Lord Camber’s Ladies ** (1932, Gerald du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence, Benita Hume, Nigel Bruce) – Classic Movie Review 12,869

Alfred Hitchcock produced a 1932 mystery drama film titled Lord Camber’s Ladies, which stars his great friend Gerald du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence and Nigel Bruce. It is the only film Hitchcock produced but did not direct.

Alfred Hitchcock produced a 1932 mystery drama film titled Lord Camber’s Ladies, which stars his good friend Gerald du Maurier, and is directed by Benn W Levy. It turned out to be the only film Hitchcock produced but did not direct, and he later dismissed it as a British International Pictures (BIP) quota quickie. He called it ‘a poison thing. I gave it to Benn Levy to direct’.

Director Benn W Levy’s 1932 film Lord Camber’s Ladies is based on the 1915 play The Case of Lady Camber by Horace Annesley Vachell, and stars Gerald du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence, Benita Hume, Nigel Bruce, and A Bromley Davenport.

Posh well-known womanising aristocrat Lord Camber (Nigel Bruce) is romancing famous musical comedy actress star Shirley Neville (Gertrude Lawrence) but is also desperate to pursue a romantic attachment with florist Janet King (Benita Hume), under the name of John Betterton. Despite having fallen in love with Janet, Camber marries Shirley, who becomes Lady Camber. Janet becomes a nurse and falls in love with Doctor Napier (Gerald du Maurier), but then Lord and Lady Camber reappear in her life.

Lord Camber considers killing Lady Camber. Later Lady Camber accuses Janet of having an affair with Lord Camber, but then Lady Camber collapses dead, and the romantic couple Lord Camber and Janet are accused of her murder.

Lacking any Alfred Hitchcock-style frantic fizz, this theatrical mystery drama is often more stodgy than suspenseful, but the posh-accented acting is ideal, especially from Bruce, du Maurier as Dr Napier and Davenport as Sir Bedford Slufter. Plus it is a precious rare chance to see Gertrude Lawrence on screen.

And it is fascinating that Hitchcock himself is the producer… and this is how it came about.

After the disappointing critical reaction to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1932 film Number Seventeen of the stage play Number Seventeen, British International Pictures (BIP) announced in April 1932 that he would spend 12 months producing films for other directors.

Bit it did not turn out like that. The only film Hitchcock actually produced for BIP was the 1932 film titled Lord Camber’s Ladies, an adaptation of Horace Annesley Vachell’s 1915 play The Case of Lady Camber with first-time director Benn W Levy, who had previously written dialogue for the sound version of Blackmail (1929).

The film stars Hitchcock’s great friend Sir Gerald du Maurier, father of Daphne du Maurier, as well as popular stage actress Gertrude Lawrence, and various Hitchcock favourites, including Clare Greet, Nigel Bruce and Benita Hume, who had been praised for her acting in Hitchcock’s film  Easy Virtue (1928).

Hitchcock, apparently bored by the filming of Lord Camber’s Ladies, and Gerald du Maurier, who hid his film-acting nerves by playing practical jokes on set, were soon disrupting the production, much to Levy’s frustration.

Writing later about her father, Daphne du Maurier said: ‘It was a wonder that the picture was ever completed at all, for hardly a moment would pass without some faked telegram arriving, some bogus message being delivered, some supposed telephone bell ringing, until the practical jokers were haggard and worn with their tremendous efforts.’

The film previewed to the press on 4 November 1932 at the Prince Edward Theatre, London.

The play was previously filmed in 1915 by Walter West.

The cast are Gerald du Maurier as Doctor Napier, Gertrude Lawrence as Lady Camber, Benita Hume as Janet King, Nigel Bruce as Lord Camber, Clare Greet as Peach, A Bromley Davenport as Sir Bedford Slufter, Betty Norton as Hetty, Harold Meade as Ainley, Hugh E Wright as Old Man, Hal Gordon as Stage Manager, and Molly Lamont as Actress.

Lord Camber’s Ladies is directed by Benn W Levy, runs 80 minutes, is made by British International Pictures, is released by Wardour Films, is written by Benn W Levy, Edwin Greenwood and Gilbert Wakefield, based on the play The Case of Lady Camber by Horace Annesley Vachell, is shot in black and white by James Wilson, and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, with Art Direction by David Rawnsley.

Hitchcock filmed three movies based on the works of Daphne du Maurier: Jamaica Inn, Rebecca and The Birds.

The films of Alfred Hitchcock.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,869

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