A district attorney commits the perfect murder when he kills his daughter's womanizing fiancé and then tries framing the fiancé's lover.
Acting
Lionel Barrymore's trembling hands say everything his mouth won't.
Direction
Van Dyke's shadows do the talking — pure MGM gloss with grime underneath.
Director
W.S. Van Dyke
Lionel Barrymore
Richard Grant
Kay Francis
Marjorie West
Madge Evans
Barbara 'Babs' Grant
William Bakewell
Tommy Osgood
C. Aubrey Smith
Reverend Hastings
Polly Moran
Aunt Maggie
Alan Mowbray
Gordon Rich
Forrester Harvey
Spencer Wilson
Charles Crockett
H.G. Smith
Henry A. Barrows
Harvey Scott (as Henry Barrows)
Sam McDaniel
Jimmy, a Black Servant (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie
Second Man on Train (uncredited)
Landers Stevens
Chief of Police Bill Mott (uncredited)
Blue Washington
Johnny (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pre-Code Hollywood let lawyers be villains and mistresses exist without punishment — this barely squeaked through before the Hays Code clamped down in 1934.
US
