Casting Rosalind Russell to imitate Myrna Loy was a bad mistake. The tipped back head, the winning smile -- Russell was like a performing dog, but she was not Myrna Loy. The fact that her character was an annoying narcissist didn't help much either. What a stinker.
Casting William Powell as a guy named Bill gave me a few chuckles, but not enough to make me like this film. A long list of great character actors added spice, the young Cesar Romero was very cool, and no movie with Lionel Atwill in it can ever be a bomb. But this film was shoddily made, with repeated weird overdubbing when Romero's character name was mentioned. Also the women's costumes were sub-par -- neither accurate to the 1917 era intended to be portrayed, nor sharp for the 1935 date of filming. Ditto for the hairstyles -- they were accurate to neither period.
Finally, the script suffered from the "ho-hum another dead body" syndrome that plagued so many 1930s murder-comedies. It just didn't work for me at all.
I am currently making a point of watching every William Powell film, but i rated this one at 5, while all the others i have watched on this foray have been 7, 8, 9, or 10 -- which will give you an idea of how much i did not like this one.
Casting William Powell as a guy named Bill gave me a few chuckles, but not enough to make me like this film. A long list of great character actors added spice, the young Cesar Romero was very cool, and no movie with Lionel Atwill in it can ever be a bomb. But this film was shoddily made, with repeated weird overdubbing when Romero's character name was mentioned. Also the women's costumes were sub-par -- neither accurate to the 1917 era intended to be portrayed, nor sharp for the 1935 date of filming. Ditto for the hairstyles -- they were accurate to neither period.
Finally, the script suffered from the "ho-hum another dead body" syndrome that plagued so many 1930s murder-comedies. It just didn't work for me at all.
I am currently making a point of watching every William Powell film, but i rated this one at 5, while all the others i have watched on this foray have been 7, 8, 9, or 10 -- which will give you an idea of how much i did not like this one.