''Christopher Bean'' is a 1933 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Sam Wood
Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...
and written by Laurence E. Johnson and
Sylvia Thalberg
Sylvia Thalberg (August 26, 1907 – April 9, 1988) was an American screenwriter. Her brother was film producer Irving Thalberg.
Biography
Origins
Sylvia was born in Brooklyn, New York, to German-Jewish immigrant parents. She had one brothe ...
, based on the 1932 play, ''
The Late Christopher Bean
''The Late Christopher Bean'' is a comedy drama adapted from ''Prenez garde à la peinture'' by René Fauchois. It exists in two versions: an American adaptation by Sidney Howard (1932) and an English version by Emlyn Williams (1933). Williams's i ...
'', by
Sidney Howard
Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. ...
. The film stars
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...
,
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
,
Helen Mack
Helen Mack (born Helen McDougall; November 13, 1913 – August 13, 1986) was an American actress. She started her career as a child actress in silent films, moving to Broadway plays and touring one of the vaudeville circuits. Her greater succ ...
,
Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...
, and
Russell Hardie
William Russell Hardie (May 20, 1904 – July 21, 1973) was an American film actor.
He appeared in ''The Costello Case'', '' Broadway to Hollywood'', '' Stage Mother'', ''Christopher Bean'', '' As the Earth Turns'', '' Men in White'', ''Opera ...
. The film was released on November 17, 1933, by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.
It was Dressler's final role before her death from cancer in July 1934.
Plot
After learning that several paintings by deceased artist Christopher Bean, whose life few people know anything about, may be located at the home of Dr. Milton Haggett, New York art critic Maxwell Davenport and rival art dealers Rosen and Tallant set off for Haggett's Massachusetts home. There, the unsuspecting, impoverished Haggett family receives a telegram from Davenport, informing them that he'll arrive at noon to discuss Bean, his favorite artist. Milton and Hannah Haggett and their unmarried daughters, Susan and Ada, are surprised by the telegram, as they had always regarded Bean as a failed incompetent. Only their maid, Abby, who is about to quit and leave for Chicago, has fond memories of the dead painter.
Before Davenport's arrival, Warren Creamer, a former student of Bean's who makes his living as a paperhanger, comes by the Haggett house to court Susan. Because Warren's prospects appear dim, Susan's social-climbing mother discourages his visit, while Ada, who is determined to marry before her younger sister does, boldly competes for his attentions. When Warren makes clear his intentions to marry Susan, however, Ada and her mother angrily throw him out of the house.
A short time later, Tallant arrives; while posing as the magnanimous Davenport, he gives Milton one hundred dollars as payment for Bean's long-outstanding medical bills. Surprised by his apparent good fortune, Milton happily gives Tallant a Bean painting, which he had been using to stop leaks in his chicken house. When Tallant learns that the back of another Bean painting has been used as a canvas by Ada, he buys her amateurish painting for fifty dollars. Later, Abby—who has agreed to help Susan and Warren elope—is approached by the conniving Tallant, who knows that Bean had a special rapport with her. She reveals that Bean painted a portrait of her just before he died but refuses to sell it to Tallant.
Moments later, Rosen shows up at the house and offers Milton $1,000 for any Bean paintings he has. Before Milton agrees to Rosen's deal, Davenport arrives and, after identifying himself, explains to the Haggetts that Bean's work is now worth tens of thousands of dollars. The Haggetts then receive a telegram from the New York Metropolitan Museum, which offers them a sizable sum for their Bean paintings. Inspired by the promise of big money, the Haggetts begin a desperate search throughout the house, but quit when Hannah finally confesses that, years before, she threw a bundle of Bean canvases into a bonfire.
Determined to cash in on their old acquaintance, Milton, Hannah and Ada try to trick the still-uninformed Abby out of her portrait by offering to buy it for fifty dollars. After Abby refuses to sell, the painting's true worth is revealed to her, and she angrily decries her employers while admitting that she had saved seventeen canvases from Hannah's fire and has them packed in a trunk. Despite Milton's attempts to bargain with her, Abby hangs on to her paintings and prepares to leave for Chicago. In greedy desperation, Milton snatches the canvases from Abby's trunk, but relents when she states that she married Bean on his deathbed and is his legal widow. On the train to Chicago, Abby then ponders the future of the valuable paintings, while the eloping Susan and Warren plan their future together.
Cast
*
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...
as Abby
*
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
as Dr. Milton Haggett
*
Helen Mack
Helen Mack (born Helen McDougall; November 13, 1913 – August 13, 1986) was an American actress. She started her career as a child actress in silent films, moving to Broadway plays and touring one of the vaudeville circuits. Her greater succ ...
as Susan Haggett
*
Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...
as Mrs. Hannah Haggett
*
Russell Hardie
William Russell Hardie (May 20, 1904 – July 21, 1973) was an American film actor.
He appeared in ''The Costello Case'', '' Broadway to Hollywood'', '' Stage Mother'', ''Christopher Bean'', '' As the Earth Turns'', '' Men in White'', ''Opera ...
as Warren Creamer
*
Jean Hersholt
Jean Pierre Carl Buron (12 July 1886 – 2 June 1956), known professionally as Jean Hersholt, was a Danish-American actor. He is best known for starring on the radio series '' Dr. Christian'' (1937–1954) and in the film ''Heidi'' (1937).Obitua ...
as Rosen
*
H. B. Warner
Henry Byron Warner (born Henry Byron Lickfold, 26 October 1876 – 21 December 1958) was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in '' The King of Kings''. In later years, he successfu ...
as Maxwell Davenport
*
Helen Shipman
Helen Phyllis Shipman (February 5, 1899 – April 13, 1984) was an American singer, dancer and actress who starred in various Broadway musicals, in musical comedies in vaudeville, and in films.
Early life and career
Shipman was the daughter ...
as Ada Haggett
*
George Coulouris
George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor.
Early life
Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek o ...
as Tallent
References
External links
*
{{Sam Wood
1933 films
American comedy films
1933 comedy films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films directed by Sam Wood
Films produced by Harry Rapf
Films about fictional painters
American black-and-white films
Films based on adaptations
American films based on plays
1930s English-language films
1930s American films