A Woman Rebels

Director: Mark Sandrich Mark Sandrich

Overview

Based on a novel by Netta Syrett, A Woman Rebels is the story of Pamela Thistlewaite (Katharine Hepburn), whose mission in life is to defy the restrictive and often hypocritical conventions of Victorian England. Refusing to conform to the status quo, Pamela lives alone, reads, and says whatever she wishes, and even -- horrors! -- takes a job. Her romantic dalliance with young Gerald (Van Heflin, in his film debut) results in an illegitimate daughter (Doris Dudley), whom Pamela raises as her niece until she decides it's high time to tell the truth in all matters. Faithful suitor Thomas Lane (Herbert Marshall) offers to make an "honest woman" of her, but Pamela refuses until she can stand on her own two feet financially. Fiercely independent to the last, she becomes the crusading editor of a pioneering pro-feminist magazine and an early champion of Women's Suffrage. It was hoped by RKO Radio that The Woman Rebels would restore the popularity of Katharine Hepburn, which thanks to a series of expensive failures had been flagging for the past two years. Though the film turned out to be a box-office loser (it posted a $220,000 deficit), in retrospect it can be regarded as an artistic triumph -- and a remarkably timely one at that.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2009
UPC:	0883316140284
Original Release:	1936
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	47,958

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Katharine Hepburn	Pamela Thistlewaite
Herbert Marshall	Thomas Lane
Donald Crisp	Judge Thistlewaite
Doris Dudley	Young Flora
Elizabeth Allen	Flora
David Manners	Alan
Lucile Watson	Betty Bumble
Van Heflin	Gerald
Eily Malyon	Piper
Margaret Seddon	Aunt Serena
Molly Lamont	Young Girl
Lionel Pape	Mr. White
Constance Lupino	Lady Gaythorne
Lillian Kemble-Cooper	Lady Rinlake
Nick Thompson	Signor Grassi
Inez Palange	Signora Grassi
Tony Romero	Italian Boy
Joseph P. Mack	Italian Bit
Marilyn French	Flora as an Infant
Bonnie June McNamara	Flora at Age 5
Marilyn Knowlden	Flora at Age 10
Elizabeth Allan	Flora Thistlewaite
Roy Webb	Composer

Technical Credits

Ernest Vajda

Anthony Veiller

Mark Sandrich	Director
Pandro S. Berman	Producer
Ernest Vajda	Screenwriter
Anthony Veiller	Screenwriter
George D. Ellis	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

From its title alone, A Woman Rebels sounds like a great vehicle for Katharine Hepburn, and to some extent it is. But the film takes so long in establishing its heroine's situation (her love life hamstrung by a dark secret from her past) that what could have been the meat of the story -- Pamela's growing political awareness and her career as a crusading journalist -- seems truncated by the plot machinations swirling around her "niece" Flora (Elizabeth Allan) and Pamela's persistent suitor, the diplomat Thomas Lane (Herbert Marshall). Though Marshall and Hepburn really do strike sparks, and in his film debut Van Heflin impresses as Pamela's first lover, the story leaves Pamela's real accomplishments largely to the viewer's imagination. Its best sequence -- Flora applying for jobs as a secretary and retail clerk, positions not open to women in Victorian times -- hints of a more interesting film that could have followed her career more closely and shown how she overcame custom and tradition to appeal to women yearning for some measure of respect. Though Thomas' last line, "These modern women are so weak," is uttered with a wry twist, it's also true that Pamela is at that moment enfolded in his embrace and her fate in his hands. It's not exactly the way you'd expect a picture about a pioneering feminist to wrap up.

All Movie Guide - Tom Wiener