''The Animal Kingdom'' (also known as ''The Woman in His House'' in the UK) is a 1932 American
pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by
based upon a
comedy of manners play of the same name by
Philip Barry
Philip Jerome Quinn Barry (June 18, 1896 – December 3, 1949) was an American dramatist best known for his plays ''Holiday (play), Holiday'' (1928) and ''The Philadelphia Story (play), The Philadelphia Story'' (1939), which were both made into ...
. The film stars
Leslie Howard,
Ann Harding,
Myrna Loy,
William Gargan
William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
,
Ilka Chase, and
Neil Hamilton. Howard, Gargan, and Chase also starred in the play when it opened on
Broadway on January 12, 1932. It was remade 1946 as ''
One More Tomorrow''.
Plot
Tom Collier owns a small press that publishes deluxe books. He has been living in the city with his best friend and lover Daisy Sage without being married. Daisy is a successful commercial artist for a fashion magazine. She has just returned from three months in Paris. While Daisy was away, Tom has fallen in love with Cecelia Henry.
Tom's wealthy banker father, Rufus Collier, describes his lifelong frustration with his son to Cecelia and Owen Fiske, a family friend and attorney. Tom has had every advantage, including education at both Harvard and Oxford, and a position at the bank, yet he is an idler and his friends are uncouth. His father is now afraid that Tom might actually marry Daisy. Cecelia reassures him on that score: She is going to marry Tom in June. Owen is surprised and crushed—he thought that she loved him—but Tom's father doesn't notice and approves wholeheartedly.
Tom tells Daisy of his impending marriage. He assures her that nothing between them need change, but Daisy grows angry and sends him away, saying "Good-Bye...’til Doomsday". Soon, Cecelia has persuaded Tom to publish a book that is "the worst tripe" that his press has ever published, but it sells wonderfully. She talks him into publishing bad books that will make money and getting rid of his old friends, including "Red", his prize-fighter friend and butler. She wants Tom to sell his publishing company, live in the city with his father as a "proper gentleman" and take their place in society, a prospect that Tom has been resisting all his life.
Daisy tries to stay away, but she and Tom's
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
friends can't believe he's happy. She loves him deeply and wants to have children with him, but cares most about his well-being. Tom complains that he's losing his soul and integrity. Finally, when Cecelia offers Tom champagne to toast selling his publishing company and moving in with his father, Tom realizes that Cecelia's bedroom suite reminds him of a
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
he used to visit, as he says, "
in vino veritas
''In vino veritas'', also written as ''in uino ueritas'', is a Latin phrase that means "In wine, there is truth", suggesting a person under the influence of alcohol is more likely to speak their hidden thoughts and desires. The phrase is sometim ...
". When Red tells Tom he is going back to the city, that he can't stomach being at that house any longer, Tom insists on driving him to the station, saying, "I'm going back to my wife", referring to Daisy. As he leaves, he signs over to Cecelia a large birthday check from his father, and puts it on the mantle, just as he used to leave money for the girls in the
bordello.
Cast
*
Ann Harding as Daisy Sage, illustrator and artist
*
Leslie Howard as Tom Collier
*
Myrna Loy as Mrs. Cecelia 'Cee' Thomas Collier
*
William Gargan
William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
as 'Red' Regan, Tom's Butler
*
Neil Hamilton as Owen, a lawyer
*
Ilka Chase as Grace - Cee's Friend
*
Henry Stephenson as Mr Rufus Collier
*
Leni Stengel
Leni Stengel (September 12, 1901 – July 1, 1982) was a German-born actress who appeared on Broadway, on television, and in films, through the 1920s to 1950s.
Early life
She was born in Berlin, Germany
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and ...
as Franc Schmidt, Cellist, and Daisy's friend
*
Don Dillaway
Donald Provost Dillaway (March 17, 1903 – November 18, 1982) was an American stage and film actor.
Early years
Dillaway's mother, billed as Nettie Gordon, sang in vaudeville. Because she and his father insisted on a professional career for h ...
as Joe Fiske - One Of Tom's Authors
Production
Writing
The film is based on a 1932 play of the same name set in 1930s New York and Connecticut. Although the play emphasizes the estrangement between Tom and his father, who has never visited his son's house, before; and that Owen, his one "respectable gentleman" friend, introduced Cecelia to Tom, these two elements are not as significant in the film.
Development
Although
RKO
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-Orpheu ...
originally purchased the film rights to ''The Animal Kingdom'' as a vehicle for
Ann Harding,
Irene Dunne was substituted when scheduling conflicts arose with
Harding
Harding may refer to:
People
*Harding (surname)
*Maureen Harding Clark (born 1946), Irish jurist
Places Australia
* Harding River
Iran
* Harding, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province
South Africa
* Harding, KwaZulu-Natal
United Sta ...
. In an ironic twist, when filming of ''
Smilin' Through'' did not finish on time and
MGM
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 through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
refused to release
Leslie Howard to
RKO
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-Orpheu ...
to begin filming ''The Animal Kingdom'' at the scheduled time,
RKO
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-Orpheu ...
realized
Ann Harding would now be available and reassigned her to the rôle.
Reception
According to RKO records the film had a loss of $110,000 during its first year of release, in 1932–33.
Legacy
In 1960, the film entered the
public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its
copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.
The film was preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in 1985. (Source: UCLA Archive website)
Rare home movie footage taken on set during the production by co-star Leslie Howard and featuring candid footage of Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, William Gargan and director Edward H Griffith is included in the 2016 documentary ''Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn''
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Animal Kingdom
1932 films
1932 comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
American black-and-white films
Articles containing video clips
Films scored by Max Steiner
American films based on plays
Films directed by Edward H. Griffith
Films produced by David O. Selznick
RKO Pictures films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films