''The Misleading Lady'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the 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 censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy film directed by Stuart Walker, and starring

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

and

Edmund Lowe Edmund Dantes Lowe (March 3, 1890 – April 21, 1971) was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. Biography Lowe was born in San Jose, California. His father was a local judge. His childhood home was a ...

. The film is based on the 1913 Broadway play by

Charles W. Goddard Charles William Goddard (November 26, 1879 – January 11, 1951) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Goddard began writing Broadway plays before turning to film, adapting a number of his stage works to film. He wrote the script for the P ...

and Paul Dickey. It is also a remake of the 1920 Metro silent film original which starred

Bert Lytell Bertram Lytell (February 24, 1885 – September 28, 1954) was an American actor in theater and film during the silent film era and early talkies. He starred in romantic, melodrama, and adventure films. Background Born in New York City, Lyt ...

and

Lucy Cotton Lucy Cotton (August 29, 1895 – 12 December 1948) was an American actress who appeared in 12 films between 1910 in film, 1910 and 1921 in film, 1921. Biography Cotton was born in Houston, Texas, United States and died in Miami Beach, Florida.

, also based on the play. On March 1, 1932, upon completion of this film,

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 ...

closed its Astoria Studios in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeas ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The original play and its film depictions have been regarded as one of the origins of Napoleon delusions in the media.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/napoleon-delusion-200-years-later-psychiatry-in-the-arts/21D2B8425FB9CD2D4336B4B965C7E418

Plot

Helen Steele (

) is bored to death of her empty lifestyle as a socialite. She decides to become an actress, but cannot get to see producer Sydney Parker ( Robert Strange). She learns that Parker will be at a party at the home of her friend Alice Connell. She wants the lead in Parker's play ''The Siren''. He feels that she is too nice a girl to convincingly play the part, so she bets him that, in exchange for an audition, she will be able to make Parker's friend, mining engineer Jack Craigen (

), fall in love with her within three days. She records Jack's proposal of marriage on a phonograph record to provide proof, but then has second thoughts about what she has done. Before she can explain the situation to Jack, he is publicly humiliated when he and all of the other guests inadvertently hear the recording. As Jack storms out, he is introduced to Tracy, Helen's fiancé. Helen breaks off her engagement and rushes to Jack's room to try to explain. Jack kidnaps her and steals another guest's

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...

to take to his home. When she tries to escape, he chains her up. While he is out getting some water to make coffee, she spots another man. He sneaks in, but then reveals that he is an escapee from a nearby mental asylum and thinks he is "Boney". She screams for help when he grabs a sword. Jack plays along and manages to trick the lunatic into entering a room, which Jack then locks. After Jack receives a call informing him that Tracy is on his way there, armed with a gun, he decides to let Helen go, but then they argue. During the ensuing struggle, she hits him on the head with a hammer, knocking him out, and runs away into the snow-filled woods. She manages to reach a forest ranger. Meanwhile, Boney gets out and locks Jack up. Reporter Fitzpatrick shows up, and mistaking the madman for Jack, warns him that Tracy is coming. Then two asylum guards show up to collect Boney, but he manages to get away. Eventually, everything gets straightened out, and the couple reconcile.

Cast

Filming locations

Kaufman Astoria Studios The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The p ...

- 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Misleading Lady 1932 films 1932 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films American romantic comedy films American films based on plays Films directed by Stuart Walker Paramount Pictures films Films shot at Astoria Studios 1930s English-language films 1930s American films