|
| |
|
|
Paramount, 1936. Directed by
Raoul Walsh. Camera: George Clemens. With
Cary Grant,
Joan Bennett,
Walter Pidgeon,
Lloyd Nolan, Alan Baxter, Marjorie Gateson, Isabel Jewell, Douglas Fowley,
Henry Kleinbach, Joseph Sawyer, Dolores Casey, Doris Canfield, Edwin
Maxwell, Helen Brown, Sam Flint, John Picorri, Charles Wilson, Charles
Martin, Francis McDonald, Eddie Conrad, Edmund Jones, Guy Usher, Bert
Hanlon, Frances Morris, Mary Bovard, Betty Van Auken, Dorothy Thompson, Kay
Gordon, Betty Gordon, Eleanor Huntley, Jeannette Warren, Roberta Thiess,
Gale Goodson, Helaine Moler, Beulah McDonald, Jinx Falkenberg, Ethel Sykes,
Phil Dunham. |
Manicurist Eve Fallon is in love with
police detective Danny Barr, but becomes jealous when she
misinterprets Dan's business relationship with Mrs. Cole, for whom
he is investigating the theft of her jewelry. Mrs. Cole
entrusts the recovery of her jewels to Richard Morey, a racketeer
posing as a private detective. Eve is fired when she yells at
Dan in the barber shop where she works, but when Morey, who has been
a client, later tries to seduce her, she rejects him. Dan
attempts to tell Eve the truth about Mrs. Cole, but Eve refuses to
believe him, and is hired as a newspaper reporter by her friend,
editor Jack Sully.
Morey meets with his cohorts, Russ
Cortig and Benny Battle, and orders them to meet with Carey and Don
Butler, the thieves who stole Mrs. Cole's jewels, and offer
them $40,000 for the goods. They meet in the park, but the
Butlers reject the offer, because they know the jewels were insured
for $200,000. When the Butlers punch Cortig and run, he fires
at them, accidentally killing a baby in its carriage. Cortig
and Battle then escape.
Dan is assigned to the murder case and,
upon finding a list of the stolen jewels near the scene of the
murder, connects the two crimes. Eve is reconciled with Dan
and interviews Bessie, a witness to the baby murder. She
recognizes Bessie's description of Battle, who flirted with Bessie
and often flirted with Eve at the barber shop. After Bessie
positively identifies Battle by a photo, Dan arrests him, but Bessie
is intimidated by Morey's thugs and refuses to identify Battle in a
police line-up. In order to scare Battle into confessing, Eve
reports that he has already confessed, and the news makes the
headlines.
As Battle is released from jail, Eve
fires shots from Dan's gun, which frighten Battle into returning to
jail and confessing all to Dan. Although Morey's involvement
is not revealed by Battle's confession, Cortig is arrested for the
murder. A court trial, however, finds Cortig innocent based on
his manufactured alibi. Eve quits the newspaper because she is
not allowed to print more damning information about Cortig, and Dan
quits the police force so he can get Cortig on his own terms.
Eve returns to work as a manicurist, and
gets postcards from Dan from up and down the East coast. When
Eve reveals to Morey, who is getting a manicure, that Dan is after
Cortig, Morey calls Carey Butler and tells him that he and Don can
have Cortig's share of the money for the jewels if they get rid of
him. After Morey leaves, Eve spills some powder and, noticing
Morey's scarred thumbprint, recalls that the police were looking for
a man with a scar on his thumb. She takes the print to police
fingerprint experts.
Dan then returns to New York and hides
on the window sill of Cortig's apartment when Cortig returns home
with the Butlers. They kill Cortig and take Dan hostage after
seeing his silhouette through the window shade. Carey calls
Morey, who is getting a manicure from Eve, and allows Eve to talk to
Dan briefly. Morey instructs Carey to meet Eve at the barber
shop, where they will exchange money for jewels. After Eve
leaves, Morey calls the police and advises them to arrest Carey and
Eve. Dan manages to escape from Don by throwing his voice and
knocking him out. Morey goes to the barber shop to watch the
action. Dan arrives shortly after and turns out the lights at
a crucial moment. Pandemonium ensues, and when the lights go
back on, Dan has handcuffed Morey and Carey together. After
the police arrest them, the police chief informs Dan that he had
never accepted his resignation. Eve then consents to Dan's
marriage proposal.
|
|
Additional photos courtesy of Gary and
Frances |
|
|
|
|
|
Click thumbnails for larger images |
|
|