Review of Libeled Lady

Excellent film that is hard to categorize accurately. It has elements of screwball comedy, but is not as furiously paced and/or dependent upon ridiculous set-ups as most screwball comedies. It is sophisticated comedy, yet doesn't have the "drawing room" feel that many sophisticated comedies of the 1930s have. This is partly due to several well-staged "outdoor" scenes, and the fact that the characters played by William Powell, Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow are lower middle-class rather than upper crust or cocktail-shaking types. In addition to his usual excellent delivery of witty lines, William Powell gives an agile physical performance that is a delight. He plops himself, attired in a suit, cross-legged onto a table, he stands on a chair in the hotel living room and practices fly casting, and he ends up belly flopping in a trout stream in one of the funniest scenes I have ever watched on film. Myrna Loy is enjoyable as the libeled lady of the title, although I wish she had been given more to do. My only quibbles with this film are the performances of Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. Harlow has several good lines, but seems too rough and tough for the part she's playing. It's as if she's playing a gangster's moll, but this is not a gangster film. Tracy is heavy-footed and seems out of place in a comedy. Fortunately, Powell's performance is strong enough to carry the film, and he manages to lighten Harlow and Tracy's performances whenever they share a scene with him. Libeled Lady is enjoyable, funny and another success for William Powell.