East Lynne

US (1931): Drama

The 14th (!) film to bear the title, this Frank Lloyd remake of the book/play stars Ann Harding (in an outstanding performance as Isabella), Conrad Nagel as Robert Carlyle and Cecilia Loftus as his sister Cornelia. Social butterfuly, Isabella Vane, weds puritan parliamentarian, Robert Carlyle, who takes her to his estate, East Lynne (in the book the town was named East Lynne, not the estate). She meets his sister, who frowns on the marriage and runs the household with an iron hand. Three years later, Isabel is unhappy and bored by her husband and his stuffy Puritan friends. An old beau visits, Captain Levison (Clive Brook), and takes Isabella to a ball when her husband is away. Levison makes advances but is rebuffed and leaves the next morning.

Here the script veers off from the book/play and is entirely different. In the book/play, Isabella is guilty of adultery and runs away to the continent with Levison, who soon tires of her and leaves her. She is facially disfigured in a train wreck, leaving all to think her dead. She becomes a governess and winds up back at East Lynne, teaching and caring for her son, unbeknownst to the household or her former husband due to her disfigurement. The son becomes ill and dies in her arms as she reveals her identity and, herself, dies.

In the film she is entirely innocent, but is not believed by her husband and his meddling sister. She is thrown out of the house, divorces and is scandalized by an unbelieving and unforgiving society. She flees to the continent and meets Levison there. She takes up with him in Vienna. He is a diplomat and loses his post due to political conniving. Enter the Franco-Prussian War and he and Isabel are living in poverty in Paris. He is dissolute and blames her for their lives. She nobly suffers. A bombardment by the Prussians results in his death and damage to her eyes -- she is going blind. She manages to return to East Lynne and sneaks into the house (via a loyal and loving maid) to see her son for the last time before she loses her eyesight. (Arne Andersen, IMDb)

· Best Picture 1930-31: Winfield Sheehan, studio head

1 nomination