevertheless the complete lover." —Lecta Rider, The Houston Chronicle, February 24, 1934

Basil Rathbone, as Browning, perfectly portrayed the importunate lover that Browning is known to have been; but his portrayal was slightly overcolored with an extravagance of gesture and diction which is hardly to be reconciled with the subtle and gentle Browning." —Robert Markham, The Waco News-Tribune, February 27, 1934

"Basil Rathbone deserves superlatives for his part as Robert Browning. ... Mr. Rathbone and Miss Cornell presented one of the most beautiful and inspiring love scenes this reviewer ever has seen. It was almost electric in its intensity." —Bess Stephenson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 28, 1934

"Movie-goers particularly enjoyed Basil Rathbone, and his role must be the hardest work of all. His virile energy and heedless posing was compelling." —N. H., The Oklahoma News, March 1, 1934

"Basil Rathbone gives a remarkably sincere performance as the handsome, almost dashing poet, whose appearance was so at outs with his deep, philosophical dramas." —Jack Stinnett, The Daily Oklahoman, March 1, 1934

"Basil Rathbone plays Robert browning with a fine appreciation of contrasts and restraints. He seems to grow in maturity in the part from the first scene to the final love passages that are among the most beautiful." —The Tulsa Tribune, March 2, 1934

"Basil Rathbone, who plays the role of Robert Browning which Brian Aherne introduced here, is more eloquent and masterful in the character than his predecessor. Rathbone lacks some of the poetic flavor that Aherne gave the part, but his commanding presence and vigor etch the ardent, impetuous poet with deeper and more impressive lines." —Lowell Lawrance, Kansas City Journal, March 8, 1934

"As Browning, Mr. Rathbone does an excellent job. He displays the fine determination Browning must have felt, a determination to bring Elizabeth to health and understanding and to break her father's domination over her life. The feeling of his purpose is imparted to the audience by Mr. Rathbone with comparative ease." Lincoln Journal Star, March 13, 1934

"The Barretts apparently is proving the most popular attraction of the three [plays]. Both performances yesterday were attended by near-capacity audiences, much larger than turned out Monday or Tuesday night for either Romeo and Juliet or Shaw's Candida. Originally it was intended to give the Besier piece only twice, but the heavy advance sale caused the addition of a third performance. ... The role of Elizabeth Barrett, the poetess, is a strong and completely sympathetic one, and Cornell's portrayal is easily the best of her three characterizations. ... In the role of the dashing, romantic Browning is Basil Rathbone, who lends the same distinction to the production that he did to the two preceding ones, essaying the poet and lover with verve and vigor." —Herbert L. Monk, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 22, 1934

"Basil Rathbone, splendid actor always, shared the honors with the star—and it might be remarked, with Flush, Elizabeth Barrett's slightly bored cocker spaniel—in the role of the light and gay Robert Browning who nursed the sickly Elizabeth back to something like health while he swept her off her feet with his love and devotion." —H. H. Niemeyer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22, 1934

"It was a splendid play, beautifully done. ... Basil Rathbone, in the character of Browning, gives a reading of the part that is delightful in its impetuous bombasity and, at other moments, gentle tenderness." —Tod Raper, Columbus Dispatch, March 28, 1934

Mr. Besier's play may not rank as a masterpiece, yet it is a gem of bewildering beauty and powerful thrill in the hands of Miss Cornell, Mr. Rathbone, Mr. Waldron and many others including Flush, whom we think took all of his scenes with the ingratiating nonchalance contributing vastly to the smiles and sheer enjoyment of the huge audience. ... The combination of a fine play, perfect and plausible acting is not likely to slip the memory. ... This play is beautifully acted by Miss Cornell. Mr. Rathbone is the dashing, gallant and inspirational lover and hero." —Robert G. Tucker, The Indianapolis Star, March 30, 1934

"As far as I am concerned no better selection for the Browning role could have been made than Basil Rathbone. His makeup is perfect and he has fire, passion and complete mastery of all the big and little arts in expert showmanship. Love scene between Miss Cornell and Mr. Rathbone in the second act is excellent. Up to the time I first encountered this play, I thought Romeo and Juliet had the perfect love scene. The magnificently human way in which Browning quiets the fear and rebellion in the heart of Elizabeth caused me to change my mind and give The Barretts the honor of presenting the most human love scene I yet have seen on the stage." —Walter D. Hickman, The Indianapolis Star, March 30, 1934

Katharine Cornell Rises to Heights in Barretts of Wimpole Street

Perhaps the greatest crowd ever to see a theatrical entertainment in Birmingham overflowed the Temple Theater Thursday night to acclaim Katharine Cornell's immortal performance in the equally immortal Barretts of Wimpole Street.

Without equivocation it was the finest exhibit this writer ever witnessed. Lobby talk during intermission indicated the thousands who packed the house to the rafters and bubbled into the aisles in straight-backed chairs thought little differently about it. The 10 minutes or more of applause after the final curtain confirmed it.

Rudolf Besier's justly famous play was as tenderly enacted, as smoothly staged as ever a play was. Almost everyone is familiar with Besier's beautiful story of the romance of the poet Robert Browning and the invalid Elizabeth Barrett. The fact that the audience was totally oblivious to the others around them is tribute enough to the tensity of the drama and the earnestness with which the cast spoke their lines.

Katharine Cornell is even far more talented than her advance notices and the entire action of the play properly centered around her. The politest audience this writer has seen in Birmingham followed her every movement. She often held them breathless with the reality of her portrayal. With almost a minimum of histrionics, gestures and intonations of voice, she seemed to live her part with a sincerity that gripped those in front of the footlights as well. For moments at a time she was alone on the stage and spoke not a word, but the drama was still there, for she is mistress, also, of the art of pantomime.

Miss Cornell's role of Elizabeth was a difficult one, but perhaps more difficult was that of the poetess' nearly licentious old lunatic of father which was admirably done by Charles Waldron. Entirely his was the final scene and he rose to the heights of great acting. There was a time, too, when his strict outer crust broke for a moments and he was a pitiful, mouthing, blithering old idiot. Something more than mere talent was required for him not to appear ridiculous.

Sharing the top billing with the charming Miss Cornell was the matinee idol Basil Rathbone, one of the few men on the American stage able to say "I love you" without drawing a laugh from the customers. His was a smooth interpretation of the passionately romantic poet Browning. ...

All the players were good, yes, but the play justly belonged to Miss Cornell, and that charming lady drained every ounce of a responsive audience's emotion.

Much credit, too, is due Miss Cornell's producer-husband, Guthrie McClintic, for smooth direction.

—Birmingham Post-Herald, April 20, 1934

"What those in the almost-capacity filled auditorium heard and witnessed was quite beyond criticism. Adverse comment would have no support either from trained or casual patrons. Pointing out the virtues of the play and the players becomes difficult, because all was so beautifully artistic and so purely emotional in appeal as to defy adequate descriptive expression. ... Seeing Miss Cornell last evening accentuated the consummate genius of the actress in her capacity for maintaining the lead notwithstanding the very great merits of Basil Rathbone and Charles Waldron, who as Robert Browning and Edward Barrett respectively, had characterizations of greater outward dramatic strength than Miss Cornell's and potentially of greater significance. Actually Elizabeth is the character upon whom the others center their concern, and in hands less competent than Miss Cornell's the role could easily have been subordinated. ... Because of the importance given by the author to the roles, as well as by their own inherent capacities, Basil Rathbone and Charles Waldron stood out. Theirs were outstandingly excellent characterizations. ... And Flush, the most famous of stage dogs, made no misstep nor failed in a cue." —George A. Leighton, The Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1934

"Basil Rathbone rides his part at a pace which makes Browning incredibly outspoken and glib, but always thrilling." —Max Sien, The Cincinnati Post, April 3, 1934

"When Cornell and Basil Rathbone—an impulsive blond Browning— both were in the room it became the most vibrantly beautiful room in all playdom, and the audience held on spellbound. How another actor could be better as 'the most popular young poet in England'—or nearly as good—after last night is difficult to understand and very easy to deny." —Christine Sadler, Nashville Banner, April 12, 1934

"The romance of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning came to life before an ecstatic audience in Ryman auditorium, a romance vitalised by transcendent acting by Miss Katharine Cornell and Basil Rathbone. ... Miss Cornell demonstrated her supremacy as an emotional actress—Mr. Rathbone proved his as a romantic actor. Both were perfect. Miss Cornell's performance had just the proper shadings of temperament and feeling that a sensitive genius is Elizabeth Barrett would display. Mr. Rathbone's Robert Browning was superior to Brian Aherne's in the New York production. His movements were more flexible and his voice lost nothing by comparison with Mr. Aherne's, which was his chief virtue." —William Rich Breyer, The Tennessean (Nashville), April 12, 1934

"Rathbone, remembered in the movies as a sleek, dark Britisher, is transformed into a curly-haired, irrepressible cavalier, a dashing Browning with all of the fire and idealism and genius that a poetic soul must have possessed." —Harry Martin, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis TN), April 14, 1934

"Rathbone as Browning endowed the character with an invigorating virility and electrifying charm. He was thereby able to convince the audience that the part he played in the life of Elizabeth Barrett was possible." —A. E. B., The Birmingham Post, April 20, 1934

"Basil Rathbone as Robert Browning gave a performance marked by its vivid understanding of the character, by the vital force that he instilled into the man he portrayed. The love scenes between Mr. Rathbone and Miss Cornell were gems of emotion made the greater by the thorough understanding of the power of restraint. It is good that Rathbone has returned to the stage from the screen. A far finer actor in the flesh than he ever demonstrated in the shadowland of moviedom." —Ralph T. Jones, The Atlanta Constitution, April 21, 1934

"Atlanta saw Basil Rathbone as Mr. Browning. He played it impetuously, dashingly, with abundance of vigor." —The Atlanta Journal, April 21, 1934

"Basil Rathbone had the complete sympathy of his audience with his characterization of the irrepressible enthusiasm and optimism of Robert Browning, the poet. His performance was polished and genuine. His reputation, judging by this piece, is well earned." —E. C. D., The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), April 29, 1934

"Basil Rathbone, always a favorite with this observer, is an impetuous and ardent Robert Browning—not to say a very handsome and attractive one. Notwithstanding he may not realize one's concept of the somewhat serious bearded gentlemen one sees in portraits, he is the sort of Browning this romance calls for." —Helen De Motte, The Richmond News-Leader, May 1, 1934

"Tribute is tendered Basil Rathbone for his vital portrayal of Browning, achieved with the suave facility of mellowed experience." —Clarence Boykin, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 1, 1934

"For all those who thrill at the vigor and sweep of a Browning poem, the poet became alive and full of characteristic optimism and fight when Mr. Rathbone swept on across, and off the stage, impetuously carrying high-handedly all before him." —C. L. J., The Morning News (Wilmington, DE), May 8, 1934

"The finesse and dexterity of presenting a stage play was never more amply demonstrated than by Miss Cornell and Mr. Rathbone. Their love scenes were particularly delightful." —The Ithaca Journal, May 11, 1934

"It was a brilliant, luminous performance that Miss Cornell gave as Elizabeth. It was finely toned and modulated, and it was moving in its pathos and its exaltation of spirit. The star conveyed equally well the love-longing of the woman and the delicate feeling of the poet. Superb, too, was Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Browning. It was a dashing, human, irresistible yet sensitive poet-lover whom he presented—presented with finish, color and mastery. Together he and Miss Cornell gave beautiful expression to high romance." —George L. David, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 12, 1934

"Mr. Rathbone gives a fresh, engaging, mettlesome performance as the young poet." —Rollin Palmer, The Buffalo News, May 16, 1934

"Basil Rathbone's Browning is quite as fine as Miss Cornell's Elizabeth; it has tremendous poetic drive, incisive, dynamic and overwhelming, by an actor whom few would have suspected of such a romantic urge." —Augustus Bridle, The Toronto Star, May 18, 1934

"Basil Rathbone's Robert Browning is superb in every sense, a performance to enthrall." —J. B. C., The Republican (Springfield, MA), June 5, 1934

"Basil Rathbone is the Browning, a figure that he imbues with vitality and winning grace. He seems, happily, less overpowering than Brian Aherne, who originated the role, imparting a more acceptable persuasiveness." —Louise Mace, The Springfield Daily Republican, June 5, 1934

"Basil Rathbone is most excellent in his impersonation of Robert Browning." —Times Union (Brooklyn), June 19, 1934

"Basil Rathbone is cast as Browning. To this part he brought all the fervor and charm that the poet himself must have brought into the secluded life of the famous Elizabeth Barrett." —The Brooklyn Citizen, June 19, 1934

"The handsome Basil Rathbone is the Robert Browning now, precise and forceful where Brian Aherne, who first played the role, was fresh and easy and infectious. Mr. Rathbone's playing is all animation, the best he has done in a number of seasons." —Arthur Pollock, Brooklyn Eagle, June 19, 1934