Libeled Lady **** (1936, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell) – Classic Movie Review 3682

Director Jack Conway’s infallibly entertaining 1936 vintage MGM comedy boasts four of the biggest star names of the Thirties and a witty, sparkling script about an heiress Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) suing a paper for $5million for libel after it publishes an incorrect item claiming that she was canoodling with a married English lord and is a marriage-breaker.

Spencer Tracy plays Warren Haggerty, the chief editor of the New York Evening Star, who retaliates by trying to use his much put-upon fiancée Gladys (Jean Harlow) and don Juan-type freelance attorney Bill Chandler (William Powell) to make the libel true: ie Powell’s Bill would wed Harlow’s Gladys and he would try to compromise Loy’s Connie, then Harlow’s Gladys could counter-sue Loy’s Connie.

As more and more delightful complications propel a delightful movie helter-skelter all the way to the finishing line, loud peals of laughter and rings of box office cash registers ensued at cinemas across the world.

It was remade as Easy to Wed in 1946, with Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3682

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