Libeled Lady
Director: Jack Conway
Year Released: 1936
Rating: 3.0
Cute screwball comedy with a fantastic cast has Myrna Loy's socialite suing Spencer Tracy's newspaper for libel after they print an unflattering (and untrue) piece on her, leaving Tracy's character to enlist the help of a once-fired lawyer (William Powell) to seduce her and convince her to drop the lawsuit. The lines have a real zip to them (many work, some are forced) and Jean Harlow's neglected fiancée provides a healthy injection of sass - plausibility is its only real hindrance, but that more or less goes with the territory of something so heavily-plotted. I'm no fisherman (by any means), but seeing Powell roll around a stream trying to catch a walleye is physical comedy done ... poorly.
