Anthony Adverse (1936)

14% of critics liked it
(7 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(439 ratings)

When David O. Selznick produced the film version of the 1000-plus page novel Gone with the Wind, he declared he could not make a film running any less than 222 minutes. When Warner Bros. adapted the even longer Hervey Allen best-seller Anthony Adverse, the studio managed to pack everything--except… More When David O. Selznick produced the film version of the 1000-plus page novel Gone with the Wind, he declared he could not make a film running any less than 222 minutes. When Warner Bros. adapted the even longer Hervey Allen best-seller Anthony Adverse, the studio managed to pack everything--except the most censorable passages, which had made Allen's novel a best-seller in the first place--into 139 minutes. Surprisingly, the film version of Anthony Adverse moves rather smoothly, though it is nowhere near as involving (or as much fun) as Gone with the Wind. Fredric March stars as Anthony Adverse, the illegitimate offspring of Anita Louise, the wife of Spanish nobleman Claude Rains. When Adverse comes of age, he inherits the prosperous business run by his kindly foster father Edmund Gwenn, which he abandons for an aimless trip around the world after his heart is broken by childhood sweetheart Olivia De Havilland. Sinking deeper into the morass of alcohol and degeneracy in the West Indies, Adverse is regenerated when he is reunited with De Havilland, now the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. Suddenly enervated, Adverse battles the efforts of Claude Rains and Gwenn's duplicitous former assistant Gale Sondergaard to take over Gwenn's business. Along the way, he learns that Gwenn was actually his grandfather and that De Havilland has born him a son (Scotty Beckett). Instead of dying, as he does in the novel, Anthony Adverse takes his son to America to start life anew. Whew! Though no award winner itself, Anthony Adverse enabled Gale Sondergaard to win the first-ever "best supporting actress" Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 21 min.
Directed By: Anita Louise, Claude Rains
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics

In Theaters: Jan 29, 1936 Wide

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
Fredric March as Adverse is an ace choice, playing the role to the hilt.
Frank S. Nugent, New York Times
We found it a bulky, rambling and indecisive photoplay which has not merely taken liberties with the letter of the original but with its spirit.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Lavish but overlong.
, Time Out
An early stab at the swashbuckler from Warner Brothers, which proved popular at the time but hasn't improved with age.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Though well-acted by Fredric March, Claude Rains and Sondergaard, LeRoy's lavish adventure is overlong and not particularly involving, despite a globetrotting plot (Cuba, Africa, Paris, and America) that spans decades.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
Certainly doesn't hold up very well for modern viewers.
, Film4
Lame, over ambitious attempt at a globetrotting swashbuckler.

Read all 7 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Lumbering adaptation has a great supporting cast and a variable performance by March in the lead. Holds your interest since there is always some new potential calamity just over the horizon but it goes on far too long.
AJ V

Not a great movie, but most of the story is pretty interesting, and some of the scenes are really exciting. What I hated about this movie was how long it was, and slow too. Overall pretty good, but it could be better.

Cast

            Fredric March as Anthony Adverse

            Olivia de Havilland as Angela Guessippi

            Edmund Gwenn as John Bonnyfeather

            Claude Rains as Don Luis

            Anita Louise as Maria

            Louis Hayward as Denis Moore

            Gale Sondergaard as Faith Paleologue

            Steffi Duna as Neleta

            Billy Mauch as Anthony Adverse age 10

            Donald Woods as Vincent Nolte

            Akim Tamiroff as Carlo Cibo

            Ralph Morgan as DeBruille

            Henry O'Neill as Father Xavier

            Pedro de Cordoba as Brother Francois

            George E. Stone as Sancho

            Luis Alberni as Tony Guessippi

            Fritz Leiber as Ouvrard

            Joseph Crehan as Capt. Elisha Jorham

            Rafaela Ottiano as Signora Buvino

            Rollo Lloyd as Napoleon Bonaparte

            Leonard Mudie as DeBourrienne

            Marilyn Knowlden as Florence Udney as a Child

            Mathilde Comont as Cook Guessippi

            Eily Malyon as Mother Superior

            J. Carrol Naish as Maj. Doumet

            Scotty Beckett as Anthony's Son

            Frank Reicher as Coach Driver to Paris

            Clara Blandick as Mrs. Jorham

            Addison Richards as Capt. Matanaza

            William Ricciardi as Coachman to Leghorn

            Grace Stafford as Lucia

            Bess Flowers as Nun

            Martin Garralaga as Arab

            Frank Lackteen
            
            Myra Marsh
            
            Zeffie Tilbury as Old Woman at Chalet

            Joan Woodbury as Half-Caste Dancer

            Ann Howard as Angela (as a child)
See full cast