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Affairs of a Gentleman

1934 American drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ16038894 ↗
Source-derived summary

Affairs of a Gentleman is a 1934 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin and written by Cyril Hume, Peter Ruric and Milton Krims, adapted from the 1928 play Women by Edith Ellis and Edward Ellis. The film stars Paul Lukas, Leila Hyams, Patricia Ellis, Phillip Reed, Onslow Stevens and Dorothy Burgess. The film was released on May 1, 1934, by Universal Pictures.

Plot

The gentleman of the title is Victor Gresham, a popular novelist. He has loved many women, and has been loved back by many of them. Several of these ladies have left the domestic security provided by their husbands in order to further pursue a relationship with Gresham, despite Gresham's own advise to the contrary. As his lovers compete over him, Gresham uses his love life as inspiration for a series of cynical novels. Each of his novels described the events of one of his love affairs.

Early in the film, Gresham is found dead at his own writing desk. The rest of the film explores the events which led to his death, covering the last twelve hours in Gresham's life.

Editorial summary

“Affairs of a Gentleman” enters the record as 1934 American drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Affairs, Gentleman and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1934, 1928—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1934-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Affairs, Gentleman and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Affairs of a Gentleman” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Affairs, Gentleman and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16038894. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934 and 1928.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Affairs of a Gentleman”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Affairs of a Gentleman primary sources, Affairs of a Gentleman archive and Affairs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Affairs of a Gentleman”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Affairs of a Gentleman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.