Maid of Salem

1937 film by Frank Lloyd

March 3, 1937 (1937-03-03)

Running time

85 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Maid of Salem is a 1937 American historical drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray and Harvey Stephens. It was made and distributed by Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures,

Plot

A young girl in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 has an affair with an adventurer. She is sentenced as a witch, but saved by him.

Cast

Claudette Colbert as Barbara Clarke
Fred MacMurray as Roger Coverman
Harvey Stephens as Dr. John Harding
Gale Sondergaard as Martha Harding
Louise Dresser as Ellen Clarke
Benny Bartlett as Timothy Clarke
Edward Ellis as Elder Goode
Beulah Bondi as Abigail Goode
Bonita Granville as Ann Goode
Virginia Weidler as Nabby Goode
Donald Meek as Ezra Cheeves
E.E. Clive as Bilge
Halliwell Hobbes as Jeremiah
Pedro de Cordoba as Mr. Morse
Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Tituba
Lucy Beaumont as Rebecca, the Nurse
Henry Kolker as the Crown Chief Justice Laughton
William Farnum as the Crown Justice Sewall
Ivan F. Simpson as Rev. Parris
Brandon Hurst as the Tithing Man
Sterling Holloway as Miles Corbin, the Cow Herder
Zeffie Tilbury as Goody Hodgers
Babs Nelson as Baby Mercy Cheeves
Mary Treen as Susy Abbott
J. Farrell MacDonald as the Captain of the Ship
Stanley Fields as the First Mate
Lionel Belmore as the Tavern Keeper
Wally Albright as Jasper (uncredited)
Harry Cording as Guard (uncredited)
Russell Simpson as Village Marshal (uncredited)

Reception

Writing for The Spectator in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly positive review, describing the dialogue as "pompously period", but praising the story as one allowing for "a little authentic horror [] to creep in".^[1]

References

^ Greene, Graham (5 March 1937). "Fire Over England/Maid of Salem/Theodora Goes Wild". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. pp. 136–137. ISBN 0192812866.)