That Certain Woman
| That Certain Woman | |
|---|---|
Original poster
|
|
| Directed by | Edmund Goulding |
| Produced by |
Hal B. Wallis Jack L. Warner |
| Written by | Edmund Goulding |
| Starring |
Bette Davis Henry Fonda Anita Louise |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Ernest Haller |
| Edited by | Jack Killifer |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
93 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1 million |
That Certain Woman is a 1937 American drama film written and directed by Edmund Goulding. It is a remake of Goulding's 1929 film The Trespasser, Gloria Swanson's first sound film.
The soap opera-like plot of the Warner Bros. release focuses on Mary Donnell (Bette Davis), a naive young woman married to Al Haines, a bootlegger who is killed during the St. Valentine's Day massacre. In order to support herself she takes a job as a secretary to married attorney Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter), who finds himself attracted to her but keeps his feelings secret out of respect for his wife. Jack Merrick, Jr. (Henry Fonda), the playboy son of a wealthy client, elopes with Mary, but his disapproving father (Donald Crisp) interferes and has the marriage annulled.
Soon after Mary discovers she is pregnant and decides to have the child without informing Jack, who marries Florence Carson (Anita Louise), a woman of his own social class. She later is left crippled by an automobile accident.
When Lloyd dies, he leaves Mary the bulk of his estate, but his wife, believing Mary's son is her husband's illegitimate child, attempts to overturn the will.
When Jack and his father learn the boy is his, the elder Merrick institutes proceedings to have Mary declared unfit and the child removed from her custody. Unable to withstand the stress of the legal proceedings, to her surprise, Mary finds Florence kind and sympathetic. She allows Jack and Florence to have the child and leaves for Europe. When Florence dies, Jack follows Mary in the hope he'll find her and reunite her with their son.
...
Wikipedia