GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

jacobs-greenwood An essential comedy mystery drama from director W.S. Van Dyke, this film features a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett.Warner Baxter is a wealthy man about town who is also a successful lawyer. One that has just helped secure an innocent verdict for a known criminal, played by Nat Pendleton. Pendleton is so thankful, he offers Baxter a bonus and a place in his organization. Baxter declines because, although he knew Pendleton to be innocent of that particular crime, he doesn't want to be associated with him. Pendleton assigns two of his thugs to protect Baxter anyway, knowing rival crime bosses will be none too happy with Baxter for his help in getting Pendleton "off".Baxter's well to do firm, as well as his girlfriend Sue (Martha Sleeper), is unhappy with his association with Pendleton; both dump him. Sue favors Tom Siddall (Philip Holmes) who had been keeping her company while Baxter was working the trial. As an associate and friend of Baxter's, Siddall is reluctant to pursue Sue until Baxter says it's O.K. (which he does). He then must break his relationship to Mimi Montagne (Mae Clarke), a spoiled socialite who doesn't want to let him go. Mimi runs back to her boyfriend before Siddall, Jim Crelliman (Henry Gordon), a gang leader in his own right. Crelliman enacts revenge by inviting Siddall to his place to have Mimi tell him off permanently. He suggests she does it on the balcony. Seconds later, a shot is heard and, rushing to the balcony, the party sees Mimi dead with Siddall holding the gun.Sue rushes to Baxter to enlist his help in clearing Siddall, which he agrees to do (especially after he receives a phone call threatening him to stay away from defending Siddall). When Baxter asks Pendleton for help in getting his rival Crelliman, he introduces him to Gertie Waxted, played by Myrna Loy. Gertie was good friends with Mimi and lived in her same apartment building, which is owned by Crelliman as well as being the site of Mimi's murder. Baxter soon realizes that Loy knows things which can help convict Crelliman and decides to protect her, letting her stay in his apartment. His manservant Layton, humorously played by Charles Butterworth, is told to keep Loy there.From there, the plot continues with somewhat predictable results. However, there are some pre-code situations and innuendo throughout which are marvelous ... and Pendleton nearly steals the picture.This film was later remade as Society Lawyer (1939).

kidboots ..... maybe it's her breezy insouciance, her light hearted way with a line or her captivating beauty. Whatever it is, she is the reason to remember this movie. After years of apprenticeship, including a stint as Anna May Wong's greatest rival she was finally coming into her own as a unique player full of charm and individuality. But by 1933 Mae Clarke must have finally realised that stardom was never going to be hers although she continued to give strong note worthy performances - just a little lower down the cast lists.When dazzling lawyer Jackson Durant (Warner Baxter) refuses payment for getting off notorious gangster Tony Gazzoti (Nat Pendleton) saying he did it just for fun, his staid law partners are not amused. Gangsters, chorus girls and boot leggers excite him more than drawing up wills for little old ladies wanting to leave their fortunes to their pets but his partners don't share his views and so he is let go. He is also given the cold shoulder by most of his society friends - all except Tom Siddal (Phillips Holmes), and his fiancée calls off their engagement. This suits Tom as he has been in love with Sue (pretty Martha Sleeper) for years but has to break off with his mistress, Mimi (Mae Clarke who was actually dating Phillips Holmes at the time) first and things don't go smoothly.Next thing, Jackson is visited by Sue who begs him to take up Tom's defence. He has been charged with the murder of Mimi who has been shot on the roof of the penthouse. You can't mistake this movie for any other than a pre-coder - the chemistry between Warner Baxter and the alluring Myrna Loy (well she really tries to make the chemistry happen, even though she spends most of the movie in this awful evening dress with a huge floppy bow in the front!!). She plays Gertie, Mimi's best friend and maybe the key to solving the murder. To pick her brain, Jackson has Gertie stay at his apartment, they even have matching pyjamas but she can't hide her disappointment when he directs her to the spare bedroom!! He says "I'm afraid you'll think I'm taking advantage of you" She says "I'm afraid you won't"!! He also says "I've been very stupid" to which she replies "Of course, you're a man"!!!All roads lead to Levitoff, a shifty pawn broker who seems to have his finger in all types of criminal activities as well as owning the building where Jackson is convinced the gun was fired from.Phillip Holmes was an actor who had had some build up in the very early 1930s but by now was playing very supporting roles of callow youths eg "Beauty for Sale". His role in "Penthouse" was more of the same with just more depth, even though he disappeared from the film quite early.

dougdoepke Maybe I was expecting too much, given the superior ratings from Maltin and TCM. It's a good film but hardly memorable. The plot itself amounts to a routine crime plot—not really a mystery. However, the movie's strengths are not found in the storyline. Rather they're found in the characters and in a provocative subtext. Baxter's excellent as the shyster lawyer who pretends to principles even as he maintains underworld ties (Pendleton). Holmes, Clarke, and Sleeper are also excellent as attractive youngsters; at the same time, it's too bad they drop out of the story as soon as they do. Nonetheless, reviewer Neil Doyle is right, although it's probably an unpopular opinion— Myrna Loy is indeed miscast as a call girl. She's got all the properly suggestive lines, but her natural bearing and classy demeanor are simply unsuited to a wanton role. My guess is that the producers wanted a classy dame since Baxter must end up marrying her. Still and all, those traits that make her such a perfect Nora Charles, also make her an implausible call girl. All things considered, Clarke would have been more suitable as the call girl, but marrying her brassier character would have also been less believable. So I guess the producers were in something of a bind.There is of course a lot of naughty innuendo as can be expected from this pre-Code era. But what surprises me in the subtext is the forced confession from pint-sized Murtoch (Stone). It's not just Durant (Baxter) who's threatening to shoot a man and frame the little gunsel. It's the cops too, including police Lieutenant Stevens (O'Connor), and no one appears surprised that the cops would collude in such a heinous criminal act. It's as if in this film, they do it every day. No wonder the impending Production Code put such rigid strictures on how cops could be portrayed, given the social unrest of the time. On the other hand, 1933 is also the headline era of Capone and a wide-open city of Chicago, so maybe the script is not far off the mark, after all.Anyway, I guess from other postings that Pendleton's rather comedic Tony Gazotti is a matter of taste. I would have preferred a harder case gangster that would have made Baxter's Durant an even more ambiguous character than he is. Nonetheless, the number of nice touches (the elevator man; the brassy girl leaving the bar), along with Van Dyke's smooth direction, help make this an interesting and entertaining 90 minutes. But 3.5 stars out of 4 (TCM), it's not.

st-shot Myrna Loy had had appeared in over 70 films when she she was featured in Penthouse for WS "Hurry Up" Van Dyke who would go on to direct her in the highly successful Thin Man series. Its easy to see why. She's not to far from Nora Charles in this murder mystery that has her romanced by sleuth lawyer Warner Baxter who mirrors Nick Charles and his gravitation to nostagie de la boule in this warm up to her pairing with William Powell. Also on board are a garden variety of Runyonesque mugs, thugs and flatfoots that would also permeate the series.On its own its a typical Van Dyke quickly paced tongue in cheek crime film that on many levels holds its own with the series since it cannot help but beg comparison. In doing so this lightly entertaining piece lacks the presence and chemistry of the dynamite pairing of Loy and Powell. Baxter is adequate but lacks Powell's energy, vitality and comedic abilities and while this may be an unfair way to judge it there is no ignoring in hindsight the vastly improved similar work that unintentionally obstructs my view of this Penthouse.