The movie was rather slow for me until Powell actually shared screen time with Loy. I swear, I don't know what it is with those two but I lurves them. I want to re-animate their corpses and just keep them forever. I'd have little matching outfits and jeweled collars and ...I'm getting off-track.
Stop looking at me like that.
Anyway, the movie is about a newspaper editor named Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) who is being sued for libel by an American socialite (Myrna Loy) for running a story claiming that she tried to steal someone else's husband. The paper is in the wrong, I just want to make that clear at the outset. They tried to pull the story but were unsuccessful and are now being sued for $5 million. There is some long-standing feud between the owner of the paper and Mr. Allenbury (Walter Connolly), the father of the libeled lady, and if the paper loses the suit (which they will, cuz they're wrong) Allenbury will close them down. Haggerty decides to hire his old nemesis Bill Chandler (William Powell) to catch Connie Allenbury in a compromising position with a married man, thus forcing her to drop the suit. But Bill's not married. The solution? Have him marry Haggerty's long-suffering girlfriend (Jean Harlow). She already has a dress, since Haggerty left her at the altar just that morning. Of course, Bill ends up falling for the lovely Connie and can't bear the thought of her reputation being tarnished. Now he must tap-dance between his romance and keeping Haggerty and his "wife" out of the picture.
I will say that Harlow does have one decent twist at the end of the film that provides some indication that her character is more than just a cardboard cut-out, but good screen moments with her are due more to Powell's influence than any innate talent.
All in all, a decent film with some classic witty banter but unless you're a huge fan of one of the big four stars, probably not one for the Christmas list.
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