Guilty Hands

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

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.

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.

Lionel Barrymore is a former district attorney and now a successful defense attorney, with some vague theories about justifiable homicide. He finds he has to put them into practice when his daughter, Madge Evans, tells him she is going to marry one of his clients, whom he knows to be a bad man.

Barrymore co-directed this with W. S. Van Dyke. Between the two of them, it makes for good performances and a story that moves right along. A fine cast helps, including Kay Francis, Polly Moran and the always enjoyable C. Aubrey Smith. It's the sort of thoughtful movie that could not be made once the Production Code began to be seriously enforced.

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!