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Despite the presence of stars Myrna Loy and William Powell (not to mention Rosalind Russell in her brief film debut), supporting player Isabel Jewell's performance is easily the most memorable in this drama. Powell plays a prominent lawyer, and Jewell plays a potential client, one who can't afford his serves as much as the glamorous socialite played by Russell. The legendary Loy has some fine scenes, but she really isn't given much of a chance to change her somber demeanor throughout the picture. There isn't really much action in this film, just a few well-placed confrontations and plot devices to keep up a modest amount of suspense, plenty enough to hold ones interest in a short running time. Films of this era didn't have to rely on spectacle or sensation to be good, and this is one example.

Decent drama from MGM and director William K. Howard that marked the third teaming of Myrna Loy and William Powell. Powell is John Prentice, a successful workaholic defense attorney who provides well for his wife Evelyn (Loy) and young daughter Dorothy (Cora Sue Collins), but he's never home to share it with them. When Evelyn thinks that John is having an affair, she flirts with having one of her own with charming cad Lawrence (Harvey Stephens). This leads to even more trouble and heartache. Also featuring Una Merkel as Loy's best friend and Rosalind Russell in her film debut.

Loy is very good in this as the emotionally conflicted Evelyn who gets in over her head. Powell underplays the big finale courtroom scenes well. Russell is okay as a client of Powell's who's a little too grateful for his services. Her role could have been expanded, though. The presence of Merkel is always a plus in my book. Of the 3 films with Loy/Powell in 1934, the others being Manhattan Melodrama and The Thin Man, this is the least impressive, but it's still worth a look.

"Evelyn Prentice" starred William Powell & Myrna Loy, who were inbetween working on the first & second movies in "The Thin Man" series. There are similarities between their roles in this movie & their roles in that series. In both cases, they're debonair rich folks with fancy clothes & a beautiful home. In both cases, Powell plays a character who likes to drink (more so in "The Thin Man") & is involved with solving a murder mystery. But "The Thin Man" series is more light-hearted, with more flippant, snappier dialog, & is generally more enjoyable than "Evelyn Prentice." Astra the Dog is missed, & replaced by the couple's young daughter. But this is a good movie, & has a more surprising plot twist than any entry in "The Thin Man" series. The plot here has more typical pre-code elements than the later "Thin Man" entries, which I won't mention here because I don't want to give away the storyline. Una Merkel is good as Loy's wisecracking friend. Isabel Jewell is very convincing in her role (I didn't think so at first, but as I began to watch her more closely, I started to think that she's a really good actress). I rate it 8/10.

This is an absorbing, intelligent picture, bolstered by sensitive performances and adept handling of an adult story. Its fundamentals may be overly familiar, and perhaps a bit too much plot gets in the way of believable, touching characterizations. But you will care about the main characters, whose weaknesses and oversights lead them to the brink of ruin - even if (in a questionable decision by the film makers) they are given the trappings of art deco luxuries, instead of being brought closer to a lifestyle familiar to the audience.

Powell and Loy, alone and together, are fine, as always. Credit Isabel Jewell with a low-key, yet emotionally-charged performance. Jessie Ralph is excellent is one extended scene in which she babbles and equivocates as the tension builds to a quiet frenzy. Una Merkel softens her familiar screen mannerisms to play the character, rather than vice versa.

Not a well-known film, "Evelyn Prentice" is most definitely worth your while.

Lenore Coffee was a prolific screenwriter whose specialty was the "women's picture," and she writes a honey of one here. William Powell is a too-busy lawyer who's dallying with client Rosalind Russell and who neglects his family (and boy, can I identify with that), to the point where good wife Loy is momentarily distracted by a lounge-lizard poet with a busy black book. Disastrous complications ensue. William Howard's direction is workmanlike at best, but Coffee keeps the fireworks popping. She balances things expertly between smart, sassy dialog and courtroom melodramatics, and she can write persuasively for tart-tongued best friends (a soignee Una Merkel), wide-eyed daughters (a relatively unannoying Cora Sue Collins), wronged women (a heavy-lidded Isabel Jewell), and a supporting cast of New York sophisticates. The windup is a little fast and the idyllic fadeout not entirely convincing, but in these days of overheated trials and yellow Murdoch journalism, it's not entirely implausible, either. A very fast and smart comedy-drama, and I didn't mind the absence of the Nick and Nora personas, or Asta, one bit.