What a beautiful movie!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Let's be realistic.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

About the only reason to see this poverty row film released by RKO is the fact that the original story was written by Dashiell Hammett. Even the presence of leads like Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, and Melvyn Douglas can't save it. And anyone who thinks that they will see The Thin Man, any of the versions of The Maltese Falcon, or The Dain Curse is in for a rude shock.A shoddy production with bad editing can even defeat these talented people. Ralph Bellamy is a parolee released from prison and has Fay Wray who is trying to get away from her cad of a lover Melvyn Douglas. Cutting through a lot Douglas frames parolee Bellamy for assault and he has the dubious choice of taking it on the lam or finding out the real story of what happened to Reed Brown, the friend of Douglas that Bellamy is accused of assaulting.When you watch the aforementioned Dashiell Hammett classics you know how interesting Hammett's supporting characters are. The players do their best but it's like all that might make them interesting seems drained from the screenplay. The editing is totally slipshod as well.I'd watch this just to have an object lesson at how even a classic author can get butchered with a bad screen adaption.

Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy and Douglas, plus R. Ates for humorous relief, players you feel good with, in this drama by Rosen, enthralling '30s cinema, with poignancy and Pre-Code verities: it was good, sharp, with a knack for powerful scenes, like those at the parolee's home (with the three leads), and for freshness, as in the couple's getaway, from his home to Logan's, for a movie shot indoors and within a car, it has a plain-air feel and a sense of possibilities, not unlimited, but thorough, the romance seems meaningful, it's cinema with a basic sense of dignity, something of this style will be rediscovered decades later, perhaps in the '70s or '80s, there's also the understatement, the snappiness, the quickness, as when the fugitive is shot, and the realism, as with the players' exchanges, then the attorney's advances; a very good role from Fay, with the freshness for its aftertaste. Kudos to Rosen as well, for a sensible directing. Given the plot, the movie's title, both versions, is beautiful. The movie has the cast, the understated style, the script, nothing seems fake, phony, untrue, there's a sense of intelligent directness; for the '30s, the movie's qualities weren't so unusual as they may seem today. I don't remember having seen Bellamy young ever before; he resembled Newman, though he was maybe more embittered and sneaky, as in streetwise. His role here, as the paroled guy, has something impressive.Bellamy reminded me of P. Newman, a sleazier and perhaps gloomier one.

This one came in the DVD collection and is the only reason the watch it.The best that can be said is that it is a good cast wasted. Hard to believe Dashiell Hammett had a hand in this uninteresting film. It was Pre-Code and had a few half-hearted attempts to inject sexual innuendo which would pass unnoticed nowadays. I give it 3 due mainly to an uninspired script and an outlandish storyline. The cast headed by Ralph Bellamy and Fay Wray try mightily. Melvyn Douglas is the heavy in this one and Roscoe Ates is on hand as comic relief but adds nothing - not even humor - to the proceedings. I hope no one went to great lengths to restore this picture - it wasn't worth it and I can't recommend it.

Woman in the Shadows (1934) *** (out of 4) Lightweight but entertaining crime/drama about a man (Ralph Bellamy) released from prison and deciding to stay alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back into prison. Everything's going well until a woman (Fay Wray) shows up being chased by her psychotic lover (Melvyn Douglas). There's nothing overly special about this "B" film from the Biograph Company but the three stars make it well worth watching. The pre-code elements with Wray's dress slipping down or the close-ups of her legs being shown are nice touches. Also known as Woman in the Dark. Directed by Phil Rosen who would go on to direct several Charlie Chan films as well as Spooks Run Wild and Return of the Ape Man.