the audience applauded

Disappointment for a huge fan!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Get ready for some Kay Francis melodramatic fun! Kay is married to Henry Kolker, but a past suitor shows up to blackmail her with the fact they're still married. She goes to her much older sister-in-law for her advice. She says that, if Kay can get him out of the country, she can make it so that he can't get back into America. Their plan is that Kay asks for a vacation away from her husband for this purpose, but hubbie is jealous and suspicious. He hires an investigator to follow her and report her movements to him. Similar to Doris Day's "Romance on the High Seas," investigator George Brent then tails Kay and in the process falls for her and she him. Provocatively titled "The Keyhole," this film delivers melodrama with humor and Kay and George have always had great screen chemistry. They made many a film together because of it. Their scenes together are seductive and glamorous fun! Glenda Farrell and Allen Jenkins are part of the dependable supporting cast, and Henry Kolker has a great scene near the end of the film. "The Keyhole" is a great example Pre-Code storytelling! Turn the key and come in - and, lock the door!

OK... I've been more or less watching Kay Francis films and am I the only one who noticed George Brent always ends up being the boyfriend?? Well the basic plot of this thing is Kay's first husband is blackmailing her.Her current husband thinks she's cheating or something. And the P.I. falls in love with her. I'm an old movie fan but people fall in love as easy as I can scramble an egg This formula of the long suffering Kay wears on me thin. Yeah she's pretty but I'm being to understand why no one remembers her. Youknow at first I liked her movies. But after what feels like I'm watching the same movie it gets on my nerves. And I used to like George Brent, but the more I see him the duller he gets. I did like the side story with the "vallet" and the con artist but besides that it was OK. What I didn't get why didn't Kay just tell her husband the truth instead of this dumb plot .I guess if she did she wouldn't have a chance to fall for George Brent I gave it 6 for the clothes and that it moved fast.

I happened to see this and three other Kay Francis films recently when they were shown on TCM. And, surprisingly, all four films were about adultery and three of them had Kay playing a horrid skank! So, when I saw her appear on the screen, I just KNEW the film was about adultery and you knew the characters would be rich folks!!! Now there at least was a twist to the whole adultery aspect of the film that makes this film a little different. While she is suspected of being an adultress, she is in fact an innocent woman! This sort of type-casting with so many similar plots must have been what killed Ms. Francis' career--that and the more restrictive and less sleazy style of films that were mandated by the new Production Code in 1934.As mentioned above, Kay is THOUGHT to be having an affair, so her rich husband hires a suave private investigator (George Brent) to try to prove her unfaithfulness. Brent is a bit sleazy because he is apparently willing, if all else fails, to create an incriminating situation even if it is untrue--just so the husband will have something he can use against his wife in court. Brent, as always, is great in this film--very believable and suave. Unfortunately, he is inexplicably saddled with a pointless and distracting sidekick (Allan Jenkins). While I usually like Jenkins in films, he was just inappropriate here, as the film was a romance and his stupid act just detracted from the plot. In a lighter film (such as those of Cagney), he would have been fine.Aside from Jenkins, the rest of the film was excellent up until the end. It was just wonderful seeing Brent trying to win Francis' heart--the scenes were just magical. Unfortunately, the final resolution of this dilemma just came out of nowhere and made absolutely no sense. It's a shame, because with a better ending and no Jenkins, the film would have merited an 8.

Peeping through THE KEYHOLE we find an unhappy wife who sails to Cuba to shake off a blackmailing former lover, not knowing that her millionaire husband has sent a handsome detective to compromise her...This elaborately plotted little picture is a very fine example of the kind of film Warner Bros. produced so effortlessly in the 1930's. Frothy, a bit silly & fun, it boasts entertaining performances and good production values. Depression audiences sat through scores of movies just like this, generally well made, but with interchangeable plots & stars.Kay Francis & George Brent handle the romantic situations very nicely. Sophisticated & charming, they keep their stock characters from ever becoming dull. The humor is supplied by brassy blonde Glenda Farrell as a gold digging shill & dumb-as-dirt detective Allen Jenkins.Henry Kolker as the suspicious husband, Helen Ware as his elderly, sympathetic sister, and Monroe Owsley as the oily Lothario, all add to the fun in their supporting roles. Especially enjoyable is little Ferdinand Gottschalk, appearing in only one scene as a comically flirtatious old banker.Movie mavens will recognize sour-faced Clarence Wilson as the head of the detective agency.