''Ladies of the Jury'' is a 1932 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

Lowell Sherman Lowell J. Sherman (October 11, 1888 – December 28, 1934) was an American actor and film director. In an unusual practice for the time, he served as both actor and director on several films in the early 1930s. He later turned exclusively to d ...

and written by

Marion Dix Marion E. Dix (June 5, 1904 – February 7, 1992) was an American screenwriter, filmmaker, and foreign correspondent. Biography Early life Born to Oscar Dix and Jane Edgerton in Milwaukee, Marion Dix and her sister Ruth were raised primarily ...

Edward Salisbury Field Edward "Ned" Salisbury Field Jr. (February 28, 1878 – September 20, 1936) was an American author, playwright, artist, poet, and journalist. Biography He was born on February 28, 1878 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Edward Salisbury and Sarah Mill ...

and Eddie Welch based on the 1929 play of the same name by John Frederick Ballard. The film stars

Edna May Oliver Edna May Oliver (born Edna May Nutter, November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the better-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters. ...

Jill Esmond Jill Esmond (born Jill Esmond Moore; 26 January 1908 – 28 July 1990) was an English stage and screen actress. She was the first wife of Laurence Olivier. Early life Esmond was born in London, the daughter of stage actors Henry V. Esmond and ...

, Ken Murray,

Roscoe Ates Roscoe Blevel Ates (January 20, 1895 – March 1, 1962) was an American vaudeville performer, actor of stage and screen, comedian and musician who primarily featured in western films and television. He was best known as western character S ...

and

Kitty Kelly Kitty Kelly (born Sue O'Neil; April 27, 1902 – June 29, 1968), was an American stage and film character actress. Biography Born in New York City in 1902, Kelly was best known as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and her radio hosting with C ...

. It was released on February 5, 1932 by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

Plot

Middle-aged Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane is selected to serve on a jury for the murder trial of French ex-showgirl Yvette Gordon, who is accused of killing her rich, much older husband. The prosecutor calls only two witnesses, a doctor and Mrs. Gordon's maid, Evelyn Snow. Snow testifies that after she found Mrs. Gordon kneeling beside the body of her husband holding the gun, her employer offered to pay her to attest that Mr. Gordon committed suicide. Mrs. Gordon claims that Snow had demanded money to tell the police that story. On the witness stand, Mrs. Gordon claims that she had gone away for a week but returned to her angry, suspicious husband who threatened her with a gun. She states that they struggled and the gun fired accidentally. During the testimony, Mrs. Crane asks several questions of the witnesses, which annoys judge Henry Fish. She discovers that Snow was recommended to Mrs. Gordon by Chauncey Gordon, Mr. Crane's nephew, sole relative and heir. When the jury retires to consider a verdict, Mrs. Crane casts the sole not guilty vote. When asked why, she replies, "Woman's

intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledge; unconscious cognition; ...

." After much deliberation, the count is ten to two in favor of acquittal. During the deliberations, Mrs. Crane illegally passes a note to her maid Suzanne instructing her to hire a detective agency to investigate further. When Mrs. Crane overhears jurors debating whether to switch their votes back to guilty, she recommends that they reenact the death scene. In the Gordon mansion, Chauncey Gordon refuses to pay Snow any more money until after Mrs. Gordon is found guilty. When they see the jury approaching, Snow hides Chauncey in a secret compartment. However, the jurors find him in the secret compartment by chance. A telegram arrives stating that the detective agency has discovered that Chauncey paid Snow $10,000. As a result, the jury find Mrs. Gordon not guilty.

Cast

as Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane *

as Mrs. Yvette Gordon * Ken Murray as Spencer B. Dazy *

as Andrew MacKaig *

as Mayme Mixter *

Cora Witherspoon Cora Witherspoon (January 5, 1890 – November 17, 1957) was an American stage and film character actress whose career spanned nearly half a century. She began in theatre where she remained rooted even after entering motion pictures in the ...

as Lily Pratt *

Robert McWade Robert McWade (January 25, 1872 – January 19, 1938), was an American stage and film actor. McWade was born in Buffalo, New York. He was the third actor named Robert McWade, after his father and grandfather. In 1902, McWade debuted on stag ...

as Judge Henry Fish *

Helene Millard Helene Millard (September 30, 1905 – September 20, 1974) was an American supporting actress of the 1930s and 1940s. Millard began acting on stage in Los Angeles when she was in the seventh grade. Millard left the Pasadena Players in July 19 ...

as Miss Evelyn Elaine Snow * Kate Price as Mrs. McGuire *

Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. (April 26, 1899 – June 6, 1962) was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as '' Dodge City'' (1939), ''Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), and '' The Comancheros'' (1961). He was nicknamed "Big Boy" ...

as Steve Bromm (uncredited)

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' called the film an "innocuous courtroom drama" and noted that "Oliver is hilarious."

Remake

The film was remade as ''

We're on the Jury ''We're on the Jury'' is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Ben Holmes and starring Victor Moore and Helen Broderick Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American actress known for her comic roles, especia ...

'' in 1937.

References

External links