Libeled Lady

Libeled Lady
by Jack Conway

Libeled Lady
Our Price: $28.60
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $12.72 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Walter Connolly, William Powell
Director: 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
More Libeled Lady reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6

Description of Libeled Lady

LIBELED LADY - DVD Movie
Newspaper 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
Bestsellers in DVD
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] ImageThe Story of Jeremiah [VHS]
Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS] ImageWresting With God [VHS]
by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $19.99
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS] ImageStudy Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]
Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $44.00
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS] ImageTempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/Party Video [VHS] ImageTempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Strike the Original Match [VHS] ImageStrike the Original Match [VHS]
New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.95
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] ImageMedjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]
JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008 ImageMayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008
by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User ImagePediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User
by Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Cost Accounting [VHS] ImageCost Accounting [VHS]
by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Holiday ImageHoliday
Sony; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $6.83
Price in other shops: $14.99
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford ImageThe Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Warner; Release date: 2010-11-10; DVD
Best price: $16.22
Price in other shops: $26.99
Mystery Classics ImageMystery Classics
Echo; Release date: 2005-01-03; DVD
Best price: $0.81
Price in other shops: $3.99
Wife vs. Secretary ImageWife vs. Secretary
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-06-20; DVD
Best price: $5.31
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Great Ziegfeld ImageThe Great Ziegfeld
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora) ImageThe Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-08-02; DVD
Best price: $38.73
Price in other shops: $59.92
The Kennel Murder Case ImageThe Kennel Murder Case
Bayside ENT Dist; Release date: 2002-07-30; DVD
Best price: $3.34
Price in other shops: $7.98
Powell & Lombard: Comedy Collection ImagePowell & Lombard: Comedy Collection
Release date: 2008-01-08; DVD
Best price: $3.28
Price in other shops: $6.98
My Man Godfrey (Color/Black and White) ImageMy Man Godfrey (Color/ Black and White)
LEG; Release date: 2008-07-01; DVD
Best price: $3.77
Price in other shops: $9.95
Myrna Loy and William Powell Collection (Manhattan Melodrama / Evelyn Prentice / Double Wedding / I Love You Again / Love Crazy) ImageMyrna Loy and William Powell Collection (Manhattan Melodrama / Evelyn Prentice / Double Wedding / I Love You Again / Love Crazy)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-08-07; DVD
Best price: $35.99
Price in other shops: $49.92
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners