Fools for Scandal | |
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trailer featuring Carole Lombard
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Directed by |
Mervyn LeRoy Bobby Connolly ("Le Petit Harlem" sequence) |
Produced by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Screenplay by |
Herbert Fields Joseph Fields Irving Brecher (add'l dialogue) Uncredited: Julius J. Epstein Philip G. Epstein Edith Fitzgerald Robert Rossen |
Based on |
Return Engagement (unproduced 1936 play) by Nancy Hamilton James Shute Rosemary Casey |
Starring |
Carole Lombard Fernand Gravet |
Music by |
Songs: Richard Rogers (music) Lorenz Hart (lyrics) |
Cinematography | Ted Tetzlaff |
Edited by | William Holmes |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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April 16, 1938 (US) |
Running time
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80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.3 million |
Fools for Scandal is a 1938 screwball comedy film starring Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravet, and featuring Ralph Bellamy, Allen Jenkins, Isabel Jeans, Marie Wilson and Marcia Ralston. It was produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy and was written by Herbert Fields and Joseph Fields with additional dialogue by Irving Brecher and uncredited contributions by others, based on the unproduced 1936 play Return Engagement by Nancy Hamilton, James Shute, and Rosemary Casey. The songs are by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
Fools for Scandal is now best remembered as one of Lombard's worst films and one that set her on the course for seeking dramatic roles for the next few years.
Film star Kay Winters (Carole Lombard) is traveling through Paris under a wig and the pseudonym of Kay Summers with her maid and companion Myrtle (Marie Wilson). She meets Rene (Fernand Gravet), a French marquis who has lost all his money and has pawned all his material possessions to live, something Paris society does not know. He sees her on the street and offers to give her a tour of the real Paris. Kay, who already had plans to attend dinner with Lady Paula Malverton (Isabel Jeans), tries to brush him off, only to become charmed by the persistent and impetuous Rene. Once finished with the tour, they have dinner, and unexpectedly run into Lady Malverton and her party. Lady Malverton calls Rene over to her table. When he returns, he discovers that Kay has left. However, she left a note asking him to lunch with her the following day.