Charming MYRNA LOY plays a call girl who helps WARNER BAXTER get to the bottom of a mystery involving slain "night-club hostess" MAE CLARKE and PHILLIP HOLMES, the man wrongly accused of murdering her.
The plot is a pleasant fabrication and obviously in pre-code, tongue-in-cheek manner, as for example when Myrna says to Baxter: "Well, I didn't exactly have to fight for my honor last night," the day after spending a night in his fancy suite. Baxter enlists her aid in solving the mystery since she's likely to come up with some facts about Clarke's background that will be helpful to him.
She's given the improbable character name of Gertie Waxted--hardly the sort of name one would give a "call girl" character--and frankly, Loy is much to sweetly sophisticated to play the part convincingly enough. She's obviously several steps above the kind of girl she's playing.
Baxter fares better as the criminal lawyer whose favorite client happens to be NAT PENDLETON, a man who knows more than he's willing to tell about the whole scheme behind Clarke's murder.
It's a silky smooth production--and typical of early '30s melodramas, there's not a trace of background music on the soundtrack--just over the opening and closing credits. Too bad, because this would have helped make the tale a bit more suspenseful.
For fans of MYRNA LOY, this should be required viewing. She's even more attractive here than she was in the Thin Man films. As for WARNER BAXTER, I never could see what Hollywood saw in him as leading man material. He seems to lack the charisma of a true star.
The plot is a pleasant fabrication and obviously in pre-code, tongue-in-cheek manner, as for example when Myrna says to Baxter: "Well, I didn't exactly have to fight for my honor last night," the day after spending a night in his fancy suite. Baxter enlists her aid in solving the mystery since she's likely to come up with some facts about Clarke's background that will be helpful to him.
She's given the improbable character name of Gertie Waxted--hardly the sort of name one would give a "call girl" character--and frankly, Loy is much to sweetly sophisticated to play the part convincingly enough. She's obviously several steps above the kind of girl she's playing.
Baxter fares better as the criminal lawyer whose favorite client happens to be NAT PENDLETON, a man who knows more than he's willing to tell about the whole scheme behind Clarke's murder.
It's a silky smooth production--and typical of early '30s melodramas, there's not a trace of background music on the soundtrack--just over the opening and closing credits. Too bad, because this would have helped make the tale a bit more suspenseful.
For fans of MYRNA LOY, this should be required viewing. She's even more attractive here than she was in the Thin Man films. As for WARNER BAXTER, I never could see what Hollywood saw in him as leading man material. He seems to lack the charisma of a true star.