This week, we looked at a very underrated PreCode film from 1931. Guilty Hands stars Lionel Barrymore as Richard Grant, a lawyer who discovers that his beloved daughter is engaged to Gordon
Rich (Alan Mowbray), a client with a horrible reputation as a womanizer
and abuser (Rich probably murdered his last fiance). Grant tells Rich
that if Rich continues with his plan to marry Barbara Grant (Madge
Evans), Grant will kill him AND will get away with it. He will make
sure it is the "perfect murder".
It's not giving
too much away to reveal that Grant DOES kill Rich. But from there, we
will leave you in some amount of suspense. Kay Francis is wonderful
here as Rich's mistress, Marjorie West (this is a pre-code,
after all), who loves him in spite of his engagement to Barbara (and
fully intends to keep on seeing him after his marriage). When Rich
dies, Marjorie begins investigating his death. With some interesting
results.
Lionel Barrymore is fantastic. He is
sympathetic, and at the same time, sinister. You want to root for him,
but he is, after all, a murderer. Yet he did it for a good reason.
leading the audience to feel ambivalent about the conclusion. It is
also a plot that keeps you guessing, right to the very end. Will
Richard be caught? SHOULD he be caught? It's also fun to see Ms.
Francis' Marjorie take command as an amateur detective. Agatha Christie
was just beginning to write Miss Marple in 1926 (but only as a short
story in a magazine. She would not appear in book form til 1932). One
would need to go back, we suspect, to Wilkie Collins (The Lady and the Law, as well as The Woman in White) for an earlier female detective, so Guilty Hands heroine is quite a novel idea.
If you can see this picture, do so. It is worth your time. We think you will be surprised and will LOVE the ending. We'll leave you with a scene from early in the film:
I Loved a Woman from 1933 features Edward G. Robinson as John
Hayden, a would-be artist, living on his father's money in Paris, until
his father's death. He returns to America (Chicago, to be specific),
and at the encouragement of the lovely Martha Lane (Genevieve Tobin), he
assumes the responsibilities of running the company. Once in business,
John is no more a romantic artist, but a hard-headed, in fact cruel and
dishonest, businessman. As his marriage to Martha disintegrates (she pretty much married him for his money and power), he becomes romantically involved with Laura McDonald (Kay Francis), and the two begin a long-term affair. Meanwhile, John continues his ruthless business ways . Edward G. Robinson is quite convincing here. Heis
interesting as the romantic lead, for a change, but he is also, as we
all know from his gangster work during this period, perfectly
comfortable playing a not-very-nice guy. As always, Kay Francis is
great. Her Laura loves John, but this is a Pre-Code movie, so her life
style is, shall we say, rather risque. And again, being that this is a
Pre-Code film, our characters get away with things that, in another
year, would result in their deaths or imprisonment.
Probably
this film is more interesting as a Kay Francis film than as a venue for
Robinson. Not that he is bad, but his character is just not really as
interesting as it could have been. He is so callous in so many ways,
that it is hard to sympathize with him. But there are scenes with
Francis that are fun and interesting, so it is certainly worth a look. And just to get you started, here is the trailer: