Miss Scarlet and the Duke (Quarter to Midnight): Movies about Writing

I have an addiction to PBS. There. I said it. Now on with the blog.

If you’ve never seen “Miss Scarlet and the Duke”, here’s a quick premise: Miss Scarlet (Kate Phillips) is an Edwardian private detective constantly trying make it in a male driven society. Inspector Wellington aka “the Duke” (Stuart Martin) is a member of Scotland Yard she’s know since youth and therefore acts as antagonist, partner, competition, and love interest all in one.

The pair are investigating a case together of a finical advisor whose death mimics the famous scene in a novel by an author named Samuel Bedborough (yes, this plot again) who also happened to be one of the dead man’s clients. They find Bedborough at a book reading in a small shop run by an obsessive lady who is rather rude to customers, in my opinion. The author is also signing the books and now I’m on a research rampage to find out how early English author started doing mass signings. Seriously, is that historical inaccuracy? If you know, please comment. Thanks.

Back to the story, Bedborough and his sister Anna listen to the accounts of the murder as he is pompous and she is polite. Bedborough boasts that he can write anywhere, at any time, without “the muse” striking.

Screw you, Bedborough! Everyone has their process! Stop being ass! Some of us need youtube playlists and fifteen minutes of cat snuggles before the writing can be successful!

Sorry. Sorry. Back to the episode. The book that the murder came from is about writing. A struggling author murders his two best friends when he goes mad trying to meet a novel deadline. Understandable.

The episode deals in fame, publishing companies, a writer’s tools, a writer’s personality, and depression. I won’t give away the ending, but I will confess you’ll figure out the twist pretty quickly - but maybe not the murderer.

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford: Movies about Writing

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford is a 1936 where Jean Arthur plays a mystery writer named Paula whose trying to convince Dr. Lawrence “Brad” Bradford (William Powell) to marry her again instead of making his alimony payments to her. It’s a comedy. During their “wedded bliss” Paula would convince Brad to consult on murders so she could research them for her novels. But Brad insists that he likes his life now where he can read the paper and “enjoy a murder” without her buzzing in his ear. He didn’t object to her writing mysteries. He objected to her “living them”. He has a point there as she is paranoid that every surprise is a gangster with a gun ready to bump the both off.

Of course, because this is a movie, a case falls into their lap about a murdered jockey. What follows is intrigue and screwball antics. Paula uses their budding retry at domesticity to play detective. She tries drugging them, bashing them, and all sorts of other problems in order to solve the case. However, events lead to suspicious against Brad and now he has to play the detective while Paula distracts the police on his tail.

I enjoy how Paula’s brain is always on the case like how most writers would be distracted. Of course, since she writes mysteries, it causes her to forget her manners. I appreciate this about her character. So many old movies make authors charming and sociable. It’s more realistic in my opinion for her to be distracted and a little “dizzy” as they say in 30s lingo. She also has a big box of props for developing murder stories which is a fantastic detail!