MGM had 2 stalwarts under long time contract: Lionel Barrymore and Frank Morgan... okay, you might throw Lewis Stone in there too. But of all of them, Frank's the most lovable and not given to the hammy theatrics of Barrymore. Here he's a lonely wealthy do-gooder, whose wife's off on an extended vacation in South America. He get's hooked up with a night club floozie at the urging of her coniving partner (Dan Dailey, playing against type) and after an innocent flirtation (she actually begins to care for Frank), she's MURDERED and obviously all fingers seem to point to him, which threatens everything. His daughter (the extremely attractive Ann Rutherford who does a mean French accent when called for) helps save the day with the help of her publisher boyfriend. There's some interesting debate on helping the innocent victims of WWII (we weren't in it yet) and you can see where our sympathies were. This isn't a who done it... it's more of a "how does he get out of it." Is it just me or does Douglass Drumbrille always seem to play the part of Lionel Atwill?
Review of Washington Melodrama
