Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Boring

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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

Loretta Young was borrowed from 20th Century Fox to appear opposite Franchot Tone in this British based drama about a rising young and titled attorney played by Tone who is expecting an appointment from the Crown as a new attorney general. Of course that will happen upon conclusion of the case he is prosecuting now of Dudley Digges accused of murdering his wife.In the meantime Tone's wife gets an intrusive visit at a dinner party by Henry Daniell. It seems as though he's in possession of some letters that Tone wrote to his wife indicating a nasty affair. But in the tradition of the old badger game Daniell at his sneering best is willing to take a payoff.What happens is that the wife of Daniell winds up dead and it's Tone looking good for it because he can't come up with an alibi. This strangely parallels the situation Tone has in court with Digges who cannot confirm his own alibi when his own wife is killed.The blend of British and American players seem to work well here as people like Tone and Lewis Stone who plays the Scotland Yard Inspector with their classical training fit well with the players of Hollywood's British colony. This could have been a lot better though. The Unguarded Hour seems poised to jump into comedy especially when Roland Young is on the screen. But it never quite makes it. Still Young gets a few droll lines in as everybody's favorite house guest.Fans of the stars and some of the most well known character players from Hollywood's golden age should approve.

Yes, Loretta Young was Beautiful (Clark Gable obviously thought so), and She Had a Screen Presence and Acting Abilities. But Her Turn Here is Overshadowed by a Heavily Worded and Drawn Out Script that Makes its 87 Minute Running Time Feel Twice that Long.The Scene where the Hypothetical Crime is Laid Out Between Franchois Tone and Roland Young is Laborious and Irritating. Henry Daniel Makes for a Slimy Villain, but Miss Young's Beauty and Ability are All but Lost Behind this Melodramatic Courtroom Caper that by the End there are So Many Loose Ends and Misdirections Tied Up that it is Breathtaking.Overall, Worth a Watch for Loretta Young Fans, but Don't Expect Anything Noteworthy, and for those Liking Stage Play Personas and Wordy, but Hardly Witty Dialog Displays. It's Tense in Spots but Tenaciously Chatty.

Loretta Young always managed to bring a certain cool quality to her movies and has come to epitomize the feminine beauty and elegance of the 1930s. It's hard to tell if The Unguarded Hour would've turned out quite as well without an actress of her charm to divert the viewer from the plot holes. The story itself is very entertaining and amusing, once you come to accept their motives and not ask questions such as "why on earth doesn't she tell everything to her husband and get it over with?" But of course, a woman of such beauty and elegance (there, I said it again) can't be wrong, can she? And we wouldn't have had a movie to start with.If you manage to get a hold of this rarely seen gem which hasn't been released on DVD as yet, you're quite sure to spend a very enjoyable time, trying to guess the perpetrator of the villainy and feasting your eyes on the rosy cheeks and elegant gowns of the damsel in distress.

Great dialogue, the beautiful and sexy Loretta, Henry Daniell at his sleazy best, Roland Young with his gay-friend-who-flirts-with-the-wife quips, a plot that keeps you guessing: like many an entertaining film, the parts are more than the sum. So much fun that its unbelievable ending just seems out of place. Its source is one of those clever stage mysteries made for the Middle Class. Most of Sam Wood's movies are pretty good; it's not that far from the Marx Brothers to this.