The Woman Accused - Nancy Carroll

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Paul Sloane
USA 1933

Screen legend Cary Grant stars with Nancy Carroll in The Woman Accused, a gripping tale of love and jealousy that leads to murder! Socialite Glenda O'Brien (Carroll) gets caught in a murderous misfortune with her ex-lover who wants her back after he finds out she’s engaged to an attorney (Grant). After she mistakenly pays him a visit, he is found dead and now she is considered a prime suspect. Plans to tie the knot continue in full swing while on a cruise ship but things go amiss when her story is brought to surface.

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The Woman Accused doesn’t directly linger on the culpability of a murderer, but it reveals a moral relativity that sounds good on paper. The life of a mob boss is worth less than that of a good man. Watch any movie made in the last 80 years: this hasn’t changed.

But I’m letting the movie get away from me. The Woman Accused unfolds mostly in real time, saving us some transitions but keeping Glenda’s recent deed on the forefront of her every action. Her darling new fiance is Cary Grant, still in his serious acting days and a touch better here than in Born to be Bad. He’s planning on taking her on a cruise, and gives her a little bit to prepare.

Excerpt from Pre-code.com located HERE

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John Halliday portrays Stephen Bessemer, who is convinced that Glenda is responsible for Young's death. By that time Glenda is on a ship which has just started on a three-day cruise. Bessemer, being a resourceful individual, commandeers a police patrol boat, catches up with the big vessel and climbs aboard.

With good luck at a mock trial, he succeeds, by playing upon Glenda's nervous condition, in eliciting a confession from her. These scenes are more amusing than exciting, but later, when Glenda, Baxter and Bessemer return to New York, Maxie virtually holds Glenda's fate in his hands. Baxter, however, after listening to the gangster's damaging testimony undertakes to make Maxie tell the truth by thrashing him with a blacksnake whip.

Excerpt from the NY Times located HERE

Posters etc.

Theatrical Release: February 17th, 1933

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DVD Review: Universal 'Vault Series' - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Universal - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:12:61
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.66 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: September 28th, 2016 Keep Case Chapters: 9

Comments:

A Woman Accused is a neat little pre-code (eyebrows raised) with a murder mystery element with a plotting romance in the background and has a 29-year old Cary Grant!

The disc is predictably single-layered and has no menus, or extras, and the transfer is interlaced (see combing in bottom capture.) Aside from that it was surprisingly adept - sweet texture with some contrast layering - a high bitrate (for the format). There are a few vertical scratches and come speckles. I'd judge the quality to be a bit better than average from the era and Universal's 'Vault Series".

The audio is a factor of the production - it has weaknesses but the dialogue is easily discernable and the score by Viennese composer Rudolph G. Kopp (1934's Cleopatra, Murders in the Zoo, 1934's The Sign of the Cross, 1950's Noir Mystery Street). and it adds, modestly, to the atmosphere - keeping the mood light. There are no subtitles and the media is region FREE.

The film is an entertaining entry into the vintage cinema and pre-code category. It has some suspense, nice camerawork and has a fun romantic element. I was in the mood and would watch it again one day - Nancy Carroll's 'cameltoe' kind of a OMG moment - but that's another attribute of Pre-code. You have to think it was intentional... how 'modern'. LOL.

Gary Tooze

Screen Captures

My favorite attributes of pre-code era (before strictly enforcing the Hays Code) are the women's hats, the decor and the clothing. We, also, occasionally see nudity or graphic female anatomy that would ordinarily not be shown - post pre-code. From Wikipedia (I had to look this up): "Camel toe, or cameltoe, is a slang term that refers to the outline of a woman's labia majora in... certain clothing. Owing to a combination of anatomical factors and the fabric covering the area, the crotch and mons pubis may display... "