Transgression

Transgression (1931)

When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.

Date of release
1931-06-27
TMDB
4.3 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 10m
Genres
Drama
Director
Herbert Brenon

Casting

Interesting facts

Transgression is a 1931 pre-Code American drama film directed by Herbert Brenon, using a screenplay written by Elizabeth Meehan, adapted from Kate Jordan's 1921 novel, The Next Corner. The film stars Kay Francis, Paul Cavanagh, and Ricardo Cortez, and deals with the romantic entanglements of a wealthy English businessman, his wife and a Spanish nobleman.

Production

A remake of the 1924 silent film, The Next Corner, which was produced by Paramount Pictures, was put on RKO's production schedule. During production, the film was known by the name of the earlier picture, as well as Around the Corner, but in early June, the final name was announced as Transgression. The new name was selected as a result of a pool among the publicity men employed by RKO.

William LeBaron chose Herbert Brenon to helm the picture, and he began working on the project in early February 1931. Elizabeth Meehan was assigned to adapt Kate Jordan's novel for the screen in early March, which was originally slated to be a starring vehicle for Irene Dunne.

The cast would go through several incarnations before being finalized. In addition to Alvardo and Dunne, among those who were attached to the project at various times were: Alphonse DeCruz, Esther Crispin Martini, Wilfred Roy, David Dunbar, and William Welch.

By the end of April it was decided that Leo Tover would be the film's cinematographer, re-uniting him with Brenon for the first time in four years. Brenon had directed three of the first five films Tover had photographed, the last being 1927's The Telephone Girl. The two had collaborated on the first film version of the famous F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby. RKO premiered the film in New York city on June 12, 1931.

RKO produced a French version of the film titled Nuit d'Espagne, which was directed by Henri de la Falaise. It was announced in April that he would be directing the version, which would be the third French variation he did for RKO. He selected Jeanne Heibling and Geymond Vital to play the Francis and Cavanaugh roles, respectively. The only actor to appear in both films was actress Adrienne D'Ambricourt, in a small role.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended