''Babbitt'' is a 1934 film adaptation of the
novel of the same name by
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
directed by
William Keighley
William Jackson Keighley (August 4, 1889 – June 24, 1984) was an American stage actor and Hollywood film director.
Career
After graduating from the Ludlum School of Dramatic Art, Keighley began acting at the age of 23. By the 1910s and 1920 ...
and starring
Aline MacMahon
Aline Laveen MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began under producer Edgar Selwyn in ''The Mirage'' during 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931 and worked extensively in film, thea ...
,
Guy Kibbee
Guy Bridges Kibbee (March 6, 1882 – May 24, 1956) was an American stage and film actor.
Early years
Kibbee was born in El Paso, Texas. His father was editor of the '' El Paso Herald-Post'' newspaper, and Kibbee learned how to set type at age ...
and
Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd (born Dorothy Arlene Dodd; December 29, 1911 – November 23, 1973) was an American film actress.
Life and work
Dorothy Arlene Dodd was born on December 29, 1911, in Baxter, Iowa, to Walter Willard Dodd, a farmer whose family ...
. The screenplay is about a staid small-town businessman who gets ensnared in shady dealings.
Plot summary
Cast
*
Aline MacMahon
Aline Laveen MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began under producer Edgar Selwyn in ''The Mirage'' during 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931 and worked extensively in film, thea ...
as Myra Babbitt
*
Guy Kibbee
Guy Bridges Kibbee (March 6, 1882 – May 24, 1956) was an American stage and film actor.
Early years
Kibbee was born in El Paso, Texas. His father was editor of the '' El Paso Herald-Post'' newspaper, and Kibbee learned how to set type at age ...
as George F. Babbitt
*
Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd (born Dorothy Arlene Dodd; December 29, 1911 – November 23, 1973) was an American film actress.
Life and work
Dorothy Arlene Dodd was born on December 29, 1911, in Baxter, Iowa, to Walter Willard Dodd, a farmer whose family ...
as Tanis Judique
*
Maxine Doyle
Maxine Doyle (January 1, 1915 — May 7, 1973) was an American film actress who appeared in almost 40 films between 1933 and 1946. Today's audiences may know Maxine Doyle from her appearance in the Leon Errol musical short '' Service with a Smi ...
as Verona Babbitt
* Glen Boles as Ted Babbitt
*
Minor Watson
Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), ''Kings Row'' (1942), '' Guada ...
as Paul F. Reisling
*
Minna Gombell
Minna Marie Gombell (''née'' Gombel; May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American stage and film actress.
Early years
She was born Minna Marie Gombel in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of William and Emma M. Debring Gombel. Her father ...
as Zilla Reisling
*
Alan Hale as Charlie McKelvey
*
Berton Churchill
Berton Churchill (December 9, 1876 – October 10, 1940) was a Canadian stage and film actor.
Early years
Churchill was born in Toronto, Ontario. After his family moved to New York City, he graduated from high school there, studied law a ...
as Judge Virgil Thompson
*
Russell Hicks
Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the Cali ...
as Commissioner Lyle Gurnee
*
Nan Grey
Nan Grey (born Eschal Loleet Grey Miller; July 25, 1918 – July 25, 1993) was an American film actress.
Early years
Grey was born in Houston, Texas. In 1934, at age 16, she went to Hollywood with her mother for a holiday. She was persuaded by ...
as Eunice Littlefield (as Nan Gray)
*
Walter Walker as Luke Ethorne
*
Arthur Aylesworth
Arthur Preston Aylesworth (August 12, 1883 – June 26, 1946) was an American stage and film actor.
Early years
Aylesworth was born in Apponaug, Rhode Island, to a military family; his father and his grandfather graduated from the United ...
as Zeke
*
Addison Richards
Addison Whittaker Richards, Jr. (October 20, 1902 – March 22, 1964) was an American actor of film and television. Richards appeared in more than three hundred films between 1933 and his death.
Biography
A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Richa ...
as District Attorney
* Harry Tyler as Martin Gunch
*
Arthur Hoyt
Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films.
Career
Born in Georgetown, Colorado, in 1874, Hoyt ma ...
as Willis Ivans
*
Mary Treen
Mary Treen (born Mary Louise Summers, March 27, 1907 – July 20, 1989) was an American film and television actress. A minor actress for much of her career, she managed to secure a plain, unassuming niche for herself in the Hollywood of the ...
as Miss McGoun
*
Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African ...
as Rosalie (uncredited)
References
Further reading
* Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. ''The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film'' (2nd ed. 2005) pp 21–22; includes 1924 film.
External links
*
*
*
*
American black-and-white films
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by Sinclair Lewis
Films directed by William Keighley
First National Pictures films
1934 drama films
1934 films
American drama films
Films produced by Samuel Bischoff
Warner Bros. films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films
{{1930s-drama-film-stub