Guilty Hands

For the sake of his daughter (Madge Evans), who wants to marry a playboy cad (Alan Mobrary) old enough to be her father, Lionel Barrymore is the lawyer who thinks he can get away with the perfect crime by making it possible for her daughter to marry a wealthy young man (William Bakewell) rather than the unsuitable cad.

The tale is taut, told with bits of humor and suspense on a dark night full of lightning and thunder. The old dark house elements work well within the confines of the contrived plot which has a bit of irony in the final twist which comes in a very abrupt and unexpected ending.

Performances are what you'd expect from a melodramatic film made in '31, and Lionel Barrymore gets his usual chance to chew most of the scenery with some help from Kay Francis as a woman he decides to throw suspicion on. His plan backfires in the final scene.

Interesting, if contrived, it's satisfying enough as a mystery to keep the attention riveted throughout.

Don't read up on this before watching or you'll never experience the brilliance of what has to be one of the cleverest, most unexpected endings ever.

It's easy to stick with this great and entertaining little picture. Lionel Barrymore is at his quirky, most engaging best, you hang onto every word he says; it's a magnetic performance. One minute he's a loveable avuncular old character who makes you laugh, the next he's a cold and calculating killer whom you can believe would be terrifying to meet in the flesh - a very talented guy.

Director Woody Van Dyke, as always, gives his film a very natural and real feel, light years away from a lot of the stagey, over-theatrical pictures which infested the cinemas of the early thirties. He delivers a fast moving and immediately immersive story which is enhanced by some fabulously imaginative cinematography; it's a beautifully composed and lit film. The use of shadows, reflections and camera angles is certainly as good as anything seen a decade later in film noir. I'll say it again: it's a beautifully composed film.

Apart from waiting until the ending (DON'T look it up!) it's a fun watch. It's from 1931 but isn't that dated - in fact it feels more modern than a lot of films made later. If you enjoy a Columbo type murder mystery that's a little bit clever without being pretentious then this is for you.

I always say "never underestimate a movie made in the 1930s" and this is a key example. Even though we see who commits the murder, it has the flavor of a well done who-done-it. Sumptuous sets, great costumes, the proverbial dark and stormy night -- all set a wonderful mood. The camera work sustains it, but above all, the excellent acting by Lionel Barrymore and Kay Francis make for a suspenseful thriller.

I had heard of Kay Francis, but I don't recall having seen her in anything. She is fantastic! Barrymore is best known these days for playing the heavy in "It's a Wonderful Life", but here he is quite a bit younger, very spry, and marvelously expressive, both in inflection and mannerisms.

I wouldn't dream of giving away the ending, which has two nice touches, but I'm proud to say I saw it coming - about thirty seconds before the climax. I was thinking, "wait, they couldn't possibly ..., not the ... " but it was. Superb! Highly recommended.

• henry

WS Van Dyke did a number of films well worth watching. Some even great, namely 'The Thin Man', 'The Prisoner of Zenda', 'I Love You Again' and much of 'San Francisco' (his Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald collaborations are also charming watches). 'Guilty Hands' sounded great in terms of the story (being a fan of the genre) and it is hard to resist a film with a cast this good, that leaves one psyched for seeing a twist for the ages as advertised and that has been reviewed this favourably.

'Guilty Hands' is another Van Dyke film well worth seeing and mostly lives up to high expectations, even if it is not one of my favourites of the genre and there are films with relatively similar concepts that are more successful in this regard. 'Guilty Hands' has Van Dyke's style all over it, the cast is reason to see it alone and there are so many things that were done right. Anybody that likes mysteries and noir-ish thrillers should find much to enjoy.

It is a great looking film, with some suitably unsettlingly inventive photography in the opening sequence. An opening sequence that gave me the chills and is brilliantly shot and edited, Van Dyke's accomplished style and technical efficiency shines the most in this scene. All without being cheap or rushed-looking. The lighting has a lot of atmosphere too and the production design is elegant yet suitably ominous. The music is moody and Van Dyke's direction is tight and accomplished.

As is much of the script. It is a little too talk-heavy, but the black humour which comes in heavy doses genuinely amuses and much of the script provokes thought. The story is compelling, with an intriguing mystery that keeps one guessing and has a good deal of suspense, it doesn't get too predictable and it doesn't get over-complicated either. Lionel Barrymore dominates 'Guilty Hands' without being over-dominant, he was never the most subtle of actors but he was always fun to watch and he is very much so here. Kay Francis is sensual and engages with the drama without being too theatrical. Alan Mowbray excels too against type, being effective at playing a sleaze to sinister effect.

By all means 'Guilty Hands' isn't perfect. As said, it is talk-heavy in places. Babs' change of character later on came over as too rushed and introduced in too out of the blue a way to ring true.

Despite the final twist actually being quite clever and definitely unexpected, the very end is rather too abrupt and towards the end it is a little too on the silly side.

Overall though, well done. 7/10

The opening sequence is stylish, unusual, disorienting. We don't know where we are or what is going on for a few minutes, and that reflects the film's morally disorienting territory. The premise is excellent. Barrymore is not "hammy" but commanding in a very natural way; he's playing a successful lawyer who is used to declaiming his arguments for an audience. The script employs daring ambiguities: we partly want to see the rich man murdered and Barrymore get away with it, yet Barrymore is clearly not a moral character himself, and the woman who insists upon justice for the man she loved is a "tramp" mistress who would have been willing to carry on her affair with the scoundrel after his marriage. What a crew! The magnetism of Barrymore and Francis in their moral contradictions keeps us riveted even through the parts that are like any other old-dark-house mystery. The ending is both preposterous and brilliant. You can look back and see how they set it up, yet it's very difficult to predict!