The Barretts Of Wimpole Street (1934)(dvd)
Available on all-region DVD

Synopsis: One of the great triumphs of producer Irving G Thalberg's reign at MGM and made at the height of the studio's glory years, this is a prestigious, immaculately made film that managed to be both intelligent in execution and a commercial success.

As Elizabeth Barrett, Norma Shearer (Mrs Thalberg) is superb, but the real star is the splendid Charles Laughton as Elizabeth's tyrannical father Edward Moulton Barrett, whose incestuous love for his daughter is hinted at but never addressed. “They can't censor the gleam in my eye,” said Laughton. In fact, he was only a year older than his “daughter” Norma, and two years younger than Fredric March, uncomfortably cast as poet Robert Browning.

The film's director, Sidney Franklin, remade this in England in 1956 to excellent effect, but poor box office, with John Gielgud and Jennifer Jones in the Laughton and Shearer roles.

Cast: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton , Maureen O'Sullivan
Runtime: 110 min