The Lady in Scarlet
| The Lady in Scarlet | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Charles Lamont |
| Produced by | George R. Batcheller |
| Written by | Arthur Hoerl |
| Screenplay by | Robert Ellis & Helen Logan |
| Cinematography | M. A. Andersen |
| Edited by | Roland D. Reed |
| Distributed by | Chesterfield Pictures |
|
Release date
|
1935 |
|
Running time
|
65 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lady in Scarlet is a 1935 American film directed by Charles Lamont. It was made by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation.
In New York City, Dr. Phillip Boyer admires an antique clock at the premises of antique dealer Albert J. Sayre, who has apparently missed his appointment with him. Sayre is however, present and covertly watching Boyer. Deciding to buy and with Mrs. Sayre present, Boyer arranges with salesman Arthur Pennyward for the clock to be delivered that afternoon "about 4.30 or a little after." After Boyer departs, Sayre accuses his wife of a romantic interest in him and obliquely threatens her.
Sayre telephones his attorney Jerome T. Shelby who dismisses his suspicions about Mrs. Sayre and the "4.30 or a little after" being a coded signal for an illicit rendezvous, and asks him to bring his latest will to his office for signing.
About 5.30pm, Mrs. Sayre meets Dr. Boyer at a restaurant. Also present at the restaurant are Private Investigator Oliver Keith and his "girl friday" Ella Carey. When Boyer departs, Mrs. Sayre approaches Keith, asking for his help in finding out why a man has been watching the Sayre house and the reason for her husband's strange behavior. To reassure her, Keith escorts her home and together they find an unlocked front door, salesman Pennyward absent, and the dead body of Sayre in his office.
Soon after, Pennyward returns. He states that he left the premises about 4pm, delivering the clock to Dr. Boyer's home about 5.30 and setting the time correctly to 5.35.
Police are called and establish time of death at "about 5 o'clock." Mrs. Sayre says she went to her hairdressing salon at around 4pm. Questioning is interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Boyer who is returning the clock because it's not the one he ordered. Questioning is again interrupted by the arrival of Sayre's daughter Alice who accuses Mrs. Sayre, her stepmother, of being in love with Dr. Boyer and murdering her father for inheritance money. Dr. Boyer strongly denies any romantic interest in Mrs. Sayre. Fingerprints provide a lead to rival antique dealer F.W. Dyker but he cannot be found.
Questioning reveals that Pennyward and Alice married the previous day and when they told her father he fired Pennyward and told them he would disinherit her, a strong motive for murdering him before any change in the will. Boyer's alibi of being at his medical practice till 5.30 is found to be false as he left about 3.30.
Dyker, Pennyward and Alice, Boyer, and Mrs. Sayre are now all under suspicion. Dyker turns up at Keith's office in response to a fake art collection ad designed to lure him there, and is arrested by Inspector Trainey. In questioning, Pennyward reveals to Keith that Sayre ran a profitable enterprise selling fake antiques through Dyker, but they argued over payments.
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