User reviews

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)

Underrated! The dialog here is truly witty and hilarious. The play of types is of course old fashioned, and the drooling men chasing Joan Crawford (title character) around. But if you lighten up about any of that, you'll find it truly funny. So for the first half hour you have a model comedy, seemingly made up of British characters but all (but one) played by Americans. Such is Hollywood. What throws the movie into a bit of a tailspin is the big surprise twist that you can sort of smell coming after a stretch. It's a fun and funny idea, but the banter loses some sparkle and the pressure of the plot completely changes gears. Mrs. Cheyney is not longer the pursued (at least not in the same way). William Powell is terrific (he appears as a butler, of all things, one year after "My Man Godfrey") and Frank Morgan and Nigel Bruce are both fun. I was less familiar with the other female players, but they made a large ensemble work well. If you can click with the beginning, you might (like me) be really in stitches. It's that clever. Then if your interest fades a bit, that's okay. It's still an entertaining, farcical movie.

I appreciate all the pro and con reviews from the knowledgeable and literate film buffs. However, I want to address the reviewers who stated that the film was a financial flop.

This film cost $741,000 to produce and it made $1,800,000, which was a sizable profit back in 1937.

Many earlier reviewers have said the Crawford was "mis-cast" as Mrs. Cheyney. I have to disagree. It is not her best performance (for her best acting, see her small but scene-stealing role in The Women and for a Crawford feast, see her Oscar-winning turn in Mildred Pierce), but it is far from her worst. The blame cannot be entirely placed on Crawford either. Nor can it be placed on the director. It must be placed on the production code administrators who sheared Hollywood scripts after 1934, cutting out anything considered "risqué." The original play by Fredric Lonsdale is a surprisingly hilarious and fresh send-up of the class sytem in England. Butler and footmen who are actually thieves in disguise get to act veddy propper and then (when the guests leave) get to drop their phony apparel. Its really quite funny. In the play, when Crawford's would-be suitor catches her at robbery, he forces her to spend a night in the closet with him. This was wonderfully handled in the 1929 Norma Shearer original of this picture. But the production code said that thieves had to always be punished, and sexual actions could not be forced or blackmailed. Thus, this is an extremely bowdlerized version of the play. It is interesting to watch the stars interplay, and I'm a bit surprised that it flopped so largely in 1937. Seeing some of the junk that goes over big nowadays, one would think that with a cast like this and high production values, it would have at least made its mark. See the Norma Shearer version, if you can find it. Unfortunately, its very rare (there is a laser disc version of it on The Dawn of Sound Volume III), but totally worth it. It is risqué and hilarious. Or see Trouble In Paradise, another early pre-Code comedy about jewel thieves, who in that film, don't have to face punishment for their actions.

Joan Crawford plays Fay Cheyney, a charming American widow who integrates herself into the social scene in London. She's really a jewel thief working with Charles (William Powell), and they plan to steal the jewels of a Duchess (Jessie Ralph). However, Fay complicates the plan by falling in love with the roguish Lord Arthur Dilling (Robert Montgomery).

First off, what a cast! Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Nigel Bruce and Jessie Ralph all in the sam film. Heaven!

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, based on a Broadway play by Frederick Lonsdale, was filmed three times by MGM, first in 1929, then this version in 1937, and then yet again in 1951. This version is very entertaining, though rather stagy in places, especially the second half, but makes up for it by having an excellent ending. Crawford shines as Mrs Cheyney, while Powell is excellent in a surprisingly small role as Charles. Montgomery is full of his usual charm, and Frank Morgan is good as the buffoonish Lord Kelton. The film is paced well enough, especially since it was directed by three different people. Overall, this is a treat for 30s film buffs.

Joan Crawford in doing The Last of Mrs. Cheyney had to stand comparison with not one, but two previous actresses who essayed the part of a crooked adventuress who discovers she has a chance at love.

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney was first presented on Broadway as a play by Frederick Lonsdale in the 1925-1926 season and it ran 385 performances with Ina Claire in the lead. Then it was done as an early sound feature film for Norma Shearer who got rave reviews.

Not having seen Claire or Shearer in the part I only have Crawford to judge and she doesn't do badly at all in the part. Of course she and the film are helped greatly by the fact William Powell and Robert Montgomery are in the film and both can and have played this kind of light comedy in their sleep.

Crawford is the shill, the come-on, for a gang of thieves of which William Powell is one of the members. She's taken on the identity of wealthy sophisticated American widow Faye Cheyney who ingratiates herself with the rich and famous and gets in their homes to rob them. We find her first working her wiles on shipboard with Frank Morgan, playing the usual befuddled Frank Morgan part. Powell serves as her 'butler'. But she also meets wealthy young Lord, Robert Montgomery and through him gets invited to old dowager Duchess Jessie Ralph's for the weekend.

Jessie's got a big rock there that the gang would like to get a hold of. But Montgomery is offering Crawford a chance to break away from that life and it puts her in a dilemma. Since Powell's kind of stuck on her too, she's got another problem.

I think Crawford carried off the part quite well. But the best one in the film is Jessie Ralph. Seems as though the old duchess married into the aristocracy and she spots that Crawford is not all she claims she is. But she likes her nonetheless. Very similar to the part Florence Bates played in Saratoga Trunk with Ingrid Bergman. Ralph steals every scene she's in.

One of these days I met get to see the Shearer version. Till then I'll recommend this version of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney without hesitation.

What a wonderful cast. Some of the best Thespians of the 1930's or any decade for that matter. William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, Nigel Bruce, Frank Morgan, Jessie Ralph, Melville Cooper, to name the main ones. Then what went wrong? The answer is in the weak script and ho-hum direction. Based on a play, the movie is stagy, much too talky. There is little wit nor many clever lines in the wordy script. So all the viewer has left is a bunch of good actors talking themselves to death and putting the audience to sleep in the process. The script is also predictable.

The plot is actually a good one. The charming and mysterious Mrs. Cheyney woos rich eligible bachelors and one not so eligible to gain their confidence so she and her accomplices can fleece them. Unfortunately Mrs. Cheyney falls for one of the eligible bachelors. Will she go through with the fleece? The answer lies in the last half of the film. Since Hollywood today is remaking so many movie classics that don't really need remaking, why not remake some of the movies such as this one that could use a good make over?

As noted by critics there is a degree of miscasting involved as well. Joan Crawford just does not fit as an adventurer passing herself off as a social big-wig in England. William Power would have played Robert Montgomery's role better than the role assigned him. Robert Montgomery on the other hand is well suited for his role as is Nigel Bruce and the rest of the cast.

Even if you are a fan of the stars of this fluff and an admirer of 1930's Hollywood cinema, you may still find this movie slow moving and hoping that this is truly the last of Mrs. Cheyney.

There is a lot of criticism, mostly negative, on this board about this film, which I can't understand. I have never seen the original film version with Norma Shearer, but it appears not to be bowdlerized like this one. But bowdlerized or not, this is a very good film.

It has a first rate cast led by Crawford (who was capable of comedy but opted for dramatic intense roles like Mildred Pierce). As the role calls for her to be compromised by her actions (she has masqueraded as a socialite to be accepted by the jaded aristocrats in order to pull off a jewel robbery) the role is not a slap happy funny part like say Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson, but a tonier style of sophisticated comedy. As such it is perfectly fitted to Crawford's screen persona.

As for the jaded aristocrats: Frank Morgan may not do a British accent at all, but his fumbling is pretty good here - he is the richest man in England, and could give an intelligent talk on industrial output or tariffs, but cannot open up his heart to Crawford; Nigel Bruce is another nobleman, who has a randy set of eyes for pretty ladies, and cannot see his wife (Benita Hume) is far too close to her "cousin" (Ralph Forbes). The splendid Jessie Ralph is an aging dowager who befriends Crawford (it is her pearl necklace that Crawford is seeking to steal). She is a lively and likable old lady, and one with a scandalous past (as we eventually learn). But if none of the aristocrats are spotless in character (except possibly the boring Morgan), the other members of the gang are not wonderful. Melville Cooper (pretending to be Crawford's chauffeur) is constantly ready to whip out his handy knife and cut the throat of anyone he thinks is double crossing them.

But the most interesting thing about the casting were the two leading men: Robert Montgomery and William Powell. The two most sophisticated and suave leading men of the golden age of movies only appeared in this one film together. They share only four scenes, but it is remarkable about how smooth the scenes are - like a perfect set of volleyball games with no shots and counter shots missed by either party (and when Crawford joins them she is equally smooth in responding to both her leading men). She had made other films with Montgomery but there were no others after this one. As for Powell, this was there only film together. As such it should be seen for the bright chemistry between the three leads alone, but it is a good comedy on its own.

Joan Crawford is a jewel thief trying to break into society in "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney," a 1937 film from MGM also starring William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Nigel Bruce, Frank Morgan, and Jessie Ralph. It's a remake of a 1929 film which starred Norma Shearer. Crawford is a sophisticated and glamorous woman we first meet on board ship as she's maneuvering and flirting her way into the company of a society crowd. While doing so, she meets Lord Arthur Dilling (Robert Montgomery). He and Lord Kelton (Morgan) pursue her. Once in London, she wangles the one thing that she and her gang of thieves (led by William Powell as her butler) have been waiting for - an invitation to Lady Ebley's country home, and a crack at Lady Ebley's fabulous pearl necklace. All doesn't go as planned.

Given the star power, the film has some interesting moments, but for the most part, it's played too straight. A lighter touch was needed. This is perhaps a directorial problem (there were several) or the fact that Joan Crawford was better at drama than at comedy, and William Powell better at comedy than at drama. Powell does a great job, but it isn't much of a role. Audiences probably left the theater disappointed - perhaps part of the reason the film flopped at the box office. He doesn't have a lot to play off of, and no chemistry with Crawford. Robert Montgomery is his usual self in one of those roles that fit him like a glove, but the star trio is too somber.

Joan Crawford looks fabulous, and with a strong director who had a concept of the script, she would have been fine. She didn't have a grasp of playing comedy, but she was a hard worker who seemingly took direction well. It's a shame MGM spent all that money on what was a first-class production only to have it just lay an egg. Apparently some of the racier parts of the play version had to be left out due to the code. At times, the film drags.

Several of the comments blamed Crawford, some the script, but I do believe with the right director, "The Last of Mrs. Cheney" could have been a lot better.

Joan Crawford plays the title character. She's a jewel thief and partner of William Powell. She cons her way into a rich society family and romances Robert Montgomery. But then she grows to like the people she's supposed to be stealing from so she has a crisis of conscience. With a cast like this (Crawford, Powell, Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Nigel Bruce), there really is no reason this shouldn't have worked. But it doesn't. It's a little stagey and dry. Powell is not in it enough. When he is on screen, the script doesn't give him a chance to shine. As a matter of fact, it seemed to me like he didn't even want to be there playing second fiddle to Robert Montgomery. Can't say that I blamed him, if that's the case. I like Montgomery alright in certain roles but these movies he did with Joan were not among them. See it for the cast but don't get your hopes up.

On a ship to England, Lord Francis Kelton (Frank Morgan) is surprised to find Mrs. Fay Cheyney (Joan Crawford) in his room. He tells her that she's in the wrong room. Both him and Lord Arthur Dilling (Robert Montgomery) are taken with her. She becomes the toast of the ship. Non of them realize that she, her butler Charles (William Powell), and her three other servants are a team of con-men.

This is a remake. It started off as a play in 1925, and then a talkie in 1929. I don't know anything about either one. Crawford has plenty of charisma and looks which fulfils the two biggest requirements of the role. She has the edge to be devious and the sweetness to be enticing. I think William Powell would be better as Lord Arthur. He has much more chemistry with Crawford and the romantic energy would be better with those two. The character of Charles should be an even older guy. He's an old hand and the mentor who got Fay into the con game. He should be an 80 year old who is trying to use a younger woman as lure. This is fine for the most part although I would need to see the 1929 version to determine if it's an improvement.

... because it is so very boring.

This one is a puzzler. Sure, lots of precodes were remade in the production code era since the studios couldn't exhibit the earlier code busting films, plus sound technology and film acting technique had evolved so much in just less than ten years. Some of the titular remakes don't even have the same plot ("Street of Chance" 1930 and 1942), and some have the thinnest of common plot points ("Trial of Mary Dugan" 1929 and 1941). But this remake has greatly improved sound technology, yet retains everything that made the original 1929 early talkie version tiresome. That largely involves talk - lots of talk - while the plot goes nowhere. Plus there is just some ridiculous moralizing and sanitizing of the original. I'd go back over my notes as to when I watched the original, but it was so tiresome I didn't even bother to review it.

The plot has to do with an alleged woman of means (Joan Crawford) who befriends people of means and then cases their homes in order to rob them of their jewels. But Mrs. Cheney is starting to go soft and doesn't want to rob people who have been so nice to her. Complications ensue, but not nearly enough of them involve William Powell. Also, Rorbert Montgomery is charming, but he really doesn't strike me as British.

I'd say avoid this one for any purpose other than a non addictive sleeping pill.

I do not like Joan Crawford in light comedy fare. I am one of her biggest fans, and I don't miss anything she does, but whenever she's in one of those fast-talking comedies, her voice seems to become forced and unnatural, and her smile looks faked. She is best when she is serious, and especially when slipping one of those little pistols into her handbag -with gloved hand- to eliminate a cheating husband or some other louse. And when she is weeping and involved in something sorrowful or tragic, then she is at her best. She is just so good at getting a raw deal, and then coming back to triumph. This movie was not bad; at least, I got a chance to see Joan in a movie I never knew existed. And she never looked better. It was nice to see how handsome Robert Montgomery used to be. All in all, it was entertaining, especially if you like attractive homes and scenery. It did highlight that the very rich are silly and really don't have much of interest to do other than entertain each other all the time.

A crime/comedy that starts off well but finishes rather less strongly. Nevertheless it's still a lot of fun with a cast consisting of Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan and the 6th billed Nigel Bruce as Willie Wynton. Bruce is a jolly but cuckolded husband in this one, part of a society set whom Crawford and Powell are trying to jupe.

As the liner cruises past the Statue of Liberty, Frank Morgan discovers Joan Crawford asleep in his cabin. She's there by mistake, and matters are soon sorted out, but not before Lord Robert Montgomery gains the impression she is not as good as she might be. This suits him to a T. After she rebuffs him, she gains entree to their circle of friends. She is invited to weekend at Duchess Jessie Ralph home, where she, William Powell, and their gang intend to steal a lot of jewelry.

It's MGM's second attempt at the Frederick Lonsdale play. Their 1929 version, starring Norma Shearer, was wrecked by primitive sound techniques. This is a lot smoother, even if most of the English here are played by Americans doing slightly posh Mid-Atlantic accents, and the tones of scenes seems variable. Perhaps this is because director Richard Boleslawski died during production, and George Fitzmaurice took over. Then he fell ill, and Dorothy Arzner finished it. Montgomery in particular, seems a bit flat in his performance. Still, the MGM gloss and a professional cast make it a very engaging movie.

This is quite an enjoyable film. The cast is first rate. The comedic skills of the supporting players, Robert Montgomery's charm, Robert Powell's sophistication, and Joan Crawford's glamour really sparkle with the help of the polished MGM production, costumes, and 1930s elegance. The plot is tight, the dialog and social interactions are nuanced and consistently amusing. The themes of the story regarding social class and disillusion were relevant during the depression and still today. Crawford is especially effective in a role that allows her to be calculating, disillusioned, and ultimately sympathetic. Crawford was always strong when playing characters with an intense drive, but she also does surprisingly well in scenes that require her to demonstrate charm and wit, which up against pros of the genre like William Powell and Robert Montgomery is no small feat.

Fay Cheney (Joan Crawford) is a thief. A gorgeous, sophisticated, elegant thief who knows her way around high society. Her partner in crime is Charles (William Powell). He's the one who took her from a shop-girl hungry for the good life, to a well-traveled lady with expensive tastes.

Fay and Charles have a rather elaborate plan to steal an expensive set of pearls belonging to an elderly Duchess somewhere in England. Faye will pose as an American heiress and ingratiate herself into the Duchess' circle in the hopes of getting an invitation to her country estate, where she can get her hands on the pearls. Charles will pose as her butler, and three others in "the gang" will pose as her household servants.

The plan starts coming together when Fay works her way into the company of a friend of the Duchess, Lord Kelton (Frank Morgan), on a cruise ship. She also catches the eye of the Duchess' nephew Arthur Dilling (Robert Montgomery). Once on shore she becomes the darling of the Duchess' social circle, and eventually gets that invite.

But Fay starts getting emotionally attached to the people she's supposed to rob. She is also being pursued by Arthur and Lord Kelting. Both are fabulously wealthy and if she chose one for marriage, she'd never have to work another day in her life.

Things are further complicated when Arthur thinks he may recognize Charles from somewhere.

This is a fabulous film. The story is engaging, the dialog is clever, and the ending is a surprise.

It's also got all of those things you look for in a 1930's film ... Glamourous settings with beautiful rich people in gorgeous clothes.

Pure escapism!

Highly Recommended!

Engrossing and star-studded. There is too much Robert Montgomery and not enough William Powell in this film. As usual, Frank Morgan has a considerable role and runs away his part. Morgan is a very underrated actor. The imbalance in this film is that Myrna Loy worked better with all these actors than Crawford and had a sparkling chemistry with her co-actors that MGM never fully realized. Nevertheless, Crawford is more than credible in this role and this film is worth seeing. They don't make films like this anymore, unfortunately.

Stagy, tedious, wooden, boring, endless. And yet...

Here's a cast of wonderful MGM actors in their prime. Joan Crawford is not that far removed from the musicals of her youth. Her beauty hasn't hardened into the horrible Kabuki mask of later years. She's one of the worst things about this movie. She's utterly unfunny and totally charmless. She sinks every scene to the bottom of the sea, and thence downward to the center of the earth. Still, it's always interesting to watch her, to notice the lighting and other tricks that give her the star treatment in every shot.

The male leads are the incomparable William Powell (one year after "My Man Godfrey"), and Robert Montgomery (one year before "Night Must Fall").

The rest of the cast is filled out with wonderful character actors including Frank Morgan, Nigel Bruce, and Melville Cooper. Not to mention Jessie Ralph, a cinema immortal for her role as Mrs. Hermosillo Brunch in "The Bank Dick."

In 1937 American actors were severely afflicted with the phony English accent syndrome ("cahnt" for "can't"). Here, the cast is supposed to be mostly English, with only Crawford and Powell as visiting Americans. But Crawford and Powell both speak in that mid-Atlantic half- English accent. Meanwhile, half the "English" characters are played by Americans who barely attempt to sound English (Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Jessie Ralph). In these bewildering accents, much dialog is babbled, little of it worth hearing.

But under the wreckage you can discern the movie somebody was hoping to make: something like the infinitely better "Trouble In Paradise," Ernst Lubitsch's masterpiece about two jewel thieves, their victim, and the resulting love triangle. Samson Raphaelson, the brilliant writer of "Trouble In Paradise," is one of the many listed writers on this movie. There are a few flashes of brilliant dialog here that sound like him. Meanwhile, Frank Morgan (later the Wizard of Oz) plays a character that's a prototype for Mr. Matuschek in the wonderful Lubitsch/Raphaelson "Shop Around The Corner."

But in this movie, 90% of the dialog is heavy as lead. There are many frenzied comings and goings, none of them funny. In no way is this movie a comedy -- if by comedy we mean what makes you laugh. Number of (intentional) laughs detected in this film: 0. Unintentional laughs: few. This isn't even one of those so bad it's good movies. It's just a stinker.

And yet... all those actors near the tops of their careers... a first-class MGM production from the golden age... and Mrs. Hermosillo Brunch! My advice: Tivo it and watch it at triple speed if you like, but do take a gander.

'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' could have been very good. The concept seemed quite neat, the advertising looked great and it is very hard to go wrong with the likes of Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery and Frank Morgan. Crawford was actually my main reason to see it, in my quest to see what had not yet been seen of her filmography. Which to begin with applied to a sizeable number of films, but had seen enough beforehand to be able to judge her as a great actress.

It is with sad regret to say that to me 'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' was an odd film and somewhat disappointing, considering that it had a lot of potential to be at least very good. Conflicted feelings just doesn't cut it. All have done better work, though most still don't come off too badly (apart from one big exception). 'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' was one of those films that started promisingly if imperfectly, but fell apart halfway through with a mess of a final third especially.

Will start off with the good. 'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' is a lovingly glossy looking film, very polished and sumptuous without any drabness or garishness. Crawford looks lovely throughout in her clothes and the photography is expansive enough to stop it from having too much of a filmed play quality. William Axt's score has energy and a lush sense of mood, nothing stock or overdone here.

As said, 'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' had a most good first half. The dialogue had wit and sophistication and the storytelling was slight but charming and amusing frequently. Most of the cast do very well with some nice interplay together, it was interesting and entertaining to see Powell and Montgomery out-suave each other (Powell wins, then again he was the best actors at the time when it came to being suave with only Cary Grant and Melvyn Douglas coming close). Both sparkle in comic timing, especially Powell again who makes so much out of too little to do. Morgan and Nigel Bruce bumble amusingly, Morgan was one of the best at that type when it came to that type of acting, and Jessie Randolph delights too.

Crawford is a lot less successful, love her as an actress but her part needed a much lighter touch than the rather tough and brash approach given by Crawford. Showing that she fared much better in drama than in light comedy, because how she interprets her role (which is too heavily) jars with the light tone of the first half. Powell is great as said, but personally wouldn't have said no to giving him a lot more to do.

Like as has been said, 'The Last of Mrs Cheyney' falls apart in the second half which felt like a different film. The wit and sophistication is replaced by very leaden and sudsy writing that is also too talky. The story, very flimsy in the first place, gets silly and melodramatic, the main reason as to why the film felt so different later on, and the energy that most of the first half had completely goes. Especially in the very dragged out last twenty minutes or so. It also felt very old-fashioned and like it was adapted from a stage play that never feels opened up enough. As well as dragged out, the last twenty minutes are too contrived and pat. The film had more than one director and that is very obvious here in the film's execution.

Overall, watchable but odd and uneven. Definitely not a film to completely avoid, but not good enough to recomend. 5/10