A (late) Early Talkie, this tasty legal drama (with romantic angle) is imaginatively shot by Charles Lang* and cleanly helmed by John Cromwell, who could be more dependable than imaginative. William Powell & Kay Francis, already showing easy command, star as a top Manhattan defense attorney with a mostly mob clientele & as the glamorous stage actress he’d do anything for . . . except marry. Deeply in love, but miffed at his hesitation, she toys with another lover during an overnight drive that ends in a tragic accident. Worse, Kay was behind the wheel when they hit & killed the man on the road. So when the lover takes the blame, swearing her to secrecy, she pleads with Powell to take the case! But how much can she tell him? And will he have to jeopardize his rep to get his rival off? As neatly structured as it is played, there’s loads of late-‘20s/early’30s NYC flavor in here. (Especially in some Speak Easy & banquet scenes made, like the rest of the film, on the Paramount California lot.) Modest, but a beaut.
DOUBLE-BILL: Earlier the same year, Powell & Francis (again with Cromwell & Lang) made a gambling drama, STREET OF CHANCE/’30, which sounds equally interesting, but is hard to get hold of. Instead, a pair of gems from 1932, the witty JEWEL ROBBERY for William Dieterle or ONE WAY PASSAGE, a masterpiece of haunting romantic fatalism from underrated Tay Garnett.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Check out Lang’s off-hand use of a rare ‘zoom lens’ shot at the 12" mark. Not many such shots in this period, but when they do show up, it’s mostly @ Paramount. Did they have the only zoom lens in town?
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