Court case(1934) 50 TLR 581

MGM produced and exhibited in England the film "Rasputin, the Mad Monk". In it a character, Princess Natasha, was seduced or ravished by Rasputin. The plaintiff, Princess Irina Youssoupoff, was the wife of Prince Youssoupoff, one of the men who killed Rasputin, and she claimed that the character of Natasha was understood by those who saw the film to represent her. She sued for libel. The jury found that the film referred to her and was defamatory, and awarded 25,000 pounds damages. The defendants appealed, contending that the film was at most slander and that an imputation of having been raped was not defamatory.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. Slesser L.J. held that the photographic part of the film was a permanent matter to be seen by the eye and was therefore libel, the speech and sound being ancillary to it. On meaning, the court held that defamation is not confined to imputations of moral blame: a statement that tends to make the plaintiff shunned and avoided, or exposed to hatred, ridicule or contempt, is defamatory even though she is morally blameless. To say that a woman has been ravished is such a statement. The damages, though large, were not so excessive as to justify interference.