Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This thriller-drama features Aline MacMahon in the title role of Mary Herries, a generous wealthy war widow who's too trusting for her own good such that she's taken advantage of by an unscrupulous starving artist, Henry Abbott played by Basil Rathbone.It was directed by George Seitz with a screenplay by Bernard Schubert that was based on an Edward Chodorov play from a Hugh Walpole story. The cast also includes Mary Carlisle, Frank Albertson, Dudley Digges, Doris Lloyd (also in the remake), Nola Luxford, Murray Kinnell, Eily Malyon, Justine Chase, and Donald Meek (among others).Miss Herries lives alone in a comfortable urban town-home, appointed with valuable works of art she's collected over the years including an El Greco (and a Whistler) painting and some fine statuettes. She has a live-in housekeeper, Rose (Luxford), and a (never seen) cook who attend to her needs. But on Christmas eve, she takes pity on a sidewalk artist, Abbott, who refuses her coin for the sketch he's drawn and instead requests a cup of tea. It's snowing and he's cold, so she invites him in and asks Rose to give him something to eat, which she does reluctantly.Mary then visits with her niece Phyllis (Carlisle) and soon-to-be American nephew-in-law Peter Santard (Albertson) in her livingroom. While thanking his hostess for her generosity, Henry meets Mary sister Mrs. Lucy Weston (Lloyd), who encourages her lonely sister Mary, whose husband dies 20 years previously in World War I, to show an interest in a man for a change. After her relatives leave, however, Mary learns that Henry has a wife and daughter. While she goes to get a coat to give to his wife, he pockets her jade cigarette case before he too departs. Rose is convinced that the "too good looking" Abbott stole Mary's case.Some time later, Abbott returns to Mary's townhouse where he asks to show her some of his paintings. He returns the cigarette case but then begs her to buy one of his, admittedly awful attempts to paint art. She agrees but then tells him that she never wants to see him again. Abbott says that he'd brung his wife and that she'd wanted to thank Mary for the coat. He goes to the window and points to Ada (Chase) standing across the street, barely out of the pouring rain and holding her baby, at which time she collapses to the ground.Mary tells Rose to hurry and go help Ada into the house while Abbott fetches a doctor (Kinnell). The doctor states that Ada needs rest and picks her up to carry her to a bedroom which, in the confusion, is provided vs. refused. But this was all a ruse, the doctor is in cahoots with Abbott, who proceeds to take up residence in Mary's house, where he also begins to take charge of any communications (e.g. mail) and everything else such that the (unseen) cook leaves. Rose plans to follow, especially after friends of Ada - Mr. (Digges) & Mrs. (Malyon) Edwards and their ill-behaved teenage daughter Aggie (Barbara Shields) and, eventually the doctor as well - become squatters in the home.By the time Mary finally gets the courage to expel them from her residence, after Rose told her Ada's not sick, it's too late. Though she'd planned to close up the house and travel with Rose to America, unfortunately she finds herself under Abbott's control; the timing is such that this happens after Rose had communicated their plans to the local authorities, who then don't suspect anything when Mary and Rose (who is killed by the doctor; her body buried normally via a funeral, ostensibly paid for by Mary, that doesn't raise suspicions) are not seen and Abbott explains that he's keeping the home in order in their absence.Mary is watched and kept in her room; her shutters are nailed shut. Abbott then begins to arrange for the sale of Mary's artwork, even though she refuses to sign over her power of attorney to him. When Paris art dealer Gustave Roubet (Frank Reigher aka Reicher) comes to call, Mary passes him a note (while Edwards and the doctor listen from the next room) which, due to her strange behavior, he then gives to Abbott. So it appears hopeless for Mary until, elsewhere, Phyllis and Peter are visiting with Lucy; they figure out that something must be amiss and Peter goes to investigate.Peter meets with Abbott who explains that Mary is traveling and had asked him to store her things, but he's suspicious because Abbott doesn't know that one figurine had been promised to Phyllis and him as a wedding gift. He also learns that Mary wasn't issued a passport nor does her name appear on any of the ship's registers. However, he can't get the authorities to believe that Mary must still be somewhere (trapped) in the house, nor can the police figure out on what grounds they could issue a warrant to search the place.Meanwhile, a banker named Mr. Foster (Meek) has been summoned by Abbott; he has a similar experience with 'crazy' Mary but believes her to be in danger because he's from the same bank where she's done her past business. Refusing to give up the note she'd passed him to Abbott, Foster finds himself trapped, prevented from escape by the others there. In his desperation, he picks the aforementioned statuette and throws it through a window at the same time that Peter, and the police he'd finally gotten high enough up in the chain of command to convince that Mary was in trouble, arrive to save the day. Christmas can be celebrated by all (but Rose) once again in Mary's home.

KIND LADY (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1935), directed by George B. Seitz, stars Aline MacMahon, a recent recruit from Warner Brothers, in an interesting role of a caring British spinster known for her acts of kindness who falls victim to a total stranger she meets on a cold snowy night. Based upon the play by Edward Chodorov that starred Grace George and Henry Daniell, and the story "The Silver Casket" by Hugh Walpole, it's one of those overlooked chilling suspense thrillers that could easily be mistaken for an Agatha Christie story or one directed by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Considering this sort of material enacted, there's no shadow of a doubt this would have been much to his liking. Opening on Christmas Eve, the story introduces Mary Herris (Aline MacMahon), a charitable woman living the lonely life in her mansion with her servants who quietly longs for a man named Richard who died years ago in the war. Leaving church after listening to a boys choir singing "Silent Night," Mary is approached by Henry Abbott (Basil Rathbone), an young artist who has rested his paintings in front of her home. Abbott, knowing about her acts of kindness through a homeless man (E.E.Clive), pleas on her sympathy by having her invite him into her home for a cup of tea. Though Mary finds this handsome young stranger an impressive and well educated gentleman, Rose (Nola Luxford), her housekeeper, finds he's not to be trusted. Told he has a wife and child, Mary offers Abbott both money and a coat as a friendly gesture for his spouse. As he leaves, she advises him not to return. Days later after meeting with her nephew, Peter (Frank Albertson) and his fiancé (Mary Carlisle), Mary is visited by Abbott again. This time he has come with the cigarette case he had stolen from her, and, in desperate need of financial support, talks the kind lady into buying one of his paintings. Seeing that his wife, Ada (Justine Chase) and baby, are awaiting him across the street in the pouring rain, Mary witnesses the frail woman fainting on the pavement while still clutching onto her infant. Having them brought into her home, Mary is advised by the doctor (Murray Kinnell), brought in by Abbott, to have the sickly woman remain under her care until her condition improves. Weeks pass. By then, Mary's servants have quit due to her guests and the visitation of their undesirable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards (Dudley Digges and EIly Malyon) and their daughter, Aggie (Barbara Shields). Realizing her charitable work has reached its limit, Mary orders them from her house. Rather than a fond farewell or gathering by the fireplace singing Christmas songs, Abbott and his friends take control over Mary, who's now become a prisoner of her own home with no means of communication to the outside world.For a movie that opens and closes on Christmas Eve, it's far from being an ordinary Christmas movie. Interestingly, though MGM produced subsequent suspense types as NIGHT MUST FALL (1937) and GASLIGHT (1944), to much success with Academy Award nominations to its credit, KIND LADY has become a somewhat obscure item. Years later when sold to commercial television, title was changed to HOUSE OF MENACE to avoid title conflicts with the 1951 MGM remake starring Ethel Barrymore and Maurice Evans. Broadcast revivals for this original have been scarce until revivals with restored theatrical title have appeared, along with its remake, on Turner Classic Movies after 1994. Although many regard the 1951 edition to be superior, what makes the original interesting is its leading players. Although title character might have or should have gone to the theater's Grace George, or British-born Dame May Witty, MacMahon, who might be labeled miscast, does a commendable job regardless. The unpleasant situation she endures from her house-guests is something that could happen to any trusting soul. Fear and terror come across believably through her fragile face, as does hope of being saved. There's no disagreement about Rathbone's sinister contribution to the cast. It's through his creepy performance that the story survives it's handicaps, notable ones being couple of sudden scene shifts and/or sudden blackouts causing unevenness towards the story that indicate initial print longer than the circulating 75 minutes. Others members of the cast include Donald Meek (Mr. Lester of the Barkeley Bank); Frank Reicher (Gustave Roubet); and Doris Lloyd. Lloyd, seen as MacMahon's sister in the early portion of the story, also appeared in the 1951 MGM remake in a different role. As the cast and crew make every effort making this intense thriller believable in both theme and structure, leave it to the kind lady (MacMahon) to take the time and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. (**1/2)

I enjoy watching a lot of older movies. Most suspense films that have caught my eye are in part comedies. This one has an intensity that I seldom see in this period. The other reviews have done a super job of describing the performers, so no more here. The story is so well done that it is almost painful to experience -- the feelings are .. don't do that .. how can they treat her the way they do .. why isn't someone helping .. etc, etc. Whether you will be able to 'enjoy' this production, may be part of your own preference, but everyone that has selected movies to watch from this period needs to watch this one.

What an odd little movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Plot-rich but very stagey, almost as if it might have originally been a play, KIND LADY tells the story of a wealthy woman (McMahon) who takes in a starving artist (Rathbone) and his wife and daughter. Soon enough,she finds the artist is no artist, but a grifter with an extended family of grifters who soon move in on her. What they are after is her extensive collection of paintings, which are worth a fortune. The bogus artist and his crew hold the old lady captive, and only an 11th-hour intervention by a suspicious relative saves the day. A young Rathbone is suitably sinister and suave as the head of this pack of thieves and cutthroats, and McMahon is thoroughly convincing as the wealthy old woman who is much too generous. The marvelous character actor Dudley Digges plays Rathbone's main confederate. There is a doctor among this group of thugs, but it is never explained why he is part of the group. A little back story couldn't have hurt, like maybe he was peddling drugs and lost his license to practice medicine. Also, Rathbone is so elegant, one has to wonder why he has thrown in with this mostly ragtag lot, other than to assume these are the best people he could find to aid and abet him with his scam. Or perhaps he just acts and looks elegant, and is as sleazy as the rest of the crew when not working one of his deals. Who knows? A real curio with a top-notch cast, perfect for lovers of creaky old melodramas..