... and yet it still came out pretty entertaining. It is obvious that RKO is trying to imitate the Thin Man series over at MGM, and they did pony up the money to borrow William Powell from MGM as the sleuth/surgeon in this one - yes I said surgeon. The thing is, this one has almost exactly the same skeleton of a plot outline as RKO's "The Star of Midnight" from the year before where Powell is the sleuth and Ginger Rogers is the girl that from the beginning claims she is going to marry him. This film even borrows the music from "Star of Midnight".
This time it is Jean Arthur as the ex-wife who is awfully chummy with Powell's character, Dr. Bradford, considering they are divorced. What caused the break-up? Another man/woman? Money problems? Bored with each other? Nope. Just that the ex-wife involved the doctor in all of her murder mysteries to the point he was more her co-writer than doctor. Slim reasons for a divorce, thus the chumminess and the easy camaraderie.
Paula Bradford comes to town on a visit just after a jockey has dropped dead as he was about to win his race. Paula uses a visit from the horse's trainer, Mike North, who believes the jockey was murdered, to get Dr. Bradford involved in a murder case AGAIN. Now overall this film is great fun. One of the problems is that the great Jean Arthur is really miscast as the ex-wife. All the best qualities of Miss Arthur, earthiness and toughness, aren't allowed to do more than peak through with this stilted rather goofy character.
Also, the story gets quite confusing to the point that it does hold your interest if you can keep pace with it. Also, casting James Gleason, usually the smartest guy in the room, as a cop that can't see that Dr. Bradford has been obviously set up for a second murder for which he had no motive and no weapon just seems outrageous. Even as Dr. Bradford worries about being arrested for this murder, it is impossible to join him in his fears because the set up is just so apparent. Oh, and how do you further confuse an otherwise confusing story? Cast five actors with pencil-thin mustaches that all look the same!
And yet it's worth a look, because of the stars, because of the pace, and because of the rather outrageous ending. I'd recommend it.
This time it is Jean Arthur as the ex-wife who is awfully chummy with Powell's character, Dr. Bradford, considering they are divorced. What caused the break-up? Another man/woman? Money problems? Bored with each other? Nope. Just that the ex-wife involved the doctor in all of her murder mysteries to the point he was more her co-writer than doctor. Slim reasons for a divorce, thus the chumminess and the easy camaraderie.
Paula Bradford comes to town on a visit just after a jockey has dropped dead as he was about to win his race. Paula uses a visit from the horse's trainer, Mike North, who believes the jockey was murdered, to get Dr. Bradford involved in a murder case AGAIN. Now overall this film is great fun. One of the problems is that the great Jean Arthur is really miscast as the ex-wife. All the best qualities of Miss Arthur, earthiness and toughness, aren't allowed to do more than peak through with this stilted rather goofy character.
Also, the story gets quite confusing to the point that it does hold your interest if you can keep pace with it. Also, casting James Gleason, usually the smartest guy in the room, as a cop that can't see that Dr. Bradford has been obviously set up for a second murder for which he had no motive and no weapon just seems outrageous. Even as Dr. Bradford worries about being arrested for this murder, it is impossible to join him in his fears because the set up is just so apparent. Oh, and how do you further confuse an otherwise confusing story? Cast five actors with pencil-thin mustaches that all look the same!
And yet it's worth a look, because of the stars, because of the pace, and because of the rather outrageous ending. I'd recommend it.