Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

John austin William Powell and Jean Arthur team in this murder mystery comedy about a divorced couple who get together to investigate a string of murders centering around the horse racing industry.It's definitely a Thin Man knockoff, but all the right elements are present. Powell plays an erudite physician as the straight man who gets implicated in a murder. Arthur is the comic as his ex wife who helps him track down the killer as he gets ready to strike again.Like a lot of depression era espacist movies, this film focuses on wealth and lavish lifestyles. Much of the film takes place in swanky high-rises with penthouse apartments. Powell has a butler and personal secretaries and makes his way through New York's elite horse racing set.It's a fun movie even if you don't buy the black widow spider as the murder weapon. It's also a production code era movie that deals gently with the subject of divorce. The Bradfords start out as a divorced couple in an obvious love/hate relationship, but they fall in love again during the course of the movie. The last scene is the two of them getting remarried. That's the way they made you play that subject in those days.

dougdoepke A jockey expires under mysterious circumstances, bringing in an urbane doctor and his ditsy ex-wife.Pretty good whodunit. But the real mystery is the reason for this copy cat version of the Thin Man, especially when it's running at the same time as After the Thin Man (1936). Oh well, just one more Hollywood mystery. I suppose the reason has something to do with a change of studios, from MGM to RKO.Whatever the solution, the screwball formula works well. Powell and Arthur are both in fine form, along with a fairly colorful cast of supporting players. Actually, the whodunit part is not really played up in a rather complicated screenplay. As expected, the real emphasis is on the two droll leads as they trade snappy dialog in sophisticated fashion. The results come through in highly engaging style. I guess my only remaining point is whether or not RKO has something against little Scottie dogs.

Neil Doyle Whatever gold is spun from this little mystery/comedy comes from the crackling performances of WILLIAM POWELL and JEAN ARTHUR (prettily photographed through gauze for her movie star close-ups). They do what they can to bolster a weak script that moves in lumbering fashion toward a climax that has all the suspects gathered together to await the revelation of the killer by debonair Powell. But by this time, none of the suspects have established any kind of identity, so the viewer can only yawn when the culprit is revealed to be one of the least visible supporting actors.As a mystery, it fails to have any real suspense nor does it have a satisfying enough conclusion. The method of killing is so far out that it has to be the most unlikely explanation a scriptwriter ever dreamed up. As a comedy, it falls somewhere between THE THIN MAN stuff and any other screwball comedy of the thirties that featured Powell and Arthur in tailor-made roles.However, fans of the couple will surely find their light touch with this sort of material refreshing, if not original. But somehow, it never quite jells in its attempt to be an amusing mystery caper. Nor is it original enough to dim the memory of the better scripted Powell/Loy outings.

bkoganbing RKO studios decided to borrow both William Powell from MGM and Jean Arthur from Columbia, for one of their more big budget efforts to cash in on the popularity of The Thin Man. They succeeded to some degree.A lot of folks forget that in addition to and earlier than Nick Charles, Bill Powell also played in a few Philo Vance films in the title role. So by this time he was pretty well set in the role. Doctor Bradford is not doing as many liquid lunches as Nick Charles, but the basic blasé Nick is still there. One difference is that while Nick Charles married an heiress, Doctor Bradford works for a living as a physician. That helps in his avocation of detective and in fact it does in this film.He's got two murders to solve. A jockey falls off a horse coming into the homestretch of a big race and dies for no apparent reason. The trainer suspects something afoot, but he's bumped off by the more conventional method of a bullet. This is after he comes to Bill Powell for help.Myrna Loy was a more steadying influence on Bill Powell than Jean Arthur was. Arthur plays it as more of a dizzy dame than Loy did. But it works here and she and Powell have good chemistry.The ever dependable James Gleason is the police inspector in the Sam Levene/Nat Pendleton role. All they needed here was Asta and possibly Eric Blore as Powell's butler was essaying that part.If Powell and Arthur were signed at this studio we might have seen a whole slew of Bradford films.