''Sing Sinner Sing'' is a 1933 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

romantic drama film directed by

Howard Christie Howard Christie (September 16, 1912 – March 25, 1992) was an American Producer (film), producer of films and television. Early life and education Christie was born in Orinda, California and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1929. ...

Plot

Leila Hyams plays a singer who is accused of her husband's murder.

Cast

Paul Lukas Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film ''Wat ...

as Phil Carida *

Leila Hyams Leila Hyams (May 1, 1905 – December 4, 1977) was an American actress who came from a show business family. Her relatively short film career began in 1924 during the era of silent films and ended in 1936 (excepting a 1946 film short appearance) ...

as Lela Larson *

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 Ted Rendon *

Ruth Donnelly Ruth Donnelly (May 17, 1896 – November 17, 1982) was an American film and stage actress. Early years and family Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donnelly was the daughter of Harry Augustus and Bessie B. Donnelly. Her uncle Frederi ...

as Maggie Flannigan * George E. Stone as Spats *

Joyce Compton Olivia Joyce Compton (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1997) was an American actress. Biography Compton was born in Lexington, Kentucky, the daughter of Henry and Golden Compton. (Despite frequent reports to the contrary, her name was not ...

as Gwen *

Jill Dennett Jill Dennett (May 26, 1913 – March 14, 1969) was a motion picture actress in Hollywood movies for a decade, beginning in 1932. She appeared in more than twenty films, all of the appearances in uncredited roles. She was a talented dancer and si ...

as Sadie *

Arthur Hoyt Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films. Career Born in Georgetown, Colorado, in 1874, Hoyt ma ...

as Uncle Homer * Paul McGrail as Louis *

Gladys Blake Gladys Blake (born Gladys Timmons; May 12, 1910 – May 21, 1983) was an American character actress from the 1930s to the 1950s. Biography Blake was born on January 12, 1910, in Luray, Virginia. Her mother, Ada Timmons, died when Gladys was ...

as Cecily Gordon *

Arthur Housman Arthur Housman (October 10, 1889 – April 8, 1942) was an American actor in films during both the silent film era and the Golden Age of Hollywood. Career Arthur Housman was one of the first screen comedians known to the public by name, and on ...

as Jerry *

Edgar Norton Edgar Norton (born Harry Edgar Mills; August 11, 1868 – February 6, 1953) was an English-born American character actor. Early years Norton was born in Islington in London, England, on August 11, 1868, as Harry Edgar Mills, one of eight childr ...

as Roberts the Butler *

John St. Polis John M. St. Polis (born John Marie Sainpolis; November 24, 1873 – October 8, 1946) was an American actor. Biography St. Polis was born John Marie Sainpolis in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Marie Sainpolis and Marie Catherine Bor ...

as James Parks * Stella Adams as Aunt Emily van Puyten * Pat O'Malley as Henchman Conley *

Walter Brennan Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Come and Get It (1936 film), Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky (film), Kentucky'' (19 ...

as Henchman Riordan Various artists, such as

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...

and

Marshal Royal Marshal Walton Royal Jr. (December 5, 1912 – May 8, 1995) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years. Early life and education Marshal Royal ...

, can be seen playing in bands in the film.

Production notes

At the time the movie was released, it was recognized as being loosely based on the 1932

Libby Holman Elizabeth Lloyd Holman (née Holzman; May 23, 1904 – June 18, 1971) was an American socialite, actress, singer, and activist. Early life Elizabeth Lloyd Holman was born on May 23, 1904, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of a lawyer and stockbr ...

Zachary Smith Reynolds Zachary Smith Reynolds (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1932) was an American amateur aviator and youngest son of millionaire businessman R. J. Reynolds. The son of one of the richest men in the United States at the time, Reynolds was to inherit Uni ...

case. According to Jeanne Scheper, other films inspired by "this episode of Holman's life include .. ''Reckless'' (dir. Victor Fleming, 1935), with Jean Harlow; and ''

Written on the Wind ''Written on the Wind'' is a 1956 American Southern Gothic melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone. It follows the complicated relationships among dysfunctional family ...

'' (dir. Douglas Sirk, 1956), with Lauren Bacall and Rock Hudson."Jeanne Scheper, ''Moving Performances: Divas, Iconicity, and Remembering the Modern Stage'' (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2016), 119 and 173;

References

External links

* * 1933 films 1933 romantic drama films American black-and-white films American romantic drama films Majestic Pictures films 1930s American films {{1930s-romantic-drama-film-stub