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A Bill of Divorcement
A Bill of Divorcement
Directed by	John Farrow
Screenplay by	Dalton Trumbo
Based on	A Bill of Divorcement; by Clemence Dane
Produced by	Robert Sisk
Starring	Maureen O'Hara; Adolphe Menjou; Fay Bainter
Cinematography	Nicholas Musuraca
Edited by	Harry Marker
Music by	Roy Webb
Production; company	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	May 31, 1940;
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

A Bill of Divorcement is a 1940 film directed by John Farrow. It was also known as Never to Love and was based on a 1921 British play of the same name written by Clemence Dane that had been filmed in 1932 with John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn.

Plot

Hilary Fairchild returns home after a long spell in a lunatic asylum. He has regained his sanity but finds that his strong-willed daughter Sydney, now an adult, is planning to marry and that his wife has divorced him.

Cast

Maureen O'Hara as Sydney Fairchild
Adolphe Menjou as Hilary Fairchild
Fay Bainter as Margaret Fairchild
Herbert Marshall as Gray Meredith
Dame May Whitty as Hester Fairchild
Patric Knowles as John Storm
C. Aubrey Smith as Dr. Alliot
Ernest Cossart as Rev. Dr. Pumphrey
Kathryn Collier as Basset
Lauri Beatty as Susan

Production

The film was announced in November 1939 with the lead roles allocated to Adolphe Menjou and Maureen O'Hara. O'Hara had just moved to Hollywood with Charles Laughton and appeared in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Producer Robert Sisk and director John Farrow had made a number of films together, including the popular Five Came Back (1939).^[1] It was considered an "A" picture, Farrow and Sisk's first such film at RKO.^[2]

Filming began on December 2, 1939.^[3]^[4]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Theodore Strauss wrote: "Under the restrained direction of John Farrow, the performances of an ably selected cast are fused into a film that is continuously eloquent and moving. ... Out of a familiar play the producers have again drawn a suspensive drama of courage and despair."^[5]

The film recorded a loss of $104,000.^[6]

References

^ "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. November 1, 1939. ProQuest 102790700.
^ Louella O. Parsons (November 1, 1939). "Close-Ups and Long-Shots Of the Motion Picture Scene". The Washington Post. ProQuest 151106620.
^ Schallert, E. (November 18, 1939). "DRAMA". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 165040168.
^ Churchill, Douglas W. (November 23, 1939). "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. ProQuest 102920596.
^ Strauss, Theodore (1940-07-12). "The Screen in Review: The Capitol Presents Joan Crawford and Fredric March in 'Susan and God'—'A Bill of Divorcement' and 'Devil's Island' Also Are Seen". The New York Times. p. 11.
^ Jewell, Richard; Harbin, Vernon (1982). The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. p. 148. ISBN 9780706412857.