Product: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
Rating: 5.0
Interesting Twist To The Thin Man Legacy
Produced in between the first and second Thin Man movies, comes this wonderful gem of a twist.Once again dapper William Powell is cast as the reluctant detective who gets mixed into a wild storm of cheating hearts, plain ol' cheating, deceit, deception and murder. Only this time, the catch is he's not actually a detective, but a surgeon recently divorced from his crime-writing-novelist wife. The same ex-wife whom the screenplay alludes to earlier "adventures" from which Dr. Bradford, or 'Brad' as he's loving called by said former wife, proclaims was the impetus for the divorce.Extraordinarily fun! And a fascinating peek into an actress who could've so easily been 'Mrs. Nick Charles' had history taken a slightly different turn. I'm a fairly new member to the Jean Arthur fan club, having onlyjoined in the past few years. But I'm an ardent member now more than ever. She was just so amazing. Funny, clever, beautiful and so effervescently sexy.Powell and Arthur make for an incredibly enjoyable couple, each playing to their strengths; and quite noticeably, exposing an improvement to the socialite-detective dynamic that was possible. Especially when comparing the more constrained Myrna Loy performances in The Thin Man series. It's clear Loy tempered the comedic energy that would have produced a funnier product as evidenced in this one film.Again, I like to imagine how things would've turned out had Jean been tagged as Nora Charles - it really makes for fascinating speculation. And this film gives us a small taste of what I honestly believe would've been a wondrous dish.Movie Note:- Not sure if all versions of this film have the apparent inconsistent audio issues as the Warner Archive disc I purchased. But a warning should you obtain the same.