''One Sunday Afternoon'' 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 ...

romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Stephen Roberts and starring

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

and

Fay Wray Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray a ...

. Based on the 1933 Broadway play by James Hagan, the film is about a middle-aged dentist who reminisces about his unrequited love for a beautiful woman and his former friend who betrayed him and married her. This

film was released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

on September 1, 1933.

Plot

Dr. Lucius Griffith "Biff" Grimes (

) is a small town dentist dissatisfied with his lot. Though married to the lovely and affectionate Amy Lind Grimes (

Frances Fuller Frances Fuller (March 16, 1907 in Charleston, South Carolina – December 18, 1980 Manhattan, New York City) was an American actress. She is the grandmother of the actress Rachel Miner and the niece of the Supreme Court Justice and Secr ...

), Grimes still carries a torch for his former sweetheart, Virginia "Virgie" Brush Barnstead (

). Years earlier, Grimes had lost Virgie to his old friend Hugo Barnstead ( Neil Hamilton), and is consumed with the desire to get even with his rival. The now-wealthy Hugo has a dental emergency and comes to see Grimes, who comes close to killing his old rival with gas. The story of their past is told in flashback while the anesthetic is taking effect.

Cast

as Dr. Lucius Griffith "Biff" Grimes *

as Virginia "Virgie" Brush Barnstead *

as Amy Lind Grimes *

Roscoe Karns Roscoe, also spelled Rosco or Roscow, may refer to: People * Roscoe (name) Places United States * Roscoe, California (disambiguation) *Roscoe Township (disambiguation) * Roscoe, Georgia, an unincorporated community *Roscoe, Illinois, a village * ...

as Snappy Downer * Neil Hamilton as Hugo Barnstead, Owner Phoenix Carriage Factory *

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

as Mrs. Lind, Amy's Mother *

Ed Brady Ed John Brady (born June 17, 1962) is a former American football player. Brady was raised in Morris, Illinois, and attended Morris Community High School, where he led the Morris Redskins football team to a state championship. Brady played for ...

as Pig Contest Emcee (uncredited) *

Robert Homans Robert Edward Homans (November 8, 1877 – July 28, 1947) was an American actor who entered films in 1923 after a lengthy stage career. Life and career Robert Homans was born November 8, 1877, in Malden, Massachusetts. Although he studied ...

as Officer Charlie Brown (uncredited)

Reception

The film was a box office disappointment for Paramount.

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.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 ...

'' in September 1933, while the play was still running, and it suffered by comparison to the original:

...Hollywood loses no time in picturing a good play... One might venture that the studio chieftains have been a little too hasty in this case, for, although the shadow conception of "One Sunday Afternoon" is not without merit, it often fails in the dramatic impact given in the original, especially in the closing episodes. Like the film versions of one or two other plays... There are periods that are unnecessarily short and others that do not deserve the footage they receive.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

gives it three out of four stars, praising Cooper's performance in a "Touching and lovingly made piece of Americana, exuding period charm and atmosphere, though darker in tone than the two Warner Bros. remakes by Raoul Walsh: "

Original and Remakes

The hit play ''One Sunday Afternoon'', starring Lloyd Nolan, ran on Broadway from Feb. 15 to November 1933. Written by James Hagan (1888–1947), it had great success beyond its Broadway run .

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 Brooke Atkinson called it "a light and charming little fable" and "uncommonly refreshing." It was translated into

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

and retitled ''One Sabbath Afternoon''. A 1939 production of the Yiddish version also received high praise from ''The New York Times''. Film Director

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...

made two versions, the smash hit '' Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

as Biff, and a

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

starring

Dennis Morgan Dennis Morgan (born Earl Stanley Morner, December 20, 1908 – September 7, 1994) was an American actor-singer. He used the acting pseudonym Richard Stanley before adopting the name under which he gained his greatest fame. According to one obi ...

called ''

One Sunday Afternoon One Sunday Afternoon may refer to: * One Sunday Afternoon (1933 film), an American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film * One Sunday Afternoon (1948 film) ''One Sunday Afternoon'' is a 1948 musical film directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Dennis Mor ...

'' (1948). The Gary Cooper version was a notorious flop, however; it was the only Cooper picture of this period to lose money at the box office.Moss, Marilyn Ann (2011). ''Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director''. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. . p. 199 Before making the Cagney version,

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

(co-founder of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, who had bought the earlier version) screened the 1933 film and then wrote a memo to his production head,

Hal B. Wallis Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing '' Casablanca'' (1942), '' The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and ''True Grit'' (1969), along ...

, telling him to watch it: "It will be hard to stay through the entire running of the picture, but do this so you will know what not to do."

References

External links

* * * * * {, class="wikitable" , , ''This article about a 1930s romantic drama film is a

stub Stub or Stubb may refer to: Shortened objects and entities * Stub (stock), the portion of a corporation left over after most but not all of it has been bought out or spun out * Stub, a tree cut and allowed to regrow from the trunk; see Pollardi ...