A Disappointing Continuation

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Given the nature of the "marriage" of Harlow and Powell characters, a Reno divorce shouldn't have been necessary. A fast and simple annulment on the grounds that the marriage was never consummated or ever intended to be real. That would end the problem at the end of who was married to whom.

Surprised to see Spencer Tracy in a relatively supporting role in this 1936 screwball comedy.His mistake as a newsman leads to an erroneous report regarding heiress Myrna Loy. When she vows retaliation by suing the newspaper, he comes up with an idea to turn the tables on her by having his former rival at the paper, William Powell marry his fiancé, a brilliant Jean Harlow, and then cause Powell to come on to the Loy character thereby creating a scandal.The dialog is wonderful as Powell really falls for both women in the process,but when he comes on for Loy, Harlow has some pretty nasty ideas up her sleeve along with revelations of her own.This 1936 film was nominated for best picture.

In the best movies of the thirties, the stars are glib (in the best way) and glamorous. Libeled Lady is blessed with a clever script that serves up fastballs that the cast handles adroitly. And I have to credit the amazing wardrobe by Dolly Tree, made all the more remarkable as she was responsible for the wardrobes of 23 films in 1936. Loy's wardrobe, in particular, is impeccable.This was the 5th in the series of William Powell/Myrna Loy pairings. They were cranking them out at a rate of about 2 per year during this period, so you might think that the chemistry between them would be stale or formulaic. But in Libeled Lady, the chemistry is fresh and the relationship between their characters is not just another Thin Man performance.Then there are Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. Tracy is adept at the machine-gun delivery required by this (screwball) comedy, and Harlow just shines, showing more depth of character and emotion than she is sometimes given credit for. After Libeled Lady, she only acted in two films, so the screen never saw what greater depths of performance she might have achieved. (She died of uremic poisoning during the filming of Saratoga Trunk)The plot involves a newspaperman (Powell), good at the con, who ingratiates himself to a wealthy young woman (Loy) and her father in order to set her up for a blackmail situation. She suspects his motives, but he manages to pull her in. Plenty of plot curves ensue, adding humor and more character development.I particularly liked the fishing scene. Without much dialogue it advances the plot, provides some laughs and shows that Dolly Tree can even make Myrna Loy look sexy in fishing gear.

Some stars simply suit each other so perfectly that it is a shock to find out that their partnership is only on screen and confined to a delightful friendship off-screen. That's the case for William Powell and Myrna Loy, permanently tied together by 1936 after two "Thin Man" movies, "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Great Ziegfeld". Both sophisticated yet down-to-earth, they have that martini set look with an occasional beer thrown in. Here, they are tossed together by accident, he a reporter out for a scoop on one of the world's wealthiest socialites, leaving fiancée Jean Harlow at the alter which brings rival Spencer Tracy into the picture to pick up the pieces. This ensemble cast of likable yet beautiful people is a delightful example of what made screwball comedy so popular in the post-depression/pre-war years with lots of zanies in the background, including Walter Connelly as Loy's anxious father and Cora Witherspoon as an annoying social climber.As in all of his comedies, Powell gets into a most embarrassing predicament filled with pratfalls, and here, it is a fishing excursion that sends him rushing down a roaring river after a huge fish. Like Mame and the hunted fox, it all ends up an accidental victory, the egg on Powell's face quickly turning into a delighted grin. Loy is at her sophisticated best as a sensible woman in satin who brings her nose down to earth and can give as equally as much as she gets. Harlow is delightfully sassy with Tracy basically in support yet excellent in his second banana role, obviously aware that it is the quality of the script rather than the quantity of his scenes that count.