Robert Milton | Bella Donna / 1934

the confirmed bachelor

by Douglas Messerli

 

Vera Allison (screenplay, based on the play by James B. Fagan and H. Fowler Mear and the fiction by Robert Hichens), Robert Milton (director) Bella Donna / 1934

 

Bella Donna began its nefarious life as a 1909 novel by Robert Hichens. That work was brought to film in a 1915 silent film produced by Charles Frohman and the Famous Players—Lasky, with Pauline Frederick starring as the evil wife, Chepstow Amine. That film is now lost.

      Even before that, in 1912, the great Alla Nazimova, histrionics intact, brought it to the Broadway stage where it ran for 72 performances. And it was rendered into film again in 1923, starring Pola Negri as Chepstow and Conrad Nagel as her unfortunate husband, Nigel; a print of that film is supposedly is held in the Gosfilmofond Archive in Moscow, but it may not be complete.

      For many long years, it was thought that the 1934 version, starring Mary Ellis and Conrad Veidt as the villains, was also lost, before being discovered in a dubbed Czech version, the one you will have to watch today if you want to hear any of the dialogue.

   Although this film quickly moves to the exotic world of Egypt, it begins in England, with Lady Harwich (Jeanne Stuart) paying a visit to Dr. Meyer Isaacson (Cedric Hardwicke) to inform him that Mary Chepstow (the book on Conrad Veidt’s life, which has a fairly long description of this film’s plot, lists the major character as being named Mona instead of Mary) has set her claws on her brother-in-law, Nigel Armine (John Stuart). Since the doctor is a dear friend of Nigel’s she hopes he might talk to him, warning him of Mary Chepstow’s history.

      Hardly has she left his home office, however, before Mary (Ellis) herself pays a visit, pretending to have an undefined illness, but mostly attempting to find an ally in him as one of Nigel’s closest friends, particularly since Nigel's family refuses to even see her. He promises no such thing, but does assure her that their meeting will remain private and the next time he encounters her it will be as if for the first.

      He hardly has long to wait, since the very next day Nigel has invited the doctor to lunch, hoping to introduce him to Mary, who “just happens” to be dining the same restaurant alone. For absolutely no apparent reason, the doctor quite forcefully reminds his friend that he is a “confirmed bachelor”—in other words, that he has no interest in women, obviously suggesting he is a homosexual. But, of course, it is not to Nigel whom he is presenting this information, but to the audience, who almost immediately is asked to comprehend that his and Nigel’s relationship may involve, as old school friends, something deeper than mere friendship, an issue that will be of great importance later in the film.

      In the meantime, Nigel simply wants, just as Mary has previously sought in him, his approval; and later that evening, he stops by doctor Isaacson’s house for a drink and to beg him to visit Mary the next day so that they might become friends. When Mary suggests that she intends to visit Egypt, and that Nigel has work he the Fayoum district, Isaacson declares that if Nigel is going to Fayoum he strongly suspects that he is not going there to work. Mary cannot comprehend his meaning, as the doctor explains that Nigel is not like most modern men; he has very old-fashioned notions of what a woman is, and Isaacson does not want his friend to be hurt.

       Mary suggests that what he is hinting at sounds very rude. But he continues to put it to her rather bluntly, suggesting that she is not truly in love in Nigel and that he doesn’t want his dear friend to be abused.

       Although it quickly does become apparent that Mary is marrying Nigel because of the family inheritance, it soon after becomes clear, after they receive a letter announcing that Nigel’s older brother has just had twins, that there will not be a great deal of money left in his share of the family inheritance, the only reason for Mary's interest in the somewhat sexually deficient man whom she has made her husband.

      But before we discover this, the two, Nigel and Mary, quickly marry and travel to his villa in Egypt, where both seem for a while to be perfectly enchanted. They soon meet the wealthy Egyptian businessman, Mahmoud Baroudi (Conrad Veidt), whose dark looks captivate Mary just as her representation of a wealthy white virgin captivates him. And by the time that Nigel actually plans his voyage to Fayoum, Mary is already itching for husband to get lost.

      Bored and lonely, Mary is now quite ready to run into the arms of Baroudi, but at first his servant reports that he too has left for the Fayoum district—a strange piece of information that I truly don’t know what to make of. Might it be somehow related to the reason why Isaacson has declared that Nigel is not seeking work in the Fayoum region. Does she have a male lover there? Is his business transaction with Baroudi. Nothing is quite clear in the film’s insinuations.

        But Baroudi soon returns and Mary rushes into the Egyptian's arms, even though she quickly discovers what we already know, that he not only is served by a number of dancing girls but has an Egyptian wife, whom he immediately commands to leave his bed so that Mary might replace her.

       If there is any evidence that Mary is truly sexually experienced, she gladly accepts his wife’s place in the bed as the two plot Nigel’s death without creating a scandal.

       When Nigel returns with the intention of taking her down the Nile in a large boat house, so too does Baroudi follow them in his own boat.

        Over this long period, Mary and a local doctor (obviously hired by Baroudi), Dr. Baring-Hartley (Michael Shepley), has been slowly feeding Nigel small pellets of lead in his daily coffee, and much like Alicia Huberman in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film Notorious, Nigel begins to suffer from headaches and disorientation, which Mary and the doctor both claim is due to his receiving too much sun, just as in the Hitchcock film.

       Back in England, Dr. Isaacson has received a letter suggesting that all is well, while Lady Harwich has received an epistle that describes something far different. Worried about the discrepancies and the welfare of his friend, Isaacson makes his way to Egypt.

       But when he finally meets up with Mary in the houseboat, Mary argues that her husband is being well looked after by Dr. Hartley, and when Isaacson demands to see his friend Nigel, she insists that Hartley has ordered that he must have no company, and refuses Nigel entry.

      Isaacson quickly tests the remains in Nigel’s morning coffee cup, and confronts Hartley, who immediately perceiving the course of events, backs down and refuses to have anything more to do Nigel’s case.

     Taking over, Isaacson rushes to his friend’s side, who is delighted to see him. He forces Nigel to take a concoction that might correct some of the damage and insists that he should no longer accept any offer of drink or food from anyone but himself.

       Observing the change of events and terrified of the results, Mary confesses her crime and declares that she no longer loves her husband, having long ago chosen to share of love with Baroudi.

      She quickly rushes off to Baroudi to tell him that she is now his alone; but when she explains what has happened, he orders her off of his boat, insisting, as he has always, that he cannot allow himself to be involved in any scandal.

      Mary returns to Nigel’s boat, at the very moment that he demands the door and windows be closed, Mary left on the outside allowed only to peek in through the wooden slats. It is clear Nigel has returned to the side of his bachelor friend, bringing Nigel back into his man’s world without the troubles provided by a “beautiful woman,” proffered with homosexual affection if not actual sexual acts.

 

Los Angeles, August 19, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (August 2024).