The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
Director:
Sidney Franklin
Tagline:
« The play that captured the heart of the world is now the finest triumph of the screen! A glorious memory of two who triumphed against a world that sought to crush their love! (Print Ad-Owosso Argus-Press, ((Owosso, Mich.)) 5 October 1934) »
Actors:
Elizabeth Barrett
Robert Browning
Edward Moulton-Barrett
Henrietta Barrett
Arabel Barrett
Rating:
(2’426 votes)
(2’426 votes)
Quotes:
« Elizabeth Barrett: What's another disaster to one who has known little but disaster all her life? But you're a fighter. You were born for victory and triumph. Oh, and if disaster ever came to you through me…
»
« Robert Browning: Yes, a fighter. But I'm sick of fighting alone. I need a comrade in arms to fight beside me.
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: But not one already wounded in battle.
»
« Robert Browning: Wounded but undaunted, unbeaten, unbroken. What finer comrade could a man ask for?
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: Robert, have you ever thought that my strength may break down on the journey?
»
« Robert Browning: It had occurred to me, yes.
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: Supposing I were to die on your hands?
»
« Robert Browning: Are you afraid, Ba?
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: Afraid. You should know that I would rather die with you beside me than live a hundred lives without you. But how would you feel if I were to die? And what would the world say of you?
»
« Robert Browning: I should be branded as a little better than a murderer. What I should feel… I leave you to imagine.
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: And yet you ask me to come with you?
»
« Robert Browning: Yes. I am prepared to risk your life, much more my own, to get you out of that dreadful house and into the sun and to have you for my wife.
»
« Elizabeth Barrett: You love me like that?
»
« Robert Browning: I love you like that.
»
« Robert Browning: [about one of his poems] When that passage was written, only God and Robert Browning understood it. Now, only God understands it!
»
Runtime:109 minutes
Plots:
Elizabeth Barrett’s tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
In 1845 London, the Barrett family is ruled with an iron fist by its stern widowed patriarch, Edward Moulton-Barrett. His nine grown children are afraid of him more than they love him. One of his rules is that none of his children are allowed to marry, which does not sit well with youngest daughter Henrietta as she loves and wants to marry Captain Surtees Cook. Of the nine, the one exception is his daughter Elizabeth, who abides faithfully to her father’s wishes. Elizabeth does not think too much about the non-marriage rule as she has an unknown chronic illness which has kept her bedridden. She feels her life will not be a long one. With her time, she writes poetry, which she shares by correspondence with another young poet, Robert Browning. Elizabeth’s outlook on her life changes when she meets Mr. Browning for the first time, he who has fallen in love with her without even having met her. She, in return, falls in love with him after their meeting. With Mr. Browning’s love and support, Elizabeth tries to get well and enjoy life, this all against the thoughts of her father, who physically and emotionally traps Elizabeth and by association all of his children, all in the name of protecting her and them in the name of God.
Official websites:
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MovieMeter,
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