Libeled Lady (1936)

Classic Screwball. - Libeled Lady review by Steve

This is the best MGM comedy of the thirties. It's a newspaper film. Spencer Tracy is the editor of a tabloid that accuses rich girl Myrna Loy of infidelity. She and her father Walter Connelly are going to sue. Because it's not true. Tracy calls in his libel specialist William Powell to marry Tracy's girlfriend Jean Harlow, and then be gotcha'd with Myrna...  

So it's a farce! And that's a brilliant screwball set up. Of course, Harlow falls for Powell and Powell falls for Loy. There's a superb script full of fast talking wisecracks set around the newspaper offices.  Probably this was influenced by The Front Page, but I think Libelled Lady is the better film..  

There's a fabulous cast but it's Powell's film. He shares a chemistry with all the other stars. No surprises that he is so good with Myrna, given they starred in 13 films together. The angling scene where he tries to blag trout fishing with Loy and Connelly  is a standout.  

 It's about the privileges of the super-rich, their cocktails hours and cruises and expensive hobbies and publicity headaches. It isn't too bothered about the depression. The only working class character is played by Jean Harlow, who is treated shamefully. It's a classic, funny social comedy, but it doesn't have the depth of Frank Capra's contemporary work.