Waterloo Bridge (1931 film)
Encyclopedia
Waterloo Bridge is a 1931
American
drama film
directed by James Whale
. The screenplay by Benn Levy
and Tom Reed is based on the 1930 play of the same title
by Robert E. Sherwood
.
The film was remade twice, under its original title
in 1940 and as Gaby
in 1956. Both remakes were made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, which bought the 1931 version from Universal. Today, the rights to all three films are held by Warner Bros.
and their subsidiary Turner Entertainment
.
at the height of World War I
, American chorus girl Myra Deauville resorts to prostitution
to support herself. She meets her clients on Waterloo Bridge
, the primary entry point into the city for soldiers on leave
. During an air raid
, she meets fellow American Roy Cronin, a member of the Canadian Army, and he joins Myra in her apartment.
Describing herself simply as an unemployed chorus girl, Myra gains Roy's sympathy, and he offers to pay her overdue rent. After he departs, Myra returns to the streets. The following morning, Roy returns to visit her, and landlady Mrs. Hobley lets him into her apartment. There he meets Myra's friend and neighbor Kitty, who tells him Myra needs someone to love and protect her. Myra later berates Kitty for interfering and rejects her advice to marry Roy to ensure a better future for herself.
Roy brings Myra to visit his mother Mary and sister Janet in their rural home, where he proposes to Myra, who later that night tells Mary the truth about herself. Mary is sympathetic but implores Myra not to marry Roy. The following morning, Myra slips aways and returns to London by train. Eventually Roy visits her and asks her to explain her abrupt departure. Because he is on the verge of returning to the battlefields in France, he begs Myra to marry him immediately. She agrees, but escapes from her apartment through a window while he waits for her in the hallway. Seeking the rent, Mrs. Hobley enters and, believing Myra has run off to avoid her financial obligation, reveals her true profession to Roy.
Although shocked, Roy searches for Myra and eventually finds her on Waterloo Bridge, where he tells her he still loves and wants to marry her. The military police insist Roy join a truck of departing soldiers or be considered a deserter, and once he secures Myra's promises to marry him upon his return, he departs. The air raid sirens sound, and as Myra seeks shelter, she is killed by a bomb.
production opened on January 6, 1930 at the Fulton Theatre
, where it ran for only 64 performances. Despite the fact it was neither a critical nor commercial success, film producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. considered it a prestige project and purchased the film rights for Universal Pictures
.
Having been impressed by the 1930 film Journey's End
, Laemmle hired its director, James Whale, to helm Waterloo Bridge. Sherwood's play had evolved into a war film
in the original screenplay, and Benn Levy was hired to restore it to a character drama, while Tom Reed provided "continuity and additional dialogue." Because Universal was undergoing financial problems, Laemmle budgeted the film at $252,000 budget and gave Whale a 26-day shooting schedule.
Rose Hobart
, under contract to Universal, was assigned the role of Myra Deauville but declined it when she learned the studio did not intend to renew her contract. She was replaced by Mae Clarke
, a Columbia Pictures
contract player now best known to audiences as the woman whose face was the target of half a grapefruit shoved into it by James Cagney
in The Public Enemy
. "I think Whale saw something I know I had then," she later recalled, "and that was a basic confusion and insecurity I didn't mind projecting into my work." She enjoyed working with the director, who "wanted to see what you thought of it," she said. "He wouldn't say how to do it, he would tell you what was happening."
Less experienced co-star Kent Douglass
, later known as Douglass Montgomery, required a great deal of attention from Whale, who shut down production for three days while he worked with the novice actor. Also in the cast was Bette Davis
who, in the small role of Janet Cronin, was listed second to last in the credits and was ignored by all the critics. "Perfectly logical," Davis later recalled. "I had about four lines . . . I yearned all during shooting to play Myra. I could have!"
Whale completed the film $50,000 under budget, and Laemmle was so impressed he gave the director the choice of any property the studio had in the planning stages. He selected Frankenstein
and went on to become one of the leading directors at Universal.
, New York City
, and Pennsylvania
insisted extensive cuts be made to the film. When the Production Code
was enforced in July 1934, it became impossible to re-release the original version of Waterloo Bridge.
In 1939, MGM bought the rights to the property, and the following year released an adaptation starring Vivien Leigh
and Robert Taylor
and directed by Mervyn LeRoy
. The 1956 film Gaby
, directed by Curtis Bernhardt
and starring Leslie Caron
and John Kerr
, advanced the story's timeline to World War II
.
After being stored in the studio vaults for thirty-five years, Waterloo Bridge was re-discovered in 1975, but a joint ownership agreement between MGM and Universal prevented it from being seen for another two decades.
of the New York Times called the film "a praiseworthy picture" that "is somewhat sketchy in substance, but it is acted cleverly and there is imagination in the employment of the camera and the microphone." He added, "It might have been even a more satisfactory production had Mr. Whale had full say as to the dialogue, for the lines from some of the cockney
characters are occasionally a little forced. The whole narrative is an attenuated short story, with the result that parts of it are not especially interesting."
Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter
said, "It is grown up entertainment, not sophisticated, but mature . . . so moving and believable as to send any audience out talking and raving in appreciation."
released the film, together with Baby Face
and Red-Headed Woman
, as part of a DVD box set entitled TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1.
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
. The screenplay by Benn Levy
Benn Levy
Benn Wolfe Levy was a Labour Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
and Tom Reed is based on the 1930 play of the same title
Waterloo Bridge (play)
Waterloo Bridge: A play in two acts is a 1930 play by Robert E. Sherwood. It premiered on Broadway January 6, 1930 and ran until March 1930. It was the basis for three separate films: Waterloo Bridge , Waterloo Bridge , and Gaby...
by Robert E. Sherwood
Robert E. Sherwood
Robert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
.
The film was remade twice, under its original title
Waterloo Bridge (1940 film)
Waterloo Bridge is a 1940 remake of the 1931 film of the same title, adapted from the 1930 play of the same title.The film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin and Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay is by S. N. Behrman, Hans Rameau and George...
in 1940 and as Gaby
Gaby (film)
Gaby is a 1956 drama film made by MGM. It is the third version of the play Waterloo Bridge, previously made into films in 1931 and 1940. It is the only version of the play made in color, and the least faithful to it. Not only the story but the names of the characters were also changed.This version...
in 1956. Both remakes were made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, which bought the 1931 version from Universal. Today, the rights to all three films are held by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and their subsidiary Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
.
Plot
Unable to find work in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the height of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, American chorus girl Myra Deauville resorts to prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
to support herself. She meets her clients on Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
, the primary entry point into the city for soldiers on leave
Leave (military)
In military, leave is a permission to be away from one's unit, either for a specified or unspecified period of time.The term AWOL, standing for absent without leave, is a term for desertion used in armed forces of many English speaking countries....
. During an air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
, she meets fellow American Roy Cronin, a member of the Canadian Army, and he joins Myra in her apartment.
Describing herself simply as an unemployed chorus girl, Myra gains Roy's sympathy, and he offers to pay her overdue rent. After he departs, Myra returns to the streets. The following morning, Roy returns to visit her, and landlady Mrs. Hobley lets him into her apartment. There he meets Myra's friend and neighbor Kitty, who tells him Myra needs someone to love and protect her. Myra later berates Kitty for interfering and rejects her advice to marry Roy to ensure a better future for herself.
Roy brings Myra to visit his mother Mary and sister Janet in their rural home, where he proposes to Myra, who later that night tells Mary the truth about herself. Mary is sympathetic but implores Myra not to marry Roy. The following morning, Myra slips aways and returns to London by train. Eventually Roy visits her and asks her to explain her abrupt departure. Because he is on the verge of returning to the battlefields in France, he begs Myra to marry him immediately. She agrees, but escapes from her apartment through a window while he waits for her in the hallway. Seeking the rent, Mrs. Hobley enters and, believing Myra has run off to avoid her financial obligation, reveals her true profession to Roy.
Although shocked, Roy searches for Myra and eventually finds her on Waterloo Bridge, where he tells her he still loves and wants to marry her. The military police insist Roy join a truck of departing soldiers or be considered a deserter, and once he secures Myra's promises to marry him upon his return, he departs. The air raid sirens sound, and as Myra seeks shelter, she is killed by a bomb.
Production
Robert E. Sherwood had based his play on his own wartime experiences, including a chance meeting with an American chorus girl turned streetwalker during a 1918 air raid. The BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production opened on January 6, 1930 at the Fulton Theatre
Fulton Theatre/Helen Hayes Theatre
The Fulton Theatre was a Broadway Theatre located at 210 West 46th Street in New York that was opened in 1911. It was re-named the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1955. The theatre was demolished in 1982...
, where it ran for only 64 performances. Despite the fact it was neither a critical nor commercial success, film producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. considered it a prestige project and purchased the film rights for Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
.
Having been impressed by the 1930 film Journey's End
Journey's End (1930 film)
Journey's End is a 1930 British-American war film directed by James Whale. Based on the play of the same name by R. C. Sherriff, the film tells the story of several British soldiers involved in trench warfare during the First World War...
, Laemmle hired its director, James Whale, to helm Waterloo Bridge. Sherwood's play had evolved into a war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
in the original screenplay, and Benn Levy was hired to restore it to a character drama, while Tom Reed provided "continuity and additional dialogue." Because Universal was undergoing financial problems, Laemmle budgeted the film at $252,000 budget and gave Whale a 26-day shooting schedule.
Rose Hobart
Rose Hobart
Rose Hobart was an American actress.-Career:Born in New York City, her father was a cellist in the New York Symphony...
, under contract to Universal, was assigned the role of Myra Deauville but declined it when she learned the studio did not intend to renew her contract. She was replaced by Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
, a Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
contract player now best known to audiences as the woman whose face was the target of half a grapefruit shoved into it by James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
in The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy is a 1931 American Pre-Code crime film starring James Cagney and directed by William A. Wellman. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld in prohibition-era urban America...
. "I think Whale saw something I know I had then," she later recalled, "and that was a basic confusion and insecurity I didn't mind projecting into my work." She enjoyed working with the director, who "wanted to see what you thought of it," she said. "He wouldn't say how to do it, he would tell you what was happening."
Less experienced co-star Kent Douglass
Douglass Montgomery
Robert Douglass Montgomery was an American film actor.-Career:Son of a jeweler, he used the stage name of Douglass Montgomery when he first acted on stage in New York. He appeared as a ruggedly handsome fair-haired man, often slightly naive. He started his career in Hollywood, often playing the...
, later known as Douglass Montgomery, required a great deal of attention from Whale, who shut down production for three days while he worked with the novice actor. Also in the cast was Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
who, in the small role of Janet Cronin, was listed second to last in the credits and was ignored by all the critics. "Perfectly logical," Davis later recalled. "I had about four lines . . . I yearned all during shooting to play Myra. I could have!"
Whale completed the film $50,000 under budget, and Laemmle was so impressed he gave the director the choice of any property the studio had in the planning stages. He selected Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
and went on to become one of the leading directors at Universal.
Censorship, remakes, and re-release
Because of its controversial material, censor boards in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
insisted extensive cuts be made to the film. When the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
was enforced in July 1934, it became impossible to re-release the original version of Waterloo Bridge.
In 1939, MGM bought the rights to the property, and the following year released an adaptation starring Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
and Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
and directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
. The 1956 film Gaby
Gaby (film)
Gaby is a 1956 drama film made by MGM. It is the third version of the play Waterloo Bridge, previously made into films in 1931 and 1940. It is the only version of the play made in color, and the least faithful to it. Not only the story but the names of the characters were also changed.This version...
, directed by Curtis Bernhardt
Curtis Bernhardt
Curtis Bernhardt was a German film director born in Worms, Germany, under the name Kurt Bernhardt. Some of his American films were called "woman's films" including the Joan Crawford film Possessed . Bernhardt trained as an actor in Germany, and performed on the stage, before starting as a film...
and starring Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
and John Kerr
John Kerr (actor)
John Kerr is an American actor from a family rooted in British and Broadway stage, and a lawyer.- Early life :Kerr's parents, Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, were both stage and film actors, and his grandfather was Frederick Kerr, a famed British trans-Atlantic character actor in the period...
, advanced the story's timeline to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
After being stored in the studio vaults for thirty-five years, Waterloo Bridge was re-discovered in 1975, but a joint ownership agreement between MGM and Universal prevented it from being seen for another two decades.
Cast (in credits order)
- Mae ClarkeMae ClarkeMae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as Myra Deauville - Douglass MontgomeryDouglass MontgomeryRobert Douglass Montgomery was an American film actor.-Career:Son of a jeweler, he used the stage name of Douglass Montgomery when he first acted on stage in New York. He appeared as a ruggedly handsome fair-haired man, often slightly naive. He started his career in Hollywood, often playing the...
as Roy Cronin - Doris LloydDoris LloydHessy Doris Lloyd was an English actress.She appeared in over 150 films between 1920 and 1967, including the 1933 low-budget Monogram Pictures version of Oliver Twist, in which she played Nancy...
as Kitty - Frederick KerrFrederick KerrFrederick Kerr was a British actor who appeared on stage in both New York City and London, and in British and American films; he also worked as a major theatrical manager in London.-Early life:...
as Major Fred Wetherby - Enid BennettEnid Bennett-Career:Born in York, Western Australia, Bennett started her film acting career in 1916, first starring in Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, with two other films that same year...
as Mrs Mary Cronin Wetherby - Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Janet Cronin - Ethel GriffiesEthel GriffiesEthel Griffies was an English actress of stage, screen, and television....
as Mrs Hobley, Landlady - Rita Carlyle as The Old Woman
- Ruth Handforth as Augusta, The Maid
Critical reception
Mordaunt HallMordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times, from October 1924 to September 1934....
of the New York Times called the film "a praiseworthy picture" that "is somewhat sketchy in substance, but it is acted cleverly and there is imagination in the employment of the camera and the microphone." He added, "It might have been even a more satisfactory production had Mr. Whale had full say as to the dialogue, for the lines from some of the cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
characters are occasionally a little forced. The whole narrative is an attenuated short story, with the result that parts of it are not especially interesting."
Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
said, "It is grown up entertainment, not sophisticated, but mature . . . so moving and believable as to send any audience out talking and raving in appreciation."
DVD release
On December 5, 2006, Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
released the film, together with Baby Face
Baby Face (film)
Baby Face is a 1933 American dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck , this sexually-charged, Pre-Code Hollywood film is about an attractive young woman who uses sex to advance her social and financial status...
and Red-Headed Woman
Red-Headed Woman
Red-Headed Woman is a 1932 Pre-Code comedy film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, based on a novel by Katherine Brush, and with a screenplay by Anita Loos. It was directed by Jack Conway, and stars Jean Harlow as a woman who uses sex to advance her social position...
, as part of a DVD box set entitled TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1.