The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

"Men adored her-women envied her. through London's gilded society she swept, leaving a trail of broken hearts- and stolen jewels."

There is a big charity function at the house of Mrs. Cheyney and a lot of society is present. With her rich husband, deceased, rich old Lord Elton and playboy Lord Arthur Dilling are both very interested in the mysterious Fay. Invited to the house of Mrs. Webley, Fay is again the center of attention for Arthur and Elton with her leaning towards stuffy old Elton. When Arthur sees Charles, Fay's Butler, lurking in the gardens, he remembers that Charles was a thief caught in Monte Carlo and he figures that Fay may be more interested in the pearls of Mrs. Webley, which she is. After Fay takes the pearls, but before she can toss them out the window, she is caught by Arthur who is very disappointed in how things are turning out.

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CinemaSerf@Geronimo1967

March 19, 2026

When the nouveau riche American “Fay” (Norma Shearer) hosts a grand charitable party at her temporary London home - under the ever watchful eye of her butler “Charles” (George Barraud), she encounters two junior members of the British aristocracy. “Lord Elton” (Herbert Bunston) is an older gent who considers himself well past his sell-by date on the romantic front; “Lord Dilling” (Basil Rathbone) is the younger, more opportunist of the pair. Annoyingly for him, she seems a little more drawn to the safety of the elder man but he pins his hopes on another meeting at the lavish home of the wealthy “Mrs. Webley” (Maude Turner Gordon). Thing is, though, once they are all congregated at her country pile, “Dilling” thinks he recognises “Charles” from somewhere altogether different and so suspicions aroused, we all begin to wonder just what is going on and whether someone around the high tea table is not whom they say they are. Perhaps more than one? I’m a fan of Rathbone but here he isn’t (nor looks) at his best and neither he nor Shearer really spark together. There is a great deal of dialogue and the whole film struggles to shake of a rather statically theatrical look - I kept expecting the stage to revolve scene to scene. That said, the closing elements in the garden allow both the on-form Bunston to have some fuddy-duddy fun and for us to enjoy the few moments of focus this otherwise rather meandering drama allows. Some plays just don’t transfer to the silver screen so well, and this one is really one of them. Watchable but not so very memorable.