Stephen Roberts (8)

This fun little detective mystery based on a serial story of the 1930's by Arthur Somers Roche has William Powell and Ginger Rogers in fine form and RKO's great sets of the period for 90 minutes of delightful distraction. It is little known and sometimes gets a bad rap when it is talked about, since it came on the heels of the original Thin Man. But it is, in fact, very entertaining and Powell and Rogers are a hoot together. The mystery is good, if a bit slow at times, and it is easy to see where another series could have been launched if the circumstances had been right.

William Powell is uptown lawyer Clay Dalzell, who everyone calls Dal, and Ginger Rogers is his long-time assistant and wanna be spouse Donna Mantin. She's known him since childhood, but she's no kid anymore and the two have a very fun rapport as they get involved in a mystery while she tries to get Dal to marry her. Dal playfully refers to Donna as a shameless hussy and fact distorter, and tells her at one point how terrible it must be for her mother to have a daughter like her!

Dal is known to dabble in solving crimes more than practicing law so it's no surprise when his pal Tim Winthrop (Leslie Fenton) wants him to help find his lost love, Alice. What is a surprise is his disappearance from Dal's uptown Manhattan apartment after someone kills the reporter with information about a famous stage actress Tim had recognized as Alice. Dal is shot also, but wounded only slightly in the uh....hip.

It's a lot of fun as Donna mixes drinks and exchanges jabs with Dal while she worms her way into the mystery. Also adding to the fun is Gene Lockhart as Dal's butler, Swayne, working for Dal but taking his real direction from Miss Mantin. A gangster named Kinland (Paul Kelly) and an old flame's husband (Ralph Morgan) all figure in as suspects but Dal must first figure out what it's all about.

Like some of the later Thin Man entries, the story is a fun distraction for mystery buffs, but the real reason to watch is the interplay between Powell and Ginger. J. Farrell MacDonald has the best supporting part as the take-it-easy Inspector Doremus, never in a rush but sharp as a tack, staying step for step with Dal all the way. Powell spends a lot of time in his bathrobe and always has a drink in his hand, sticking Donna with a bar tab for 8 sidecars at one point! Donna is as crafty as he is though, and manages to get her money back and then some.

A trick with a phonograph to trap the killer near the end doesn't have a lot of zip but is very enjoyable, which is what the movies are all about. There is a great ending with Dal and Donna that certainly had series written all over it. One can only assume MGM did not want Powell competing with their own Thin Man franchise at another studio. Powell and Loy are wonderful together but Ginger got great reviews in the New York papers and even the London Times when this was first released in 1935.

Only those who can't stand seeing a Bogart picture with someone other than Bacall, or a Powell picture with someone other than Loy, dislike this film. Stephen Roberts, who had directed Rogers the year before in "Romance in Manhattan" helmed this one also. This one's a little gem that fans of William Powell and Ginger Rogers don't want to miss.… (mere)