Love Among the Ruins
- TV Movie
- 1975
- 1h 40m
An aging actress is being sued for breach of promise. She hires as her lawyer a man who was an ex-lover, and is still in love with her, although she doesn't know it. She realizes that the on... Read allAn aging actress is being sued for breach of promise. She hires as her lawyer a man who was an ex-lover, and is still in love with her, although she doesn't know it. She realizes that the only way to win this case and protect her assets is to destroy her reputation.An aging actress is being sued for breach of promise. She hires as her lawyer a man who was an ex-lover, and is still in love with her, although she doesn't know it. She realizes that the only way to win this case and protect her assets is to destroy her reputation.
- Won 6 Primetime Emmys
- 9 wins & 2 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 1973, during an interview on the The Dick Cavett Show (1968), Cavett asked Katharine Hepburn if she was sorry she had never acted with Sir Laurence Olivier. With a smile and a laugh, Hepburn replied, "Well, neither of us is dead yet. Even though you may think so." Two years later, Hepburn and Olivier made this movie together.
- GoofsThe premise of the movie is invalid because only women could sue for breach of promise to marry, not men.
- Quotes
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: And what is your age?
Jessica Medlicott: [smiling, nervous and not speaking for several seconds]
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: Did you not hear the question that I asked?
Jessica Medlicott: I heard your question. I could not believe that you asked it.
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: Don't you want the jury to know how old you are?
Jessica Medlicott: I cannot think that it is any of their business. I don't know their ages, why should they know mine?
[continuing smiling while people in the courtroom chuckle]
The Judge: Silence!
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: Ah, so you won't say in what year you were born then?
Jessica Medlicott: I was born in the year of my birth.
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: I assure you, it's quite customary to tell one's age in the witness box.
Jessica Medlicott: And I assure you it is quite incompatable with the civilized behavoir. No gentleman would dream about insisting upon it.
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: I'm sure my learned opponent would agree with you whole-heartedly. How he would like us to believe that all suck things such as birth certificates, eh, should be ignored or even surpressed.
Jessica Medlicott: Neither in my case. Merely lost.
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: How lost? In a fire?
Jessica Medlicott: In a fire, exactly.
Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones: And what fire was that, Mrs. Medicott?
Jessica Medlicott: Any fire you like.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 27th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1975)
Hepburn's solicitor, Richard Pearson, brings Hepburn and Olivier together. Hepburn is being sued for alienation of affections by a young man who swears she promised marriage to him, he who is old enough to be her grandson. Olivier is a barrister of great repute and they happen to be neighbors on the same block in London.
What Pearson doesn't know and Hepburn seems to have forgotten was that a long time ago, almost forty years, Olivier was a young law student in Toronto who was crushing out big time on young actress Hepburn. Like a good stage door Johnny, Olivier waited for her and had evening out with her and never saw her after that. She married a wealthy title and Olivier went on to a great legal career, but he's been crushing out on her since.
In today's terminology they would call the suit against Hepburn palimony. The trial portion of the film is the best with Hepburn almost seeming to work at cross purposes with her own attorney. The opposing barrister is Colin Blakely who played a lot of sleazy types in films. If the British have lawyer jokes in their culture, Blakely would seem like a great candidate. The man just oozed shyster from his very pores.
Thirty years earlier had this film been made it would have had a theatrical release. Movie public tastes change so it got relegated to the made for TV status. Still though with the presence of those two star names it should not be missed.
Love Among the Ruins was directed by George Cukor and deserved Emmys were won all around, by Cukor, Olivier, and Hepburn. They should all get our thanks for showing that quality still had an audience.
- bkoganbing
- Oct 11, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Liebe in der Dämmerung
- Filming locations
- St Pancras International Railway Station, Euston Road, St Pancras, London, Greater London, England, UK(Courtroom exteriors, corridors and staircases.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro