The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie
Produced by
Pandro S. Berman
Starring
Katharine Hepburn Cary Grant Edmund Gwenn Brian Aherne Natalie Paley
Cinematography
Joseph H. August
Edited by
Jane Loring
Music by
Roy Webb
Distributed by
RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
December 25, 1935 (1935-12-25)
Running time
90 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$641,000[1]
Box office
$497,000[1]
Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 American romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s. Hepburn plays the title role of Sylvia Scarlett, a female con artist masquerading as a boy to escape the police. The success of the subterfuge is in large part due to the transformation of Hepburn by RKO makeup artist Mel Berns.
This film was the first pairing of Grant and Hepburn, who later starred together in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), and The Philadelphia Story (1940).
Grant's performance as a dashing rogue sees him incorporate a Cockney accent and remains widely considered the first time Grant's famous personality began to register on film. (Grant used the Cockney accent in only a few other films, notably 1939's Gunga Din, 1943's Mr. Lucky and Clifford Odets's None but the Lonely Heart in 1944.) Cockney was not, however, Cary Grant's original accent. He was born and grew up in Bristol, which has a very different accent from that of London, where he only spent part of two years in his mid-teens working with a Vaudeville troupe. In the U.S., by sixteen, he began to attempt to sound more American to broaden the range of theatre roles for which he could be cast a decade before he ever appeared in a Hollywood "talkie".
^ abRichard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p58
SylviaScarlett is a 1935 American romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett...
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (/dʒoʊˈhænsən/ born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019,...
Scarlett Sabet (born 1989 or 1990 (age 33–34)) is an English poet and performer based in London. She is the author of four poetry collections, Rocking...
venture with RKO, playing a raffish Cockney swindler in George Cukor's SylviaScarlett (1935), was the first of four collaborations with Hepburn. Though a...
next feature, Hepburn decided to star in George Cukor's new project, SylviaScarlett (1935), which paired her for the first time with Cary Grant. Her hair...
Sylvia and Michael is 1919 novel by the British writer Compton Mackenzie, sometimes known by the longer name The Later Adventures of SylviaScarlett. It...
Drama George Stevens Nomination—Academy Award for Best Actress SylviaScarlettSylviaScarlett Comedy George Cukor 1936 Mary of Scotland Mary Stuart Period...
Street on Broadway for 24 performances. Aherne returned to RKO for SylviaScarlett (1935) with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, a notorious flop. He...
Bishop, Of Human Bondage and The Keys of the Kingdom. George Cukor's SylviaScarlett (1935) was his first appearance in a Hollywood film, as Katharine Hepburn's...
as Little Women (1933) and Holiday (1938), and disastrous, such as SylviaScarlett (1935). Cukor and Hepburn became close friends off the set. Cukor was...
Parker, Rosalind Russell, Eva Marie Saint, Martha Scott, Ann Sheridan, Sylvia Sidney, Alexis Smith, Ginger Rogers, Martha Scott and Loretta Young. Grant...
to the United States, where she had a small role in George Cukor's SylviaScarlett (1935), a film starring Katharine Hepburn, who became a lifelong friend...
announced for the following movies which were made with other actors: SylviaScarlett (1935) – the part played by Brian Aherne Four Daughters (1937) – part...
uncredited but substantial role in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn film, SylviaScarlett for RKO Radio Pictures. She was primarily a freelance actress and floated...
song being performed by seaside entertainers in a scene set in 1909. SylviaScarlett (1935), starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Bank Holiday (1938)...
the second of four films starring Grant and Hepburn; the others were SylviaScarlett (1935), Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). The film's...
and Adventures of SylviaScarlett (made into the 1935 film SylviaScarlett, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant) 1919 – Sylvia and Michael The book...
Rogers vehicles. One of the biggest disappointments of the year was SylviaScarlett, starring Katharine Hepburn. 1937 was the most productive year in RKO's...
Puppet Man Jenny Rose 1922 The Exclusive Model The Girl Sinister Street SylviaScarlett Married to a Mormon 1923 The Blue Lagoon Emmeline The Reef of Stars...
Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935) - Third Assistant Director SylviaScarlett (1935) - Sergeant Major (uncredited) Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)...
Global Information