Libeled Lady
by Jack Conway
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DVD details
Actor: Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Walter Connolly, William PowellDirector: Jack Conway
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine
Editor: Fredrick Y. Smith
Producer: Lawrence Weingarten
Writer: George Oppenheimer
Writer: Howard Emmett Rogers
Writer: Maurine Dallas Watkins
Writer: Wallace Sullivan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Libeled Lady
DVD Review: Near Classic in Mediocre DVD Release
Summary: 4 Stars
Although it became home to the Marx Brothers and their unique brand of comic anarchy, and although the studio had an abundance of comic talent, glossy MGM seldom dabbled with full-throttle screwball comedy. On the very rare occasions it did, the studio usually turned three stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Jean Harlow, all three top box draws and all three remarkably gifted at playing complex comic dialogue.
In 1936 Jean Harlow was easily among MGM's most popular stars and she receives top billing in the 1936 LIBELED LADY--but in truth the film was very specifically designed as a vehicle for William Powell and Myrna Loy, whose powerful screen chemistry had proven box office gold in their every teaming. The cast was rounded out with Spencer Tracy and such popular character actors as Walter Connolly, Cora Witherspoon, Charley Grapewin, and E.E. Clive.
Like all screwball comedies, the plot of LIBELED LADY is ridiculously complicated. When heiress Connie Allenbury (Loy) is libeled by a New York newspaper, editor Haggerty (Tracy) hires ladykiller Bill Chandler (William Powell) to place Connie in a compromising position, allowing Bill's wife to file suit against Connie for alienation of affection and thus undermine Connnie's own suit against the newspaper. Since Bill is not married, Haggerty coaxes his own long-suffering girlfriend Gladys (Harlow) into legally marrying Bill and playing out the role. But there are no flies on Connie, and Bill is so impressed by her that he is soon in love and unwilling to go through with the scheme--and Gladys finds Bill more to her taste than Haggerty, and having married him is now loathe to let him go.
All four players are very close to the peak of their powers. Powell and Loy sparkle and shine as only they can; Harlow gives another memorable turn as a doll-faced, hard-mouthed and blowsy blonde; and while we tend to think of Tracy as a dramatic actor, he wasn't short on comedy chops. They make for a wonderful quartette. But while the characters are great and the plot is near-perfect, the script actually leaves something to be desired, never really veering over the edge into the inspired craziness one expects from the screwball genre. It's memorable, it's fun, but it doesn't equal the likes of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, THEODORA GOES WILD, BOMBSHELL, THE LADY EVE, or the other great classics of the genre.
The DVD release is sloppy. Bonuses include the theatrical trailer and a radio promotion, and these are mildly enjoyable, but the film itself is in surprisingly mediocre condition. It's certainly watchable, but far from pristine, and a film of this stature deserves better. Even so, and although the film itself misses the status of "absolute classic" by a hair, LIBELED LADY is lots and lots of fun. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Description of Libeled Lady
LIBELED LADY - DVD MovieNewspaper comedy doesn't seem like an MGM genre--ink-stained wretches don't go with Adrian gowns and white deco furniture--but Jack Conway, the designated bull in the Metro china shop (Boom Town, Too Hot to Handle) does what he can to bring some dash and flair to a wildly complicated script. Spencer Tracy is the tough city editor who goes to some spectacular extremes when socialite Myrna Loy files a $5 million libel suit against his paper for calling her a notorious home-wrecker; he hires celebrated ladies' man William Powell to seduce Loy and asks his long-suffering fiancée, Jean Harlow, to marry Powell temporarily so she can play the wronged wife when Loy and Powell are discovered together. The couples crisscross, with frenetic and not entirely unpredictable results, but much of the pleasure here lies in seeing these iconic stars being so thoroughly themselves. The dialogue strains for champagne wit, but the movie's most memorable moment is pure, rotgut slapstick--Powell's bout with an unruly fly-fishing rod. --Dave Kehr
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