- The Scoundrel
Infobox Film
name = The Scoundrel
image_size =
caption =
director =Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur
producer =
writer = Ben Hecht
Charles MacArthur
narrator =
starring =Noel Coward Julie Haydon Stanley Ridges Lionel Stander
music =George Antheil
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =Paramount Pictures
released =30 April 1935
runtime = 76 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
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website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0026970"The Scoundrel" (1935) is a
drama film directed byBen Hecht andCharles MacArthur , and starringNoel Coward ,Julie Haydon ,Stanley Ridges , andLionel Stander . It was Coward's film debut, aside from a bit role in a silent film. It deals with supernatural redemption in a way rather similar toFerenc Molnar 's "Liliom ", and drew inspiration from the life of publisherHorace Liveright , who had died in September 1933.Plot
Anthony Mallare (Coward) is a publisher who (it appears) wishes to ruin the life of every person he comes in contact with. Every sentence he says is like a poisoned dart aimed for the greatest damage, and delivered in cold lifeless tones. He is under no illusion regarding his own personality, remarking to his staff at large that he has found the perfect woman - one as empty as he is: "I must marry her......it would be like two empty paper bags belaboring one another". He finally manages to completely destroy the career and life of an aspiring young author (Ridges) and his girlfriend (Haydon), who curses him with the hope that he will die friendless. Shortly afterwards he is killed when his plane crashes into the ocean -- Haydon's character, upon hearing of the tragedy, remarks, "I've just found out there IS a God!"
Faced with the prospect of damnation he is allowed to go back to earth to find one person who will mourn for him - which person turns out to be Haydon. (Those around him are astonished to see him apparently alive and back at work, but gradually become aware that something supernatural is afoot.)
"The Scoundrel" won the 1935
Academy Award for Best Original Story by writing team Hecht and MacArthur. It is an early role forLionel Stander (his first year in pictures) and is a rare film role for columnistAlexander Woollcott typecast as an acid-tongued writer.External links
*imdb title|0026970
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