Guilty Hands

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.