Product: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
Rating: 5.0
"Oh, Brad's very quick. Nothing escapes him... except the murderer."
In the wake of THE THIN MAN's dynamite success in 1934, all the studios scrambled like mad to produce similarly-veined pictures. In a neat bit of the serpent swallowing its own tail, William Powell himself was tapped to exploit the manna falling from THE THIN MAN and was cast in 1936's THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD, a terrific and smart screwball murder mystery in its own right. Jean Arthur, fresh off her star-making turn in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, comes on board to play Nora to his Nick Charles."I don't want to be involved in any more of your cockeyed murder mysteries," Dr. Lawrence Bradford warns his ex-wife Paula who one day breezily comes calling (and we'll just ignore that gent she brings who serves Bradford a subpoena for neglecting to pay alimony). But of course that's exactly what happens when a jockey dies during a race and the ex-Mrs. Bradford - mystery writer, she - immediately suspects foul play. Never mind that, initially, no evidence points towards the shady. When he's requested to apply his medical expertise in determining how the jockey really died, Dr. Bradford should've just resigned himself to playing amateur sleuth. That, or agreed to right off take the "ex" off the ex-Mrs. Bradford. That's what she was angling for all along.When a corpse is planted on his doorstep and he becomes the cops' primary suspect, Powell has no recourse but to solve the case, eyeball several dodgy characters, and find out whodunit, with Arthur the entire time serving as both his staunchest ally and his most diligent hindrance. But maybe her theory of murder by gelatin isn't as lame as it sounds.In the time honored tradition, events conclude with the rounding up of suspects to a dinner party, at which point the film takes on a rather innovative twist in how it unveils the murderer. That is, unless someone somewhen, before 1936, had already fingered the murderer by way of showing a film (still, it was almost a given that Bradford's in-house film projector would play a key part).Thankfully, there are enough elements here which distinguish THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD from THE THIN MAN. Most pronouncedly, Jean Arthur is delightfully daft, channeling Carole Lombard's distracted Irene Bullock from MY MAN GODFREY more so than Myrna Loy's more reserved Nora Charles. (And, yes, THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD was released before MY MAN GODFREY, but, my God, man, I'm trying to make a point!) Don't get it twisted, though, because regarding the ex-Mrs. Bradford, there's a light on upstairs; One gets the sense that the flightiness is only on the surface. As usual, Arthur's distinctive chirrupy, husky voice lends a charm all of its own, and I could listen to her talk all day. And, as in the Thin Man series, the fun isn't in the murder detection but rather in the playful interactions of the two leads (you can even throw in Eric Blore's deadpan and terribly amusing butler into the mix). Arthur and Powell easily keep things from getting stodgy. It's a hoot watching Powell as his character manfully strives for level-headedness even as his ex applies her hyper-active imagination and, throughout the picture, inadvertently applies several hurtful household ornaments to his skull. Bless all the little women hampered with truly execrable aim, but bless Excedrin even more.