Hat, Coat, and Glove (1934)

Director:

Worthington Miner

Writers:

Wilhelm Speyer (play)
Francis Edward Faragoh (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 August 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Telephone | Romantic Rivalry | Artist | Coat | Taxi

Cast

Ricardo Cortez	...	Robert Mitchell
Barbara Robbins	...	Dorothea Mitchell
John Beal	...	Jerry Hutchins
Dorothy Burgess	...	Ann Brewster
Paul Harvey	...	The Prosecuting Attorney
Sara Haden	...	Mitchell's Secretary
Margaret Hamilton	...	Madame Du Barry
David Durand	...	Thomas Sullivan
Murray Kinnell	...	The Judge
Frederick Sullivan	...	The Court Clerk
Gayle Evers	...	Gretchen - Saleslady

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #54) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

This was originally intended to be a John Barrymore vehicle. However Barrymore's alcoholism was catching up with him and his memory repeatedly failed. After three days of production with virtually nothing shot, the producers were forced to replace him with Ricardo Cortez.

Movie Connections:

Remade as A Night of Adventure (1944)

A feeble and contrived courtroom drama.

This film is extremely weak in all categories, particularly acting and screenplay. As a courtroom drama, it is downright pitiful. An attorney is involved in a murder; it was an accidental shooting but the attorney could well have been a suspect. He agrees to represent the defendant in the case without disclosing his own involvement. Moreover, the defendant has to agree to forego his alibi because he was with the lawyer's wife (from whom the lawyer was then separated) at the time of the killing. The trial itself is absurd with such nonsense as the prosecutor calling the defendant as a witness and expert witnesses popping up in the courtroom and volunteering to testify. Although there is a glove scene which is amusingly like the O.J. Simpson case (in this case, the glove fits both the defendant and the defendant's lawyer), there is nothing else amusing or worthwhile about this film. Originally a B movie, it rates a D minus.