East Lynne. 1931. USA. Directed by Frank Lloyd. Screenplay by Tom Barry, Bradley King, based on the novel by Ellen Wood. With Ann Harding, Conrad Nagel, Clive Brook, Cecilia Loftus. 35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. 102 min.
Ann Harding was one of the most intriguing actresses of the pre-Code period, moving through her highly emotional roles with a unique balance between under- and overplaying. With her flaxen hair usually coiled at the nape of her neck, Harding gave a vaguely Victorian impression even in modern fare; in East Lynne, a warhorse dating all the way back to the 1860s, she’s perfectly in tune with the 19th-century setting. While Frank Lloyd’s direction isn’t particularly exciting, Harding is fascinating as Lady Isabel, who flees a suffocating marriage to a dull spouse (Conrad Nagel) and pays a tragic price. It is very much Harding’s picture, and offers a view of her full range. We are pleased to be screening a 35mm print on loan from the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It was made from a preservation dupe negative of the 11-reel nitrate print held in UCLA's Fox archive, and is the only complete version of this Best Picture Academy Award nominee known to exist. Harding, firmly associated with her roles of the early 1930s, later found it hard to get good parts, and by 1937 she was on hiatus from Hollywood. She would return in the ’40s, as arresting as ever, in character parts.