The Lady Consents ** (1936, Ann Harding, Herbert Marshall, Margaret Lindsay, Walter Abel, Edward Ellis) – Classic Movie Review 6866

There are bleeding hearts aplenty in director Stephen Roberts’s well-played by extremely trite little 1936 melodrama in which Herbert Marshall plays Doctor Michael J Talbot who divorces his selfless wife Anne Talbot (Ann Harding) for young mistress Gerry Mannerly (Margaret Lindsay), a professional golfer whom he marries only to find out that she is an uncivilised person and that he still loves his ex-wife Anne.

[Spoiler alert] It is the death of Marshall’s father Jim Talbot (Edward Ellis) that provokes a change of heart and direction in the hero.

This stagy, contrived and dated film is short on credibility and originality, with a screenplay by P J Wolfson and Anthony Veiller that is hampered by some particularly stodgy, antique dialogue.

RKO’s cheap-looking production is extremely basic and unimaginatively handled, but the movie is amusingly played and with some conviction. Edward Ellis upstages the stars as Marshall’s wise father. Also in the cast are Walter Abel as Stanley Ashton, Hobart Cavanaugh as Mr Yardley, Ilka Chase as Susan, Paul Porcasi, Willie Best as Sam and Mary Gordon.

It was released on 7 February 1936. The screenplay is based on P J Wolfson’s play The Indestructible Mrs Talbot.

The Lady Consents is directed by Stephen Roberts, runs 76 minutes, is an RKO Radio Pictures release, is written by P J Wolfson and Anthony Veiller, is based on P J Wolfson’s play The Indestructible Mrs Talbot, is shot in black and white by J Roy Hunt, is produce by Edward Kaufman, and is scored by Roy Webb.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6866

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