Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 79 "Here is a smart comedy to take its place beside 'Piccadilly Jim' and 'My Man Godfrey' as one of the three or four real laugh producers of 1936. . . William Powell never was better than as the reporter who has orders to get his heiress at any cost. And the heiress is superbly done by Myrna Loy. . . 'Libeled Lady' is fast, racy, right out of tomorrow morning's tabloid." (3% stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p59 N 21 '36 "The cinema season's most piquant and daring comedy also is the funniest. . . Four scenarists, snickering in their sleeves, have peppered it with crisp and maliciously witty high comedy dialog. . . It [is] ninety minutes of almost incessant clowning with effective but subtle feints at the censors. . . The four stars make a four-star film." + + Lit Digest p22 N 7 '36 "When you see it, as you surely will, you are likely to enjoy it — eight-tenths of it — far more than if anyone had led you to believe that, with all its stars, it was half as witty or as well made as 'My Man Godfrey.' 'Libeled Lady' has pace, which is the cardinal virtue of all such films; but at intervals that pace flags and is revived more often by slapstick than with wit. One slapstick sequence — the urban Mr. Powell floundering in a trout-stream — is brilliant, and Tracy's gruff cynicism is as pleasing as Powell's suavity. Eut somewhere there's grit in the wheels: they rattle, at varying speeds, like farce, missing the sweet even spin of comedy." -\ New Statesman & Nation p811 N 21 '36 "Deft and rippling comedy, played by an utterly engaging company at top form, is to be found in 'Libeled Lady.' . . [The cast is] so delightfully resourceful that they whip together even the segments of the script into a vastly entertaining production. . . Accept the foolish premises of the narrative and it is generally regaling. . . It offers four elegant characterizations, a glittering chain of funny situations and odd business that is hilariously diverting. . . 'Libeled Lady' is chiefly an actors' field day, but an extremely entertaining one." Howard Barnes + + N Y Herald Tribune pl4 O 31 '36 "A sardonic comedy, with slapstick smudges and a liberal bedaubing of farce, it takes several freedoms with the press, liberties with the statutes and jousts as justice — all in the merriest of moods. And offhand we can think of a dozen reasons why you should find it a thoroughly agreeable entertainment." F. S. Nugent + NY Times p24 O 31 '36 "With Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, William Powell, Spencer Tracy, and good honest Walter Connolly, 'Libeled Lady' is a picture to bolt out to see when election talk gets too rabid. This quintet of movie notables appear, each and everyone of them, to the best possible advantage. . . I think the picture's too long, like most pictures. . . Sentiment slows up things a bit here, as it usually does. On the other hand, Miss Harlow has some funny lines and lively moments. . . There's high comedy in a ship scene when the adventurous young man tries to make himself agreeable to the millionaires. Don't miss that. . . This is all pretty good fun." John Mosher + New Yorker p7S O 24 '36 "In 'Libeled Lady' — a farce that will rejuvenate all but the most hopeless hypochondriacs — Lawrence Weingarten, producer, and Jack Conway, director, have compounded a quartet of stars and a fine assisting cast topped by Walter Connolly. . . All four appear in the same picture, probably on the theory that if any two of them ensure a picture's success, the combined effect of all four should break a good many box-office records. It probablv will." + News-Wk p39 O 24 '36 "At a time when it seemed that there were no new angles left for stories of the Fourth Estate, along come three writers — two of 'em ex-newspaper people — with a screen play that's succulent as freshly churned butter. . . It succeeds well in making a merry evening." Herb Sterne + + Script plO O 10 '36 " 'Libeled Lady' is one of those Hollywood smoothies that neither launch nor sink the cinema boat. . . You aren't supposed to have any response but hilarity, any feeling but terrific admiration. Well, it didn't quite do that to us. The plot has many surprises, too many; and the acting isn't going to win an Academy Award. . . Every once in a while there is a good honest laugh, and twice there is excellent comedy. . . In between you'll think it's a party where everybody is adorable and everything is screamingly entertaining. It's a glitter that's seldom gold." H Stage pl6 N '36 "Adapting a story which is to be played by four top-ranking film personalities is a problem in tact as well as dramaturgy. The roles have to be 'balanced' to eliminate jealousies on the part of the players, disappointments for the members of the audience who become annoyed if a favorite is slighted. In 'Libeled Lady' the balancing is done with as much precision as if the roles had been weighed in an apothecary's scales. . . [It] is what is known as a 'natural,' i.e. a story sure to be a box office hit, worth any conceivable amount that might be spent producing it. It is directed at breakneck speed by Jack Conway, plentifully supplied with lighthearted lines." + Time p67 O 19 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "It would be libelous to call this anything but a grand picture and it will be criminal if showmen fail to take full advantages of its 24caret entertainment and its possibilities of being one of their best box office bets of the current season. Family." + Box Office p63 O 17 '36 " 'Libeled Lady' is the grandest comedy since 'The Thin Man.' . . The picture is certain boxoffice in any community, with the stars alone guaranteeing substantial returns. Sell the stars and the story, and you should be able to bring out that old sign, dear to the hearts of all exhibitors, 'S.R.O.' " + Canadian Moving Pict Digest pl2 N 21 *36 "Here is a laugh riot that should develop into a riot at the box office. With several marquee names to play with and good showmanship, exhibitors should pile up heavy grosses at the box office. Jack Conway's direction is of the best and he has not missed a bet in extracting the full measure of comedy from the various situations." + Film Daily p4 O 7 '36 "With four marquee draws of the first magnitude, all with parts that fit like one of Jean Harlow's gowns, in a hilarious comedy that is almost sinfully clever, here is a box office boost of top rank. They just don't come any better. Count on an hour and a half of almost continuous laughter over the romantic difficulties of Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy in a bubbling French-type farce, tailored in the smartest American mode, that sparkles and twists and turns and races with all the verve of a mountain troutstream. And count in enough witty dialogue to stock five ordinary comedies." + Hollywood Reporter p3 O 5 '36 + Motion Pict Daily p4 O 6 '36 "Fast, funny, packed with names, well made, 'Libeled Lady' is another of those top [money] shows that Metro delivers. With names, a swell script, plenty laughs, the picture won't have any trouble anywhere." + Phila Exhibitor p36 O 15 '36 "Even though 'Libeled Lady' goes overboard on plot and its pace snags badly in several spots, it has so many advantages that it can't help but ring the bell in a big way. Metro + + Exceptionally Good: + Good; -J Fair; [-Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor