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Evelyn Prentice

1934, Movie, NR, 78 mins

Evelyn Prentice: Review

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Combination mystery-soap-opera that pairs Loy and Powell for the third time, but the results are not nearly so powerful as the earlier THIN MAN outings. Powell and Loy are again married, but this time Powell is a rakehell attorney with a roving eye. On an out-of-town jaunt, he has an affair with Rosalind Russell (in her movie debut). When Loy learns of that, she seeks solace with "poet" Harvey Stephens who has been making a big play for her. Loy makes the error of sending Stephens some incriminating letters but soon understands that she's still in love with her husband and the Stephens relationship must be terminated. Powell returns home and Loy accepts him. They plan a second honeymoon abroad and will take their daughter, Collins. Stephens asks Loy to visit his flat on a phony matter, then tells her that unless she coughs up $15,000 he will show Powell the letters she wrote. There is a revolver nearby so Loy picks it up and threatens Stephens, trying to force him to hand over the letters. He does, but hits her with his free hand and the gun fires as she is sent reeling against the wall. Stephens is hit by a bullet and falls to the floor. Loy races out of his residence just as his mistress, Jewell, enters. Jewell is found with the body later and accused of being the killer. Filled with guilt, Loy convinces Powell that they should defer the trip to Europe and that he should take up Jewell's defense. In a highly charged courtroom scene, Loy can take it no longer. She stands and shouts that Jewell is innocent and that she, Loy, is the actual killer. Powell is stunned but believes his wife is innocent so he begins a cross-examination in his best sophisticated style and gets Jewell to admit that the shot that killed Stephens was, in fact, fired by her. After the trial, Loy and Powell take Collins and depart on their European trip. The picture was adapted from a 1933 novel that was much steamier and tougher. Due to censorship, Coffee's screenplay had to be softened to make it palatable for the bluenoses. As it was, ten minutes was snipped from the film and we'll never know what they were about as all parties concerned aren't talking. Beautifully mounted and photographed, it was an unusual enterprise in that Loy and Powell were hardly the perfect couple--he being a philanderer and she playing a role that caused her to jettison her usually logical mind in favor of raw emotion. Whatever laughs are in the movie are gleaned by Una Merkel as Loy's pal. Merkel's career began in silents with D.W. Griffith (WAY DOWN EAST, 1920) and continued for five decades. Her busiest years were the 1930s when she appeared in almost 40 films, including DESTRY RIDES AGAIN; RIFFRAFF; 42ND STREET; and the original MALTESE FALCON (1931). EVELYN PRENTICE would be remade poorly in 1939 as STRONGER THAN DESIRE with Walter Pidgeon and Virginia Bruce in the Powell-Loy roles. leave a comment
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