Good 30s Films: Libeled Lady

1936 Comedy Romance
From MGM
Directed by Jack Conway

Starring
Jean Harlow
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Spencer Tracy
Walter Connolly
Charley Grapevine
Cora Witherspoon

If ever a decade needed comedy, it was the 1930s and this is among the best.  It didn't hurt that it starred four of MGM's biggest and most talented stars, two of whom were about to be married in real life and all four of whom were friends.  I have always thought their caring about one another shines brightly on the screen.

It is a multi-layered, screwball story that opens with a rampaging Harlow, in her wedding dress, marching through the office of  a New York newspaper.  Like a marauding animal, she is ready to do battle with her fiance, Tracy, one of the editors, who is standing her up once again for some urgency at the newspaper.

The issue surrounds a spoiled, sue-crazy heiress (Loy, the lady of the title) who is demanding the newspaper hand over five mil for a false story they reported about her breaking up a man's marriage.  Tracy didn't know it was false at first but when he finds out he's desperate to concoct some hair-brained plan to get her to drop her suit.  I was always amused that the script is wary of libel but not so much blackmail.  But c'mon, don't get serious... this is comedy.

Tracy once fired his ace reporter, Powell, and now wants him back because he was so good at handling, if not unraveling, libel cases.  It grates at Tracy for having to do so because he and Powell are not so fond of one another.  Powell is adept at sniffing out libel cases and good at compromising those involved and he starts wangling a salary that is far over what Tracy wants to pay, but pay he does.

Someone decides that if the story on Loy is false, then an identical one needs to be a hatched.  Powell will insinuate himself into Loy's life (and it is such a hoot with this witty script and these actors) to such an extent that he wants them photographed together and become known.    

What has also transpired is that to make it all effective and exact, Powell needs a wife.  Gee, Harlow's not busy and she has the threads at her ready.  They plan to not consummate it and have the marriage annulled as soon as the result is accomplished.  Tracy is all for it-- like all good newspapermen, he'd sell his oldest child for a great headline) but unfortunately, the two participants are not very fond of one another.  It becomes particularly distasteful because they have to appear so lovey-dovey in front of people... everyone must know they're married to take down the spoiled heiress.  To make matters even more complicated, Loy and Powell fall for one another.

Before the conclusion, let it be known that although this is how it all gets laid out, it's not exactly how everything turns out and in that statement we can enjoy the great fun of this film.  It is just one mess after another, offering one laugh after another.  In a drama, the two men particularly would be creeps of the month but here, again, it's all played for laughs.   

Of the four stars in 1936, Tracy had the least clout.  He was more or less an up-and-comer at the studio.  Harlow and Powell were in love in real life and she wanted the role that Loy got because that character ends up with Powell's character in the end.  But MGM was looking for still another comedy-romance for their gold-standard pair, Powell and Loy, so Harlow got stuck with the jilted fiancée role although she was compensated with top billing.

Powell and Loy would make 14 films together (in and among them an entire series, The Thin Man) and Libeled Lady is one of three films they made in 1936 alone.  Only the two men had not worked with one another before nor would they again.  But all other combinations of these four produced a number of films.  Just the year before Loy and Tracy made Whipsaw and Harlow and Powell made Reckless.  And in the same year they made Libeled Lady, Harlow and Tracy made Riffraff and Harlow and Loy appeared in Wife v.s. Secretary.  Tracy and Harlow also appeared together in Goldie in 1931 and he and Loy would make the very fine Test Pilot in 1938.

Loy was usually so accommodating to Powell in their roles together but at the start of this one she is quite curt and uptight with him.  For fans of the pair, it's fun to see this aspect of their long screen association.  He was, of course, very smooth and polished but his comedy sometimes included great physical gags (falling, walking into doors, etc.) and his trout fishing scene here is simply inspired.

Some bios on Loy and Tracy have pointed out their affair during the making of this film.  See, with all the shenanigans going in the script, isn't it comforting to know that these couples really were sleeping with one another?

This is arguably Harlow's best film and it was quite a special one for her with her love, Powell, and two good pals.  She was less platinum and her character a bit more fleshed out than in some of her previous comedies.  She can be brash, she can be demure.  It was a lovely comedy performance and one brushed with poignancy.

We all know, of course, after you read my recent piece on her, that Harlow was not to marry William Powell because she would die the year after this film at the age of 26.  It is touching watching their wedding ceremony here.

Libeled Lady was very popular with the public and would be nominated for Oscar's best picture but lost to The Great Ziegfeld, which also starred Powell and Loy.  I would get a headache trying to figure out whether this has ever happened before or since... that the same two actors were in two Oscar-nominated movies in the same year, but I'm guessing not.

The story was popular enough that MGM remade it 10 years later, retitled Easy to Love, with Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn.  It wasn't as smashing as the original but it is better than you might think.

Treat yourself to a look at it.  They sorely needed the laughs in 1936 and we still do.

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