Libeled Lady (1936)

Classic Screwball. - Libeled Lady review by Steve

This is the best MGM comedy of the thirties. 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. Naturally there are complications. Harlow falls for Powell and Powell falls for Loy. There's a superb script full of fast talking wisecracks set around the newspaper offices.  It was surely influenced by The Front Page, but I prefer this one...  

That's a hell of a cast, but it's Powell who excels. 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. This is a genuinely funny film. The angling scene where he tries to blag trout fishing with her and Connelly is a standout.

There is insight into the privileges of the super-rich; their cocktails hours and cruises and expensive hobbies and publicity headaches. It isn't too interested in the depression. The only working class character (Harlow) is treated shamefully. It's a classic social comedy, but it without the depth of Frank Capra's contemporary work.