classicsoncall I've never seen this before, the picture was nominated for exactly one award, and that was for a Best Picture Oscar in 1937. Though it didn't win, MGM, along with William Powell and Myrna Loy couldn't have felt too bad. They all had a hand in that year's winner, "The Great Ziegfeld".The premise here was just ripe for a screwball comedy and the principals delivered. Powell, Loy and Jean Harlow were all established comedy players at the time, but this was new territory for Spencer Tracy who had only appeared in dramas prior. With his performance here, his range was established as an all around actor and set him up for all those great Katherine Hepburn team-ups in years to come.The picture moves along at a pretty fast pace and you have to be as quick as the players to keep up with the dialog. You also have to accept the premise of Powell's character Bill Chandler marrying someone else's fiancée in order to stop a libel suit against the New York Evening Star. It's the kind of situation that lends itself to constant back and forth maneuvering between the players who jockey for position in order to come out on top.I would never have figured Bill Powell for such a physical actor, but when he hit the trout stream I couldn't believe all the pratfalls he took in service to the story. Coming up with the most elusive trout in Glen Arden was the icing on the cake. I fully expected old Wall Eye to slip away from that net but son of a gun, he wound up on a dinner plate after all.So anyway, Nick and Nora fans ought to be happy with the finale here, as Chandler and Connie Allenbury (Loy) wound up tying the knot at the end of the story. In real life, Powell was courting Jean Harlow at the time and was set to marry her following this picture until her untimely death shortly later. It put Powell into a deep funk for a long time before returning to the screen to begin the sequels to the Thin Man series.

edwagreen Surprised to see Spencer Tracy in a relatively supporting role in this 1936 screwball comedy.His mistake as a newsman leads to an erroneous report regarding heiress Myrna Loy. When she vows retaliation by suing the newspaper, he comes up with an idea to turn the tables on her by having his former rival at the paper, William Powell marry his fiancé, a brilliant Jean Harlow, and then cause Powell to come on to the Loy character thereby creating a scandal.The dialog is wonderful as Powell really falls for both women in the process,but when he comes on for Loy, Harlow has some pretty nasty ideas up her sleeve along with revelations of her own.This 1936 film was nominated for best picture.

atlasmb In the best movies of the thirties, the stars are glib (in the best way) and glamorous. Libeled Lady is blessed with a clever script that serves up fastballs that the cast handles adroitly. And I have to credit the amazing wardrobe by Dolly Tree, made all the more remarkable as she was responsible for the wardrobes of 23 films in 1936. Loy's wardrobe, in particular, is impeccable.This was the 5th in the series of William Powell/Myrna Loy pairings. They were cranking them out at a rate of about 2 per year during this period, so you might think that the chemistry between them would be stale or formulaic. But in Libeled Lady, the chemistry is fresh and the relationship between their characters is not just another Thin Man performance.Then there are Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. Tracy is adept at the machine-gun delivery required by this (screwball) comedy, and Harlow just shines, showing more depth of character and emotion than she is sometimes given credit for. After Libeled Lady, she only acted in two films, so the screen never saw what greater depths of performance she might have achieved. (She died of uremic poisoning during the filming of Saratoga Trunk)The plot involves a newspaperman (Powell), good at the con, who ingratiates himself to a wealthy young woman (Loy) and her father in order to set her up for a blackmail situation. She suspects his motives, but he manages to pull her in. Plenty of plot curves ensue, adding humor and more character development.I particularly liked the fishing scene. Without much dialogue it advances the plot, provides some laughs and shows that Dolly Tree can even make Myrna Loy look sexy in fishing gear.

Alex da Silva Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is suing a newspaper for $5 million. The editor Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) realizes that he has to hire back Bill Chandler (William Powell), a man he previously sacked, as Bill is the "best in the business". Bill comes up with the scheme to catch Connie in a compromising situation with himself and use this as a bribe to stop her from filing her lawsuit. First, he must marry Gladys (Jean Harlow) for maximum impact on scandal factor. However, Gladys is engaged to Haggerty and can't stand Bill! This makes for a humorous beginning. The rest of the film follows Bill's attempts to entrap Connie. Gladys and some photographers are to storm in and catch Bill and Connie together, and thus save the newspaper. Things don't go as planned...The film has an excellent cast. I think William Powell steals the acting honours but that is just opinion. Jean Harlow has some fantastic outfits - check out those fluffy sleeves! - and the sets are great. The film is funny with an enjoyable cast that breeze through this easy-going film.Sometimes the dialogue can be delivered in that slightly too rapid fashion but it is never irritating. The ending is all rather convenient but so what. I also think it would have been funnier and created more tension between Bill and Heggarty if Bill had suggested that he marry Gladys instead of Heggarty. Poor Gladys has continually had her wedding day scuppered by Heggarty's dedication to his newspaper. Bill could have really added insult to injury by suggesting the idea of himself marrying Gladys. I never quite knew how the film would end with both Gladys and Connie falling for Bill and I found this added an extra dimension of interest to the story. As the story progresses, we see Gladys and Bill getting more and more friendly.The film transports you into another time - black and white film world - and it's great being there.