8/10
Wow! This one was released after the morals clampdown, but the clergy were all asleep!
11 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The first half of this movie is better than the last, though Peverell Marley's photography is always a joy to look at, and Mark- Lee Kirk's sets (decorated by Thomas Little) are always wonderful to behold! And there's also a fine music score by Louis Silvers! The performances are never less than great, and the direction by Roy Del Ruth is always highly commendable. I would regard this entry as his best film. Of course, he did have a marvelous cast to work with! And it's true that the first half of the movie is more enjoyable than the last, because that's when we're introduced to people like Basil Rathbone's delightfully tyrannical butler; to Patsy Kelly's running interference; and to Joe Lewis and his idea of the perfect first date - and a blind one at that! In the first half, director Del Ruth stages a really wonderful brawl, which he caps by a glorious scene in which the GOODY TWO-SHOES HEROINE IS ARRESTED IN A BROTHEL! (I say again: This movie is a product of the moral clamp-down? Who's kidding who here!)

From first to last, Peverell Marley's photography is always a joy to behold. Ditto Mark-Lee Kirk's sets (decorated by Thomas Little). And, joining the fine performances and the highly commendable direction, we must pay tribute to the screenplay concocted by Gene Markey and William Conselman from a story by Cleves Kinkead.
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