Lilli Palmer

Albert Lieven

Cedric Hardwicke

Gladys Cooper

Linden Travers

Ernest Thesiger

Emrys Jones

Ralph Truman

Fritz Wendhausen

John Salew

Freda Jackson

Gerhard Kempinski

David Ward

Anthony Dawson

Peter Cotes

Ronald Millar

Kenneth Warrington

Jenny Laird

Hannah Norbert

Gordon Phillott

Charles Deane

Vivien James

Vida Hope

Elizabeth Baron

Nicholas Brodszky

Derick Williams

Ronald Kinnoch

V.B. Lyndon-Haynes

Theo Lageard

Matilda Etches

Alf Keating

Charles Williams

M. Hobbs

Filippo Del Giudice

B. C. Sewell

Cecil Beaton

William McLeod

Alex Vetchinsky

Grace Garland

Len Garde

W.P. Lipscomb

Maurice Elvey

Stefan Zweig

Marguerite Stern

Drama

Romance

Beware of Pity

Two Cities Films

J. Arthur Rank Organisation

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

Albert Lieven is efficient here as the Austrian officer "Marek" who meets the glamorous "Baroness Edith" (Lilli Palmer) at a lavish dance. Asking her for a waltz, he soon discovers that she has been paralysed. The two chat and remain in touch over the coming months where she falls well and truly in love. Thing is, he doesn't quite reciprocate and when she accidentally discovers this, she runs away, distressed and alone, and her thoughts turn to suicide. The title is quite apt here - it illustrates the dangers of, however innocently, leading someone on with gestures of affection and kindness when they don't have the necessary reality filters to appreciate the distinction between fondness and amour. It's set just before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, so has many of the opulent settings of the Hapsburg court as a backdrop - the costumes and settings all look grand. There is also an interesting sub-plot with dedicated doctor "Kondor" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and his blind wife "Klara" (a lovely, nuanced effort from Gladys Cooper) with the latter proving a vital conduit for the young man to realise just what his relationship with "Edith" really means... It's rather wordy this, and there are maybe just too many characters that rather diffuse the narrative a little too much - but if you enjoy historical melodrama with a fine period score from Nicholas Brodsky then you ought to enjoy this rather superior drama with a conscience.

English