This film is a remake of a famous play by W. Somerset Maugham called "The Sacred Flame". The original 1929 version is lost so there is nothing to compare this one to. The main characters are played by George Brent (who always looked fabulous in a dinner jacket) and Colin Clive as brothers in love with the same woman, Josephine Hutchinson . Colin Clive plays an amateur aviator (who lives on a beautiful estate with his mother) , marries a lovely woman (Ms. Hutchinson) and then has a tragic accident which leaves him with spinal damage and no hope of recovery. Enter George Brent (as Clive's brother) and as they say, the plot thickens.But the real reason to watch this movie is the incredible supporting cast. There is C. Aubrey Smith (who is always the consummate British gentleman) and Leo G. Carrol ( who lent class to any film and had impeccable diction) and an early Peggy Wood before she became everyone's favorite MAMA. If you love the 1930's films with their soap opera plots, great sets and WONDERFUL woman's costume by top designers (in this case Orry Kelly) then by all means watch this movie. Not on VHS or DVD but there is always TCM (thank heavens).
8 Reviews
Great acting carries the day here...
AlsExGal18 November 2012
... and although the story might even seem clichéd today, during the first days of the enforcement of the production code I'm surprised this one got past the censors.
Stella (Josephine Hutchinson) marries free spirited wealthy aviator Maurice Trent (Colin Clive), and all seems well until one day a plane crash steals Maurice's ability to walk and apparently even to sit for long periods - you never see him in a wheelchair. He's either in bed or in a kind of rolling bed.
Maurice's doctor (Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Harvester) and family friend (Aubrey Smith as Major Licondra) decide to hide the truth from Maurice - that he will always be as he is. This is because Maurice had such a love of life prior to the accident that they are afraid of his reaction if he finds out existence is to be a prison for him, perhaps into old age.
Maurice takes his bitterness and depression out on his nurse - and then apologizes - telling her he must release his bitterness on her so that his wife sees only his sunny side. Maurice also invites his brother Colin (George Brent) to make an extended visit and keep his wife entertained with nights on the town that he would be having with her if not for his invalid condition, which at this point he still considers temporary.
Stella falls for Colin, and both wrestle with the right thing to do. She could stay with Maurice - who could live perhaps for decades - but she doesn't want her affection for him to turn to resentment. She could follow her passion and go with Colin, but that would be an abrupt crushing blow to Maurice coupled with the certainty that he will soon know his condition is permanent. Any decision has both a kindness and a cruelty to it from the aspect of its effect on Maurice. How does this play out? Watch and find out.
Considering the production code's strict enforcement during this time the film is particularly daring in the sense that it deals realistically and sympathetically with the impact on the soul of being suddenly transformed from a vigorous person into an invalid with no hope.
Stella (Josephine Hutchinson) marries free spirited wealthy aviator Maurice Trent (Colin Clive), and all seems well until one day a plane crash steals Maurice's ability to walk and apparently even to sit for long periods - you never see him in a wheelchair. He's either in bed or in a kind of rolling bed.
Maurice's doctor (Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Harvester) and family friend (Aubrey Smith as Major Licondra) decide to hide the truth from Maurice - that he will always be as he is. This is because Maurice had such a love of life prior to the accident that they are afraid of his reaction if he finds out existence is to be a prison for him, perhaps into old age.
Maurice takes his bitterness and depression out on his nurse - and then apologizes - telling her he must release his bitterness on her so that his wife sees only his sunny side. Maurice also invites his brother Colin (George Brent) to make an extended visit and keep his wife entertained with nights on the town that he would be having with her if not for his invalid condition, which at this point he still considers temporary.
Stella falls for Colin, and both wrestle with the right thing to do. She could stay with Maurice - who could live perhaps for decades - but she doesn't want her affection for him to turn to resentment. She could follow her passion and go with Colin, but that would be an abrupt crushing blow to Maurice coupled with the certainty that he will soon know his condition is permanent. Any decision has both a kindness and a cruelty to it from the aspect of its effect on Maurice. How does this play out? Watch and find out.
Considering the production code's strict enforcement during this time the film is particularly daring in the sense that it deals realistically and sympathetically with the impact on the soul of being suddenly transformed from a vigorous person into an invalid with no hope.
Stage-Bound Tearjerker About Suicide
zardoz-1323 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
"Babbitt" director William Keighley's lachrymose soap opera about a British aviator crippled from the waist down from a plane crash; his young, vivacious, recently-wed wife, and the husband's coffee bean plantation brother is reminiscent of D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" even though it is based on Somerset Maugham's 1928 play "The Sacred Flame." The predicament here is that the invalid husband, Maurice Trent (Colin Clive of "Frankenstein") wants his wife to have an affair with his brother. Inevitably, this very thing occurs when the amorous couple are caught in a thunderstorm.. Dr. Harvester (Leo G. Carroll of "North By Northwest") had assured Trent that he will be up and about on his legs about five months later. Maurice isn't easily fooled by Harvester's lie. Not long afterward, Trent takes an overdose of medicine Harvester had been prescribed. After Trent dies, Dr. Harvester fills out the death certificate that Maurice died from heart failure. Initially, Trent's caregiver, Nurse Wayland (Peggy Wood of "The Sound of Music"), accuses Trent's wife, Stella (Josephine Hutchinson of "Nevada Smith"), of killing Maurice. Nurse Wayland is astonished when Maurice's mother, Mrs. Millie Trent (Henrietta Crosman), says that she saw her son the night that he died. A close-up reveals that Maurice had overdosed on his prescription. The nurse decides not to report Trent's death as murder and agrees to support Dr. Harvester's findings that he died from an embolism. Indeed, Maurice decided to kill himself so that he didn't deprive his wife of a happy, useful life. Maurice tells his mother that he doesn't want Stella to know that he has given into suicide. The performances are first-rate, with Colin Clive taking top honors as the doomed husband. Peggy Wood is excellent as Trent's suspicious nurse. "The Right to Live" is a stage-bound tearjerker that qualifies as respectable but tedious.
minor spoiler - tragedy strikes
ksf-221 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Spoiler -- Jo Hutchinson gets top billing, but this was about the biggest film role she had. she usually played smaller parts in hollywood films. Maurice and Stella (Hutchinson and Colin Clive) are a married couple. when Maurice is badly injured in a plane crash, the doctors say he will need five months of recovery before they can operate to try to repair the damage. they bring in Maurice's brother Colin to help around the house, and to keep everyones' spirits up. the awesome, Aubrey Smith is along as well. he was always the wise old grandfather, the judge, the uncle, and added to the ensemble. Clive and Smith actually came from British families, and Brent was Irish, so it makes sense that they are in London, speaking with accents. the nurse is played by Peggy Wood, who was nominated for The Sound of Music! now, with Maurice laid up, Stella seems to be spending a LOT of time with Colin. Later, when Maurice dies, the nurse wants all the facts to come out. but since everything was done with Maurice's own blessing, certain things are overlooked. they DID change some of the story around, since we're now full into the film production code, where certain things couldn't be said or shown. some things are left to our imagination. it ends a little dark, but Maurice couldn't bear the thought of not walking again, and wanted Stella to be happy. based on Maugham's Sacred Flame, written in 1928, and only ran a couple weeks. this story seems to be based on an event which paralyzed his own nephew. directed by Bill Keighley. sadly, Clive died young at 37 of pneumonia, among other things.
Hoary old melodrama that probably worked better on stage.
mark.waltz11 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Written by the legendary Somerset Maugham, the play "The Sacred Flame" seems claustrophobic throughout. Outside a few scenes set outside the home of pilot Colin Clive and Josephine Hutchinson, a good percentage takes place indoors. Rather than write the script from a screenwriter's viewpoint, this seems like 90% of it was taken directly from the script of the play including stage directions. The story focuses on the sudden accident that leaves Clive a cripple and the feelings that arise between wife Hutchinson and Clive's newly arrived brither, George Brent, a plantation owner from Brazil. Nurse Peggy Wood (best known for her Reverend mother role in "The Sound of Music") looks on quietly as her love for Clive grows and when tragedy strikes, makes accusations is that there seems to be no proof to refute.
the performances are decent and the conflict is interesting, but the direction is weak which makes this emotionally empty as the actors go through their paces and nothing much happens for periods of time. There are good supporting performances by Leo G. Carroll as Clive's doctor, C. Aubrey Smith as an old family friend and Henrietta Crossman as Clive and Brent's mother who is very supportive of her daughter-in-law.
The conflicts erupt very quickly at the end and are resolve to quickly, and that also has an impact on the film's realism.. This type of story worked better on stage, but was also the type of sob story that women audiences were listening to daily on their radio soap operas. There are also some conflicting issues with characterization, showing some of the main characters acting one way then reacting in a different way, especially through the romance that grows between Hutchinson and Brent that the audience instantly predicts but certainly isn't all that believable.
the performances are decent and the conflict is interesting, but the direction is weak which makes this emotionally empty as the actors go through their paces and nothing much happens for periods of time. There are good supporting performances by Leo G. Carroll as Clive's doctor, C. Aubrey Smith as an old family friend and Henrietta Crossman as Clive and Brent's mother who is very supportive of her daughter-in-law.
The conflicts erupt very quickly at the end and are resolve to quickly, and that also has an impact on the film's realism.. This type of story worked better on stage, but was also the type of sob story that women audiences were listening to daily on their radio soap operas. There are also some conflicting issues with characterization, showing some of the main characters acting one way then reacting in a different way, especially through the romance that grows between Hutchinson and Brent that the audience instantly predicts but certainly isn't all that believable.
Enjoyable Little Drama
Ron Oliver29 July 2005
Does the young wife of a handicapped man still have THE RIGHT TO LIVE and enjoy some happiness?
What could have been a rather turgid soap opera is instead a very watchable adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Sacred Flame. This is mainly due to an intelligent script and excellent acting from the entire cast. It's also refreshing to watch a story in which there are no villains, only good people trying to deal with heartrending circumstances.
Lovely Josephine Hutchinson, an actress sadly obscure today, charms the audience instantly as a young wife who must make a terrible choice between two brothers who adore her. They are played by flying enthusiast Colin Clive and plantation manager George Brent, both sensitive to duty, each willing to make a valiant sacrifice for Miss Hutchinson's happiness. Their wise old mother is sensitively portrayed by Henrietta Crosman.
Giving good support are Peggy Wood as a quiet nurse with a heavy heart; Leo G. Carroll as the friendly family doctor; and Halliwell Hobbes as an expert medical specialist. Best of all is wonderful old Sir C. Aubrey Smith as a retired Major home from India.
Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Forrester Harvey as a genial British Bobby.
What could have been a rather turgid soap opera is instead a very watchable adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Sacred Flame. This is mainly due to an intelligent script and excellent acting from the entire cast. It's also refreshing to watch a story in which there are no villains, only good people trying to deal with heartrending circumstances.
Lovely Josephine Hutchinson, an actress sadly obscure today, charms the audience instantly as a young wife who must make a terrible choice between two brothers who adore her. They are played by flying enthusiast Colin Clive and plantation manager George Brent, both sensitive to duty, each willing to make a valiant sacrifice for Miss Hutchinson's happiness. Their wise old mother is sensitively portrayed by Henrietta Crosman.
Giving good support are Peggy Wood as a quiet nurse with a heavy heart; Leo G. Carroll as the friendly family doctor; and Halliwell Hobbes as an expert medical specialist. Best of all is wonderful old Sir C. Aubrey Smith as a retired Major home from India.
Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Forrester Harvey as a genial British Bobby.
Colin Clive's greatest performance
snollen6321 March 2011
Simply put, THE RIGHT TO LIFE arguably features the tragic Colin Clive's greatest performance on film. Made just before BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and costarring Josephine Hutchinson, who four years later would become "The Bride of the SON OF FRANKENSTEIN" to Basil Rathbone in the third of the Universal "Frankenstein" series (effectively becoming the late Colin Clive's daughter-in-law!), this film gives you the chance to see the much-tortured Clive just before he had to crank himself back up to a fever pitch for James Whale as Henry Frankenstein in BRIDE. His final scene with Hutchinson in THE RIGHT TO LIVE is utterly, believably heartbreaking. Two years later, he was dead, his ashed remaining unclaimed in the basement of a Hollywood mortuary for the next 41 years. Henrietta Crosman, so insidiously jealous and selfish in John Ford's great 1933 masterpiece PILGRIMAGE, superbly plays a VERY different sort of mother here, and the supporting cast is outstanding.
I am surprised this made it past the strong Production Code, but it's an amazingly good film about a topic that is usually taboo
planktonrules17 April 2011
I really can respect this film. In a Post-Code world where films rarely dealt with topics like this, it's an amazingly frank and effective film that must have ruffled some feathers when it debuted. After all, suicide and adultery were topics that were not supposed to be allowed by the very conservative years following the adoption of the strengthened Production Code in 1934.
The film begins with a couple falling in love and getting married (Josephine Hutchinson and Colin Clive). Sadly, shortly after their honeymoon, the husband is involved in an airplane accident a is paralyzed--permanently. However, his new wife is devoted to him and refuses to have a life of her own--and it pains the husband to see her doing this. He maintains a happy and hopeful demeanor but he realizes it can't go on like this. So, the husband manipulates the situation--inviting his brother (George Brent) to stay with them and deliberately puts his brother and his wife together on many opportunities. Not surprisingly, eventually Brent and Hutchinson begin having feelings for each other--but both are too decent to act upon this.
Then, not too surprisingly, Clive dies. It's ruled a death by natural causes, but his nurse insists that he was murdered--as some of his medicine is missing. And, sadly, the nurse is very vindictive towards the wife and makes a lot of trouble. It's obvious, then, that the nurse is doing this because she has strong feelings towards Clive. What happened and why did Clive die? Well, I don't think it's a huge leap to guess what happened, I love how this film brings up many moral dilemmas--ones without clear answers--ones religious and non-religious people might struggle with as well. Assisted or voluntary suicide, quality of life issues and the like are all important--and topics films are usually just too scared to deal with or address seriously. My advice is to watch this one--and have some Kleenex handy. It has excellent acting, wonderfully writing and couldn't have been improved upon in any significant way. A very sad but thought-provoking little sleeper--I know it sure got me thinking.
By the way, Josephine Hutchinson was very good and it's sad that she didn't make more a name for herself in films. As for Clive, even sadder is that within two years he was dead--from a combination of the effects of tuberculosis, pneumonia and alcoholism.
Also, that final scene between Clive and his mother (Henrietta Crosman) is one of the saddest yet wonderfully handled I've sen in years. Wow.....I'm all choked up as I sit here watching.
The film begins with a couple falling in love and getting married (Josephine Hutchinson and Colin Clive). Sadly, shortly after their honeymoon, the husband is involved in an airplane accident a is paralyzed--permanently. However, his new wife is devoted to him and refuses to have a life of her own--and it pains the husband to see her doing this. He maintains a happy and hopeful demeanor but he realizes it can't go on like this. So, the husband manipulates the situation--inviting his brother (George Brent) to stay with them and deliberately puts his brother and his wife together on many opportunities. Not surprisingly, eventually Brent and Hutchinson begin having feelings for each other--but both are too decent to act upon this.
Then, not too surprisingly, Clive dies. It's ruled a death by natural causes, but his nurse insists that he was murdered--as some of his medicine is missing. And, sadly, the nurse is very vindictive towards the wife and makes a lot of trouble. It's obvious, then, that the nurse is doing this because she has strong feelings towards Clive. What happened and why did Clive die? Well, I don't think it's a huge leap to guess what happened, I love how this film brings up many moral dilemmas--ones without clear answers--ones religious and non-religious people might struggle with as well. Assisted or voluntary suicide, quality of life issues and the like are all important--and topics films are usually just too scared to deal with or address seriously. My advice is to watch this one--and have some Kleenex handy. It has excellent acting, wonderfully writing and couldn't have been improved upon in any significant way. A very sad but thought-provoking little sleeper--I know it sure got me thinking.
By the way, Josephine Hutchinson was very good and it's sad that she didn't make more a name for herself in films. As for Clive, even sadder is that within two years he was dead--from a combination of the effects of tuberculosis, pneumonia and alcoholism.
Also, that final scene between Clive and his mother (Henrietta Crosman) is one of the saddest yet wonderfully handled I've sen in years. Wow.....I'm all choked up as I sit here watching.
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