Guilty Hands

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.

Can Lionel Barrymore commit the perfect crime, for the sake of his daughter's honor, and get by with it? That's the question posed in this fine film which is NOT a "whodunit". Almost forgotten by nearly 7 decades of bigger, splashier movies, fans of crime films will not want to miss this little gem. Tightly plotted and suspenseful, GUILTY HANDS (yes, the title is important) rewards the thoughtful viewer.

Barrymore is great, as always. Kay Francis is a shady lady with too much past. Alan Mowbray - in a welcome departure from his comic butler roles - is suave and evil. Madge Evans, Polly Moran & Sir C. Aubrey Smith round out the supporting cast.

And what a great ending - unexpected and appropriate.

Pretty good murder story in a pre-code kind of way. Lionel Barrymore plays the local legal-eagle, as well as the irate father of the soon-to-be-bride, his daughter intending to marry his old friend, the biggest cad he knows. He tells the fellow he will murder him-justifiably in his mind-if won't give her up, and we see him do so. He even has arranged witnesses to "prove" he could not be the murderer, but the dead man's longtime love, played by a lovely Kay Francis, suspects him from the start.(Her scene at his body is not her best, however.) She then discovers the imprint on a piece of paper of a note the dead man had written before he was murdered, showing that Lionel had threatened to murder him. Of course Lionel is right there when she finds it, and explains in lawlerly detail how she will appear in a trial, since she is the beneficiary of the will.

So will Lionel be caught for his misdeed? Or is the one of the pre-codes when murderers do not have to pay for their crime? Lionel Barrymore gives his usual strong, if sometimes over-the-top, performance. Kay plays well in a major supporting role. The rest of the cast is adequate in their roles, but the film is mostly between Lionel and Kay.

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.

District attorney Lionel Barrymore is angered when old friend Alan Mowbray says he plans to marry Barrymore's daughter Madge Evans. He tells Mowbray (in a surprisingly funny scene) that he will kill him if he tries to go through with the wedding and he can get away with it because he knows so much about murder. Well, Mowbray goes ahead and announces the engagement and, sure enough, Papa Lionel kills him. The question now is will he get away with it or will Mowbray's longtime lover Kay Francis figure him out?

Very nice direction and a particularly lively performance from Barrymore. Mowbray is only in the film for a brief time but he's sufficiently scuzzy to make you root for Lionel to get away with offing him. Kay Francis is good in her typically melodramatic fashion. The great C. Aubrey Smith is largely wasted in a minor role. Beautiful Madge Evans plays her part as well as can be expected given that the script makes her out to be a little bit of an airhead and a tease. She kisses her father on the mouth a lot and not just pecks either, which I found odd. But I've seen similar things in other films from the period so I'll just chalk that up to different sensibilities today. It's a good movie with an interesting twist at the end that some will probably see as a cop-out.