Libeled Lady

Plot synopsis:
Wealthy Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is falsely accused of breaking up a marriage and sues the New York Evening Star newspaper for $5,000,000 for libel. Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy), the managing editor, turns in desperation to former reporter and suave ladies' man Bill Chandler (William Powell) for help. His scheme is to maneuver Connie into being alone with him when his wife shows up, so the suit will have to be dropped. Chandler is not married, so Warren volunteers his long-suffering fiancée, Gladys Benton (Jean Harlow), over her loud protests.
Bill arranges to return to America from England on the same ocean liner as Connie and her father J. B. (Walter Connolly). He pays some men to pose as reporters and harass Connie at the dock, so that he can "rescue" her and become acquainted. On the voyage, Connie initially treats him with contempt, assuming that he is just the latest in a long line of fortune hunters after her money, but Bill gradually overcomes her suspicions.
Complications arise when Connie and Bill actually fall in love. They get married, but Gladys decides that she prefers Bill to a marriage-averse newspaperman and interrupts their honeymoon to reclaim her husband. Bill reveals that he found out that Gladys' Yucatán divorce was not valid, but Gladys states she got a second divorce in Reno, so she and Bill are actually man and wife. Fortunately, Connie and Bill manage to show Gladys that she really loves Warren.

Tags: comedy, romantic

Review:
The stars being Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, some of the best actors working in Hollywood in the thirties!Only a studio like MGM could pull this coup.
Jean Harlow had perhaps her best moment in the movies playing Gladys Benton, the woman who is engaged to be married and has her wedding postponed.
Spencer Tracy is the editor of the newspaper in question, who concocts the plan to get the paper off the hook in paying the five million dollars.In supporting roles we get to see some of the best actors of the time: Cora Witherspoon, William Connolly, Charlie Grapevine, William Benedict, Bunny Beatty, and others that enhance the film with their presence.The film will not disappoint.
Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Jean Harlow star in "Libeled Lady," about the attempts to convince a society woman to drop a lawsuit against a newspaper.Spencer Tracy is a scream in his role of a newspaper editor who has been engaged to Jean Harlow for some time, but his work keeps getting in the way of their marriage and relationship.
When an heiress, played by Loy, sues the newspaper for libel, Tracy puts William Powell to work, hoping that by photographing them together, he can convince Loy to drop the suit.
Loy has the least showy part, though she's quite beautiful and works well with Powell, portending great things to come.This is a very enjoyable film with Tracy milking the comedy for all it's worth.
But this is one time you time you will not be disappointed-- with hysterical antics by Jean Harlowe, the always dependable repartee between classy Myrna Lowe and suave William Powell, and Spencer Tracy proving for the first time that he can handle snappy dialogue like the best of 'em-- the chemistry between the cast makes every scene in this film a delight.The banter flies so fast you'll miss it-- this is the height of screwball comedy.
This MGM goodie has Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy, both strong characters who know exactly what they want to get from Spencer Tracy and William Powell ...
Walter Connolly is also good value as Loy's father.'Libeled Lady' is fast-paced, with lots of good moments concerning the plot around a newspaper - a would-be marriage - an heiress - a boat - and some great over-the-top scenes.
But in Libeled Lady, the chemistry is fresh and the relationship between their characters is not just another Thin Man performance.Then there are Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow.
Wealthy socialite Myrna Loy and her father Walter Connolly sue for the sum of five million dollars the newspaper Spencer Tracy works at for libel for a story that claimed Loy was chasing after a married man.
Tracy convinces smooth William Powell to first marry Jean Harlow, who is Tracy's long waiting fiancée, and then to attract Loy's interest enough to get alone with her in order to show that she really is the kind of woman that was suggested in the original story.
Powell, perhaps because his part puts him in society as he gets closer with Loy, is probably the most fun to watch, while both Tracy and and Harlow have their moments, but are both forced to run around too much in order to carry out the elaborate and increasingly ridiculous plan.
After I got my head around the slightly complicated plot of classic romantic comedy Libeled Lady (which stars some of the most famous and talented actors of all time), I found myself very much enjoying this tremendous screwball comedy  perhaps the best of all time.
It is surprisingly up-beat, witty and funny however, it is not-so-surprisingly classy, sophisticated, charming and glamorous (what else could you expect with Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy!?).Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) is chief editor of the New York Evening Star, which has a notorious past of making celebrities very, very angry!
However, the canny Haggerty has a plan up his sleeve he will get his fiancé Gladys (Jean Harlow, who has been waiting for years to get married, but Haggerty is always needed at work on the Big Day!) to marry Bill Chandler (William Powell)  a smart, suave chap with a Lady Killer past.
Its biggest selling point is the quartet of stars that headline it, four of the biggest MGM had to offer at the time: William Powell and Myrna Loy (who had already struck gold as a team in "The Thin Man"), Spencer Tracy (just on the verge of winning back-to-back Oscars) and Jean Harlow, trying (and failing, in my opinion) to prove herself as a comedienne.Tracy plays a newspaper reporter engaged to Harlow, who can't ever quite get around to marrying her because of his devotion to his work.
No complaints about the other three though, especially Myrna Loy, one of my favorite actresses, who looks absolutely adorable in this.The film is worth watching, though, for one scene: William Powell trout fishing.
It was amusing in spots and, folks, let me tell you, it doesn't get much better than this as far as casting goes; Powell, Loy, Tracy and Harlow - are you kidding me?The stars tried their best, but the plot was against them.
After "The New York Evening Star" fails to stop a false story on beautiful socialite Myrna Loy (as Connie Allenbury) from hitting newsstands, she decides to sue newspaper editor Spencer Tracy (as Warren Haggerty) for $5,000,000 in libel damages.
Interrupting his impending wedding to shapely blonde Jean Harlow (as Gladys Benton), Mr. Tracy hires conceited writer William Powell (as Bill Chandler) to battle Ms. Loy.
And, oddly, Powell's "Best Actor"-nominated "My Mad Godfrey" didn't make Oscar's Top Ten.******** Libeled Lady (10/9/36) Jack Conway ~ Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy.
In the meantime, Harlow sets out to make Tracy jealous by pretending to fall for Powell, but then she does for real.As the film nears its finale, all sorts of complications and truths come out as the four stars confront each other.
Spencer Tracy is managing editor of New York newspaper that gets sued by Myrna Loy, daughter of rich tycoon Walter Ganolly.
Anything with Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy and William Powell promises to be good or more when on their own.
Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy attack their roles with genuine enthusiasm.
Jack Conway directed this high society comedy that stars Spencer Tracy as Warren Haggerty, a big city newspaper editor who has been hit by a multi-million dollar libel suit by Connie Allenbury(played by Myrna Loy) when she is accused of being a marriage breaker.
Haggerty then gets the idea to counter this by recruiting noted heel Bill Chandler(played by William Powell) and his frustrated fiancée Gladys(played by Jean Harlow) to pose as a married couple so that Connie can be enticed to fall for Bill, thus proving she is what the paper claimed.
This movie features Hollywood royalty in 1936: Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, William Powell, and Spencer Tracy – that's quite a cast.
A first-rate cast supported by MGM's top stars, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, performing as a couple or threesome with individual scenes before gathering together in one big climatic finish.
As for the basic story, read all about it.Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy), managing editor of the New York Evening Star, learns from its owner, Hollis Bane (Charley Grapewin), that a story about Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy), daughter of a millionaire tycoon, James B.
Haggerty, about to marry divorcée, Gladys Benton (Jean Harlow), leaves her at the church to locate the whereabouts of former reporter turned author, William Stevens Chandler (William Powell), the best man to handle libel suits.
The plot nearly works until Bill and Connie actually do fall in love, leaving Gladys with both husband she dislikes and fiancée she loves, while Haggerty thinks up some more underhanded schemes to cancel the libel suit, to hilarious results.So not to be sued for slander, the MGM writers of LIBELED LADY covered themselves by flashing these now familiar words on the screen: "The events and characters in this photo-play are fictitious.
Even some of the film's greatest moments involve Powell, including his marriage to Harlow where he gets a slight kiss from the bride who in turn gives the biggest kiss to "best man" Tracy; Powell's unusual trout fishing method to impress the financier (Connolly) and his daughter, only to accidentally succeed; Powell's love/hate relationship with Harlow as they pretend to be "happily" married; and finally the calm emotions during the Powell and Loy romances.
The Tracy and Harlow combination also strike up some great moments with he placing the newspaper ahead of the girl he loves, having her to constantly ask, "If you don't want to marry me, just say so!" or quip as them "becoming parents to little headlines." Walter Connolly, best known as Claudette Colbert's millionaire father in Frank Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934), is not to be overlooked in his participation through all the confusion, especially when belting out a great big yell of, "Will you all please BE QUIET!" before having a nervous breakdown.My initial introduction to LIBELED LADY didn't come from the late night television viewing but in a revival movie house, New York City's Regency Theater on Broadway and 67th Street in January 1981.
Availability on video cassette and later DVD assures LIBELED LADY lasting appeal.Remade by MGM as a musical titled EASY TO WED (1946), starring Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn in the Powell, Loy, Harlow and Tracy roles, the new Technicolor edition was surprisingly good on its own terms, but not quite a carbon copy to the original.
Myrna Loy, ( Connie Allenbury) plays the role as a very rich and spoiled gal who loves to file law suites against newspapers and she is out to destroy Haggerty, (Spencer Tracy) who is a newspaper reporter who wrote a story about her that was not true and she is charging him with a 5 Million Dollar law-suit.
Jean Harlow, (Gladys Benton) is engaged to marry Haggerty and they both plan on getting married soon but this law-suit upsets his plans and he asks a good friend of his, Bill Chandler, ( William Powell) to cause a scandal with Connie.
It's this fishing scene that is the highlight of LIBELED LADY and provides some of the funniest sight gags as he belly flops several times in an effort to prove himself a fisherman.The rest of the comedy is strictly screwball material, with SPENCER TRACY as a newspaperman angling to rid his newspaper of a libel suit by MYRNA LOY by putting her in a compromising position with Powell.
It was remade by MGM as EASY TO WED starring Esther Williams in the Myrna Loy role, with Van Johnson, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn, given splashier looking Technicolored sets and some swimming routines from Esther.What hurts this version of the story is JEAN HARLOW, much too strident as Gladys and with those pencil thin brows that always gave her a cheap look in close-ups, and SPENCER TRACY, not ideal for a role that should have been played as light comedy.
Even the newspaper's solution - hiring a glib charmer to frame the plaintiff - is probably common practice then.Though William Powell and Myrna Loy - as the framer and framee who eventually fall in love - have great chemistry, being one of the most often paired actor-actress teams (they have been in fourteen movies together), their scenes pale in comparison to those with Spencer Tracy's smarmy editor trying to sleaze his way out of the lawsuit by manipulating the players in the game.
Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) is so preoccupied with his job as the managing editor of a paper he has missed his own wedding several times, so no surprise Jean Harlow gives a very comically angry performance throughout most of the film.William Powell's Bill Chandler has such cool and confidence, he even draws his own contract which will bring him back to the paper he was sacked from as he knows Warren Haggerty will come looking for him following a scandal.
I wonder if Powell's trout fishing sequence wasn't an inspiration for writers of the 1964 movie that was all about fishing and romance – "Man's Favorite Sport." "Lady" was nominated in a field of 10 excellent films for best picture of 1936.
It was up against some powerful competition, and Powell and Loy starred in the movie that won best picture for the year, "The Great Ziegfeld." This isn't a rollicking laughter film.
Powell plays Bill Chandler, Loy is Connie Allenbury, Tracy is Warren Haggerty and Harlow plays Gladys.
William Powell as a lady's man hired to con an heiress into dropping a libel suit that could put Tracy's paper out of business.
The editor Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) realizes that he has to hire back Bill Chandler (William Powell), a man he previously sacked, as Bill is the "best in the business".
Goodwin realizes that an angry, vindictive Connolly will very likely sue the newspaper for libeling his daughter, and win disastrously large damages.While Harlow shows up in her wedding gown, fuming at this new delay, Tracy figures he will have to bury his own feelings and approach one time rival and foe William Powell to help him here.
Just think--the film starred Myrna Loy, William Powell, Spencer Tracy AND Jean Harlow!!
While the movie is not exactly a "screwball comedy" (it's a little more sophisticated than that), it is nearly one and does provide some excellent laughs--mostly when watching novice Powell try to fish like an expert.
For my money My Man Godfrey is a far superior film.The acting quartet of William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow is an incredible ensemble.
To me, nobody stole the show; Powell, Loy and Harlow were all fantastic; and Tracy, in his first comedy role is very good.
All they can do at this point, like a group of children, is blabber incoherently to Walter Connelly, who unable to hear anything, screams "Quiet, please!!" A fitting ending.Watch for Dennis O'Keefe, later a star himself, in a short uncredited role as a barker at the charity bazaar.Notice at the beginning of the film the four walking arm in arm, from left to right: Harlow, Powell, Loy and Tracy.
MGM were to break this rule again in 1936 with this wonderful screwball comedy, as the movie was to star four of Metro's then biggest assets, (Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell & Myrna Loy).
Because of this, Libeled Lady was always going to do well upon release, but I'm sure no one involved ever thought that the movie would still be finding an appreciative audience over 70 years later, because when it comes to sheer enjoyment of an easy going film with lot's of good laughs, they seldom come better than this.Tracy plays Haggerty, a newspaper editor & marriage shy fiancé of the eager to marry Gladys (Harlow).
Now realising that both he & Gladys have been duped, Haggerty covertly starts some manipulations of his own to ensure that a fiery climax to the fiasco is not going be too long in coming.All four of our stars give Oscar worthy performances but special praise has to go to Walter Connelly as after 1934's 'It Happened One Night', the 'Heiress's Father' role always seemed to fit him like a glove.Libeled Lady is nothing short of a milestone in screwball Comedy.Enjoy!.
Powell, Loy and Jean Harlow were all established comedy players at the time, but this was new territory for Spencer Tracy who had only appeared in dramas prior.
Having Myrna Loy, William Powell, Jean Harlow AND Spencer Tracy in the one film wasn't really that clever for economics, but the audience (and Povert Row studios) just drools.
When commitment shy newspaper editor, Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) finds that his newspaper is being sued for alleging that a socialite, Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is a home-wrecker he delays plans to marry his fiancée Gladys (Jean Harlow) yet again, by placing her in the midst of elegant playboy, Bill Chandler (William Powell).
William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, and Jean Harlow.
Libled Lady refers to Connie Allenbury ( Loy) who sues the newspaper for $5,000,000 where Warren Haggerty ( Spencer Tracy) is the editor, and he will do anything ( including hiring his former employee Bill Chandler ( Powell) who is a con artist/ladies man to blackmail.Connie into dropping the lawsuit).
Then again, it's a screwball comedy, so perhaps director Jack Conway didn't allow Tracy to play the role in that manner.It is a funny concept -- newspaper slanders a young society dame (Myrna Loy) and she and her father (Walter Connolly) sue.
The best lines are his, and the fishing segment is hilarious.Highly recommended comedy with fine performances by Powell and Loy...perhaps better than they were in the Thin Man series.
Warren Haggerty(Spenser Tracy)is a hard working dedicated newspaper man, who has put off his wedding to Gladys(Jean Harlow)probably one time too many.
"Libeled Lady" gives Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy co-top billing in this romantic comedy about a newspaper editor who sets up an elaborate ruse to keep an heiress from going through with a libel suit that could potentially shut down his newspaper if lost.
Spencer Tracy plays the editor Warren Haggerty, who when he discovers that his newspaper published a story wrongfully accusing Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) of husband stealing, hatches a plan to head off the libel suit.
Somehow, after leaving her on his wedding day to attend to the paper, Haggerty convinces his fiance Gladys Benton (Jean Harlow) to agree to marry his former reporter Bill Chandler (played by William Powell) and conspire with him to turn the tables on Connie.
Although the film is co-billed with the four of them, it is really just another William Powell-Myrna Loy film, with Tracy and Harlow mostly playing supporting roles.