Very Cool!!!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The first must-see film of the year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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" is based on a stage play. This version stars Aline MacMahon, Basil Rathbone, Nola Luxford, Mary Carlisle, and Donald Meek. It was remade with Ethel Barrymore and Maurice Evans in 1951."Kind Lady" is the story of Mary Herries, a wealthy British woman who takes pity on a starving artist, Henry Abbott (Rathbone), his wife, and baby and take them in. Her home and life are soon taken over by Abbott and his gang, and Mary is a prisoner in her own home while she is gradually robbed.Somehow, with a younger Mary and Henry, this film has a different and better dynamic, although the denouement in the 1951 film is more interesting than the ending here. Here, Mary still has the possibility of romance in her life, and though it isn't explored (or, given the class distinctions, probably not even a thought), there is some chemistry in the beginning between Mary and the debonair, dashing Rathbone.Aline MacMahon, normally in character roles, is excellent as Mary, a formal though generous and honest woman who cares for the less fortunate. Rathbone is dastardly and smooth as silk as Henry, whose aggressiveness becomes apparent almost immediately as he pressures Mary into buying one of his ugly paintings.This version is a little less cruel in its treatment of poor Mary, who seems to have the freedom to move around; in the '51 version, she doesn't, and Henry actually does her portrait.Both films are very good, as it's a strong story, but the '51 comes out as slightly superior. I did love this cast, though.

Before watching this movie I had never seen Aline MacMahon in such an important role, 'cos here she's the star of the picture and she really is great...she was such an actress!!! Her acting technique is so contemporary, her playing so sincere....she's lovely.I must admit that I expected more of the film as whole, from its first half hour, but anyway it's a very good movie, it has an entertaining storyline and excellent performances all around, especially by miss MacMahon and Basil Rathbone, and such a talented large supporting cast! (Dudley Digges, Eily Malyon, Frank Albertson, etc.)MacMahon plays the endearing Miss Herries, the extremely `kind' and single society lady of the title, who lives alone in her big house in London, surrounded by beautiful objects, who learns the hard way, that one has to be careful of being so kind and generous, in a world like ours..Basil Rathbone's character really deceived me at first, because I had no knowledge of the film's plot whatsoever, so I won't tell you more.This is a `B' picture, but for sure much more entertaining and fulfilling than many other A pictures of the period..and it has a surprisingly short running time: 76 minutes...but many things happen in such a short period of time!

An excellent thriller in which an artist tries to take over a woman's life to get the fabulous 10 paintings she owns, worth a fortune. Surprisingly, five years ago I saw the 1951 remake with Ethel Barrymore and Maurice Evans in the leads, but that in no way diminished my enjoyment of this film, despite my knowing the ending. I found Aline MacMahon a bit too young for the title role in this film, but I relished Basil Rathbone as the evil artist. He's such a convincing villain. Dudley Digges and Eily Malyon are also excellent as Rathbone's accomplices, although I wondered how such a cultured man as Rathbone got involved with these lowlifes. And why is Murray Kinnell, as the doctor also in cahoots with Rathbone, involved in such a nasty undertaking? He's a real doctor, as we find out after he murders the maid he catches trying to call the police; he fills out a death certificate. Doris Lloyd, playing a friend of MacMahon in this film played the maid, Rose, in the remake. The critics liked the remake better, but I felt both films are on par with each other. See both films and you decide.