Evelyn Prentice (1934)

The neglected wife of a high profile attorney dallies with a unscrupulous womanizer and finds herself involved in blackmail and murder.

Director:

William K. Howard

Writers:

Lenore J. Coffee (screen play), W.E. Woodward (from the book by)

Stars:

William Powell, Myrna Loy, Una Merkel

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Powell	...	John Prentice
Myrna Loy	...	Evelyn Prentice
Una Merkel	...	Amy Drexel
Rosalind Russell	...	Mrs. Nancy Harrison
Isabel Jewell	...	Judith Wilson
Harvey Stephens	...	Lawrence Kennard
Edward Brophy	...	Eddie Delaney
Henry Wadsworth	...	Chester Wylie
Cora Sue Collins	...	Dorothy Prentice
Frank Conroy	...	Dist. Atty. Farley
Jessie Ralph	...	Mrs. Blake

Storyline

Evelyn Prentice is the respected wife of a high-profile New York attorney. Despite the prestige and status she enjoys, she feels neglected and out of boredom becomes involved with an unscrupulous womanizing poet, who gives her the attention she craves. She eventually finds herself a victim of blackmail and becomes involved in his murder. When another woman is accused of the crime, she begs her husband to defend her.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | blackmail | poet | neglected wife | womanizer | 

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Taglines:

Remember "The Thin Man"? Well, here they are together again.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

9 November 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Testemunha Imprevista

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$498,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was initially telecast in Los Angeles Thursday 31 October 1957 on KTTV (Channel 11), followed by Philadelphia Wednesday 19 February 1959 on WFIL (Channel 6) and by San Francisco 15 October 1958 on KGO (Channel 7).

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Goofs

When John is discussing the clues of the case in their living room, Evelyn puts her fists up to her cheeks. In the next angle, they are by her sides.

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Quotes

John Prentice: Will you tell me why it is that people always look like convicts on those passport photos?

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Connections

Version of Stronger Than Desire (1939)

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Soundtracks

Turkey in the Straw
(uncredited)
Traditional folk song
Played at the barn dance

User Reviews

Hot Coffee

Lenore Coffee was a prolific screenwriter whose specialty was the "women's picture," and she writes a honey of one here. William Powell is a too-busy lawyer who's dallying with client Rosalind Russell and who neglects his family (and boy, can I identify with that), to the point where good wife Loy is momentarily distracted by a lounge-lizard poet with a busy black book. Disastrous complications ensue. William Howard's direction is workmanlike at best, but Coffee keeps the fireworks popping. She balances things expertly between smart, sassy dialog and courtroom melodramatics, and she can write persuasively for tart-tongued best friends (a soignee Una Merkel), wide-eyed daughters (a relatively unannoying Cora Sue Collins), wronged women (a heavy-lidded Isabel Jewell), and a supporting cast of New York sophisticates. The windup is a little fast and the idyllic fadeout not entirely convincing, but in these days of overheated trials and yellow Murdoch journalism, it's not entirely implausible, either. A very fast and smart comedy-drama, and I didn't mind the absence of the Nick and Nora personas, or Asta, one bit.