Aunt Etta was too old to play Claude Rain's sister
They should have made Aunt Etta the grandmother to the four sisters. It would have been more believable and and it would have made the character less pathetic as a spinsterly old cow.
sharejennylynmasters says > They should have made Aunt Etta the grandmother to the four sisters. It would have been more believable and and it would have made the character less pathetic as a spinsterly old cow.Claude Rains was made up to look a lot older than he really was at the time so aunt Etta could very well have been his sister. Even if there was a large age difference between them that's not unrealistic either. In a lot of families siblings could have a large gap in age between them. It could be because they had other siblings in between or the parents had one child at a very young age and the other when they were a lot older.
I think it works better for aunt Etta to be the spinster aunt rather than the girls' grandmother. When Felix swoops in with all his charisma and charm, every single one of the Lemp women, all virgins, took notice, including aunt Etta. I don't think he would have flirted mercilessly with their grandmother the way he did with everyone else. If he did her reaction would have been different.
This was an important point because we see how Emma got all mixed up about him. All the girls were hoping for love so they all fell for Felix. When Ann announced their plan to marry, Kay left town; Thea immediately accepted Ben's proposal which she had been putting off and, of course, Emma broke down. Ernest had been interested in Emma for a while but she wasn't interested in him.
Their grandmother would be giving them advice and guiding them in a different way than their aunt would. When issues came up, they'd likely go to her or vice versa. That's why Etta had to be their aunt.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate] share
I have to agree that she looks too old. She didn't have to be a Grandmother. She could have been some kind of Great Aunt or something. There were a number of ways they could have her in the family and not have her be his sister.
shareAfter seeing Leopoldine Konstantin (who was only 3 years older than Claude) play his mother in Hitchcock's Notorious (made 8 years after this) I found it a bit of a novelty seeing an actress who WAS old enough to be his mother (31 years older infact) playing his SISTER. May Robson was about 80 years old here but certainly doesn't appear so - she has the vim and vigour of a feisty 65 year old which is how old she appears to be.
I don't think there's anything extraordinary about me except this passion for the truth.