Paul Lukas brought under-stated sincerity to all his roles so that by the time Paramount dropped him in 1932 thinking the era for suave continental gentlemen had passed by, Lukas found he could put his stamp on the more meatier roles that came his way as a freelancer. In this flashback story Lukas plays a womanizing best seller author, Victor Gresham, whose puzzling death in the first couple of minutes allows the detective, with the help of the many people who happened to have an appointment with Gresham that morning, to piece together the events leading up to his death.
It starts with a surprise party arranged by Carlotta (Lillian Bond), a past mistress who thinks that by bringing back past loves she can embarrass him into returning to her. The big plus of the movie is the bevy of pre-code beauties who get their little chance to shine. There is Lillian Bond looking completely beautiful as the calculating Carlotta. She was British and was always cast as a femme fatale. Joyce Compton was Foxy - was there ever a time when she wasn't cast as a ditzy Southern belle!! Leila Hyams looks delicious but her part jarred - she played Gladys Durland who couldn't really understand why she was being discarded, she played her as a "dumb dora" something you know Leila could never be. She is being thrown over for snappy Patricia Ellis as Jean Sinclair, an illustrator who is eager to curry favour with debonair author Gresham. Last but not least there is acidic Dorothy Burgess who is Nan, Victor's first love and the only one who has his best interests at heart. She wants him to return to the type of book he used to write before he became bogged down in pot boilers. Bringing up the rear is the inscrutable Murray Kinnell as his faithful butler Fletcher and Sara Haden as the red herring Miss Bennett who acts guilty from the start. The pre-code cuties lighten the film which should have been more interesting as a straight out drama. Certainly when Onslow Stevens storms in at the start as Gladys' jealous husband you think you are in for a nifty crime drama - and for the last ten minutes that's exactly what you get when the mask like Murray Kinnell takes centre stage!!
It starts with a surprise party arranged by Carlotta (Lillian Bond), a past mistress who thinks that by bringing back past loves she can embarrass him into returning to her. The big plus of the movie is the bevy of pre-code beauties who get their little chance to shine. There is Lillian Bond looking completely beautiful as the calculating Carlotta. She was British and was always cast as a femme fatale. Joyce Compton was Foxy - was there ever a time when she wasn't cast as a ditzy Southern belle!! Leila Hyams looks delicious but her part jarred - she played Gladys Durland who couldn't really understand why she was being discarded, she played her as a "dumb dora" something you know Leila could never be. She is being thrown over for snappy Patricia Ellis as Jean Sinclair, an illustrator who is eager to curry favour with debonair author Gresham. Last but not least there is acidic Dorothy Burgess who is Nan, Victor's first love and the only one who has his best interests at heart. She wants him to return to the type of book he used to write before he became bogged down in pot boilers. Bringing up the rear is the inscrutable Murray Kinnell as his faithful butler Fletcher and Sara Haden as the red herring Miss Bennett who acts guilty from the start. The pre-code cuties lighten the film which should have been more interesting as a straight out drama. Certainly when Onslow Stevens storms in at the start as Gladys' jealous husband you think you are in for a nifty crime drama - and for the last ten minutes that's exactly what you get when the mask like Murray Kinnell takes centre stage!!