Hat, Coat, and Glove

I've always been a Ricardo Cortez fan. He rarely gets a chance to stretch his acting wings but he does so here. Cortez is exceptional in playing older men. In Torrent (1926) you'd swear he actually aged. In Hat, Coat and Glove he plays age, hopelessness and loneliness quite well. It is unfortunate that the effect is damaged by shoddy makeup. His graying hair varies between scenes and virtually disappears in some. Dorothy Burgess was never better. The wife and her lover are somewhat weak. Frankly, I didn't see what the husband or lover saw in her. But it didn't matter; this is Cortez's film. The twists and turns of the plot are anything but conventional. For all it's absurdities this is a quality programmer that will hold your interest.

You know that a film is going to be a camp precode treat when it begins with the protagonist, attorney Robert Mitchell (Ricardo Cortez), waxing poetic about mannequins, to the point that even the department store sales staff is giving him odd looks.

Robert is separated from his wife, Dorothea, because she wants it that way, not him. She is in love with Jerry Hutchins (John Beal). Unfortunately for Jerry, he had a brief affair with what today we would call a stalker, Ann Brewster (Dorothy Burgess). Nobody could play the precode crazy woman like Dorothy Burgess.

Ann shows up in Jerry's apartment one night, in his bed, in a negligee, demanding he love her back. He leaves and goes to see Dorothea. Robert goes to have a man to man with Jerry and winds up trapped with crazy Ann, who, for some strange reason, knows Jerry has a gun and where he keeps it. She decides to kill herself, she calls what she thinks is Dorothea's number but misdials, Robert struggles to get the gun from her but it goes off, and Ann falls dead.

The next day this woman with one deadly bullet in her is mentioned as "the bullet riddled body" in all of the newspapers and Jerry is blamed for the crime. His alibi, though, was that he spent the night with Dorothea, and he doesn't want to create a scandal and use that alibi. But he wouldn't have this problem if Robert had just called the police and said what happened. He didn't have any past relationship with Ann and she did have a history of suicide attempts. Instead Robert just left the scene, stealthily.

So Dorothea appeals to her estranged husband to save her lover by defending him in court. He agrees, as long as she agrees to come back to him. Was this his plan all along or did he just panic the night before? The trial is a riot with lots of nuttiness that only one person sees through. And then the highlight of the film is Margaret Hamilton as a milliner with a "stage name" of Madame Du Barry. That's first name "Du", last name "Barry". This great character actress steals the entire film out from under the script, cast, and director.

Lots of people pan this film, but for ridiculous dialogue and a ludicrous plot full of precode naughtiness that was actually released after the code, this one fits the bill.

This is an interesting film, somewhat of a departure for Ricardo Cortez from the dapper ladies man he generally portrayed in films of this period. He is a dreamer, a man who has been in love, is divorced, but is still in love with his wife. He also has to endure the reality of his 'ex' and a younger man who are now doing 'light housekeeping'. The script's OK, not great, but economical and to the point. Cortez is a lawyer who must defend his ex-wife's present lover on a murder rap, and does so against his better wishes. But he knows a lot more about the murder charge than he lets on. This flick came on late at night in the city, and the station cut the tail end of the flick so I couldn't comment on the end...because I ain't seen it. They gave the film short shrift, which is a drag. However, knowing the Hayes code of the period, I am almost certain that I could write the ending without having seen it, and it wouldn't be too terribly far removed from the ending that I did not see, thanks to the neglect of the local TV station. Be that as it may, the part I saw was slightly above average for 'B' film fare of the period.

Hat, Coat, And Glove finds criminal lawyer Ricardo Cortez and artist John Beal having a lot in common including the women they see. Which includes the very unstable Dorothy Burgess who commits suicide while in Cortez's company.

But it's Beal that is arrested for her murder and put on trial. Barbara Robbins exacts a promise from Cortez to not get her involved and he agrees to defend Beal.

Every actor loves a courtroom film and this one gives Cortez a chance to shine. He gives a smooth polished performance as a smooth polished lawyer. In fact as per the title wardrobe plays a great part in the outcome of the trial.

Margaret Hamilton who is a milliner and just happens to be in court when an expert on lady's hats is needed gives a really great performance when Cortez questions here. She really stands out in this film.

One of Ricardo Cortez's best talkie films without a doubt.

"Hat, Coat and Glove" is a film that really strains credibility--so much so that the only way to enjoy it is to turn off your brain and not question things that seem too coincidental to be believable. However, despite this, IF you can put aside your brain for a few minutes, the film is rather entertaining.

Ricardo Cortez plays a very erudite lawyer--but one whose marriage is all but over. In fact, he and his wife haven't lived together for some time and she's already got a new boyfriend. However, and here where it gets goofy, when Cortez goes to have it out with this boyfriend (because he still wants a reconciliation with his wife), he isn't home but a crazy lady is there. This unstable woman has a history of suicide attempts and when she is talking to Cortez, she starts behaving irrationally and ends up getting shot when Cortez was pulling the gun away from her. But, Cortez doesn't call the police--and soon they arrest the boyfriend and think he murdered the woman. Cortez knows it was NOT murder but decides to exploit the situation. He agrees to defend the boyfriend IF his wife agrees to return! However, through the course of the trial, the wife starts to notice that some of the evidence seems to point to her husband! How all this ended, though, really confused me--especially what the wife did when she realized the truth. Baffling to say the least.

None of this is particularly believable....none. But, Cortez was enjoyable to watch and the film was enjoyable. HOWEVER, my favorite part involved seeing if a glove found at the site belonged to the boyfriend--and a Johnny Cochran moment at the OJ trial came to mind. It was, in so many ways, like the script that Cochran used! Pretty funny...