Powell and Loy drop Nick and Nora for this bland soapie that’s a real misfire.
John Prentice (William Powell) is a high powered defense attorney. Evelyn (Myrna Loy) is his neglected but dutiful wife. John’s client is Nancy Harrison (Rosalind Russell) who killed a man in a car accident. She’s on trial for manslaughter. He gets her off….in more ways than one.
Left home alone again, Evelyn and her friends Amy (Una Merkel) and Chester go to a nightclub. Evelyn is approached by womanizer Larry Kennard. He’s persistent and sends her his book of poems and an invitation for tea. When he calls Amy gets the phone and says Evelyn will be glad to meet him. Evelyn was reluctant to do so. While that’s going on John is taking a train to Boston to see a client. To his surprise Nancy is also on the train.
Larry’s girlfriend Judy (Isabel Jewell) is jealous and doesn’t buy his story that he really wasn’t with another woman. She starts to threaten him but breaks down instead. He keeps putting the rush on Evelyn and she writes him a few letters saying she doesn’t want to see him anymore. He makes notes of his progress in his diary.
One morning Evelyn gets a delivery. It’s from the Pullman company. They’re returning her watch that was left in John’s compartment. It’s inscribed “To Nancy From John.” Amy shows it to John. He tells Evelyn that Nancy planted it in his compartment.
John suggests a six month trip to Europe to clear the air. They’ll take their young daughter Dorothy with them. The newspaper’s society page prints the item about the trip. Larry sees it and calls Evelyn. She goes to his place and he’s been drinking.
He says he’ll return her letters for fifteen grand. They may be innocent but they can easily be misinterpreted. In the drawer with the letters is a gun. Evelyn grabs it. Outside, Judy is coming up the stairs. She hears a shot. She’s arrested for his murder.
Evelyn admits to Amy that she shot him after he slugged her. She says she fell against a wall and the gun went off. She asks John to give up the trip so he can defend Judy. He doesn’t have a clue to Evelyn’s role in the case.
It all comes to an ending they probably thought was clever but instead it’s just incredibly dumb. This is a total failure.
This is Rosalind Russell’s first movie role.
Character actor Edward Brophy appears as Powell’s investigator Delaney.
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