Crime Without Passion Explained

Crime Without Passion
Director:Ben Hecht
Charles MacArthur
Producer:Ben Hecht
Charles MacArthur
Starring:Claude Rains
Cinematography:Lee Garmes
Distributor:Paramount Pictures
Runtime:70 minutes
Country:United States
Language:English

Crime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and starring Claude Rains.[1] It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures. Sixty to seventy percent of the film was directed by cinematographer Lee Garmes.[2]

Plot

The plot centers around a clever and suave but unscrupulous and dishonest lawyer Lee Gentry (Rains) who boasts that he "lives by lies". His attempts to finish his two-timing affair with a clinging, besotted cabaret artist do not go according to plan.

Critical reception

In The New York Times, Mordaunt Hall found "a drama blessed with marked originality and photographed with consummate artistry," and cited one of its many pluses as "that of having Claude Rains in the main rĂ´le."[3]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Crime Without Passion (1934) - Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related. AllMovie.
  2. Web site: Lee Garmes | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. AllMovie.
  3. Web site: Claude Rains in the First Hecht-MacArthur Production. Mordaunt. Hall. September 1, 1934. NYTimes.com.