Scandal at Scourie ** (1953, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Agnes Moorehead, Donna Corcoran ) – Classic Movie Review 12,610

MGM’s 1953 American drama film Scandal at Scourie stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in their ninth and final on-screen collaboration. It was filmed in Technicolor on location in Canada.

Director Jean Negulesco’s 1953 American Technicolor drama film Scandal at Scourie stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in their ninth and final on-screen collaboration. It was filmed on location in Canada.

But it is a case of Scandal at MGM as the Garson-Pidgeon team are in trouble with a period yarn that manages to make politics and religion boring.

They play Protestant marrieds, the McChesneys, in small-town Canada, who upset the local bigots by deciding to adopt a Catholic girl, Patsy (Donna Corcoran), who lives in an orphanage in Quebec.

The little lass steals the show, despite the usual efforts of the Garson-Pidgeon team and the always reliable presence of Agnes Moorehead as Sister Josephine.

It flopped, but not badly. It earned $1,625,000, resulting in a loss of $333,000. But it had cost only $1,148,000.

It is written by Norman Corwin, Leonard Spigelgass and Karl Tunberg, based on Good Boy in the 1951 American women’s magazine Good Housekeeping by Mary McSherry.

The Roger Moore in the cast is the character actor who has a walk-on as Man. The 007 Roger Moore (Sir Roger George Moore KBE, 14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was signed to a seven-year contract by MGM in March 1954 but was released from his contract after two years. He recalled: ‘At MGM, RGM [Roger George Moore] was NBG [No Bloody Good].’

Garson and Pidgeon appeared in nine movie collaborations: Blossoms In the Dust (1941), Mrs Miniver (1942), The Youngest Profession (1943) in cameos, Madame Curie (1945), Mrs Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), and Scandal at Scourie (1953).

Scandal at Scourie runs 90 minutes, is made by MGM, is distributed by Loew’s Inc, is written by Norman Corwin, Leonard Spigelgass and Karl Tunberg, based on the story Good Boy in the 1951 Good Housekeeping by Mary McSherry, is shot in Technicolor by Robert H Planck, is produced by Edwin H Knopf, is scored by Daniele Amfitheatrof, and is designed by Wade B Rubottom.

Release date: May 17, 1953.

The cast are Greer Garson as Victoria McChesney, Walter Pidgeon as Patrick J McChesney, Agnes Moorehead as Sister Josephine, Donna Corcoran as Patsy, Arthur Shields as Father Reilly, Philip Ober as B G Belney, Rhys Williams as Bill Swazey, Margalo Gillmore as Alice Hanover, John Lupton as Artemus, Philip Tonge as Fred Gogarty, Wilton Graff as Leffington, Ian Wolfe as Councilman Hurdwell, Michael Pate as the Rev Williams, Tony Taylor as Edward, Patricia Tiernan as Second Nun, Victor Wood as James Motley, Perdita Chandler as Sister Dominique, Walter Baldwin as Michael Hayward, Ida Moore as Mrs Ames, Maudie Prickett, Al Ferguson, Matt Moore, Roger Moore (1909 – 1999).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,610

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