MartinHafer This Claude Rains film is worth seeing simply because it is so ultra-bizarre, with the strangest opening sequence I've ever seen. It looks as if the film was written and directed by Salvador Dali at some points, not Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur!! You really have to see it to believe it and I couldn't do it justice trying to describe it further.Rains plays Lee Gentry, a hot-shot lawyer who seems to be able to get guilty clients off for crimes with ease. Naturally the cops and prosecutors hate him but what can they do? Well, they can let Gentry destroy himself...which he does when he shoots a girlfriend in a fit of jealousy! What's next? Well, see for yourself.The style is much better than the story itself and lovers of the strange MUST see this one! Clever and very original even if the story itself seems pretty weird.

morrison-dylan-fan With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best titles of 1934,I started searching round a DVD sellers site,and I was pleased to spot a great sounding Film Noir,starring The Invisible Man himself: Claude Rains,which led to me getting ready to witness a passionate crime take place.The plot:Feeling confident that he has slithered his client away from a guilty verdict,a hot-shot lawyer called Lee Gentry leaves the court before the jury has even had the slightest chance to consider its verdict.Ignoring comments from the press over him getting criminals off the hook,Gentry gives all of his attention to cabaret singer Carmen Brown.Despite Brown expressing her love for him,Gentry is desperate to get rid of her,so that he can replace her with his latest piece of arm candy: Katy Costello,this leads to Gentry putting fake dating ads in the paper as Brown,in the hope she will get back with her ex Eddie WhiteWanting Brown to reveal the suspected affair,Gentry starts attempting to give signals to White that the relationship is back on,with planted evidence.Taking his fake evidence to Brown,Gentry is horrified when Brown is still not willing to say that she is having an affair.Getting into a fight with Brown,Gentry ends up accidentally shooting her.Fearing that he could face the chair for murder,Gentry begins making plans on how he can use his slippery skills to escape from his own verdict.View on the film:For what was his 4th film role, Claude Rains gives a marvellous performance as Lee Gentry,with Rains making Gentry look like he is completely covered in grease that slides down Gentry's slick suits,which is highlighted by Rains painting Gentry as a ruthless Film Noir character,whose only emotion is getting one over all the "bugs" below him.Dipping into his Invisible Man past,Rains pulls the "id/ego" out of Gentry,and shows the "invisible" ego of Gentry to be a smooth talker,whose self-centred narrow vision stops Gentry from seeing the direction that the "bugs" are taking.Making her debut,16 year old Margo gives a tremendous performance as femme fatale Carmen Brown,thanks to Margo giving Carmen a smoking hot glamour style,with cracks which hint at a darker past hidden away.Making their directing debut away from the studio system,writers/directors (with the uncredited,extremely generous help of Lee Garmes) Ben Hecht and Lee Garmes (who cameo in the title…with their wives!) unleash a charcoal Film Noir.Opening with a breath- taking opening effects scene designed by Slavko Vorkapich,Hecht & Garmes paint a world completely covered in grime. The directors superbly use overlaying images,to show Gentry's ego/ID overriding even the most basic morals,as tightly-held close ups of Gentry showing pushing away any doubts,with the knowledge that he will always win.Opening with Gentry saying that he views the public as "bugs" the excellent screenplay by Hecht and Garmes pulls open every inch of darkness within the film.Keeping away from giving Gentry any likable features,the writers show every inch of Gentry to be dripping with a rich,decaying nihilism,that soaks up any possible light in its surroundings,with the sole goal of dragging even the smallest light (such as Carmen Brown) into a vicious Film Noir,as Gentry begins to find a passion for crime.

kevin olzak 1934's "Crime Without Passion" is a rarely seen independent written, produced, and directed by regular writing team Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur ("The Front Page"), which was followed by three more in a span of two years- "The Scoundrel," "Once in a Blue Moon," and "Soak the Rich" (Hecht directed three more without MacArthur, who never directed again). Shot on Long Island in May-June 1934, this was Claude Rains' first feature since the phenomenal success of his Hollywood debut "The Invisible Man," and the actual film debut of actress/dancer Margo, niece of Xavier Cugat, remembered as the wife of GREEN ACRES' Eddie Albert, and mother of Edward Lawrence Albert (who looked just like his beautiful mother). Top billed Rains excels as Lee Gentry, smug, self-satisfied defense attorney, cool under fire in the courtroom, dismissing his guilty clients as little more than insects, using women much the same way. On one hand is long suffering lover Carmen Brown (Margo), who simply cannot let go, while he has since fallen for Katy Costello, who would rather they part as friends (played by Whitney Bourne, also making her film debut, finishing with less than a dozen credits). The lustful Gentry schemes to rid himself of Carmen, first falsely accusing her of seeing an old flame (Stanley Ridges), then confronting her in her apartment (with a loaded gun). Things go badly as he unintentionally shoots her, then must build an alibi for himself, desperately trying to maintain his composure with his own neck in the hangman's noose. A welcome last gasp of pre-code paranoia, a fascinating study of a most unlikable lead character; Claude Rains continued his newfound stardom in "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," "Mystery of Edwin Drood," and "The Clairvoyant." Surprise cameos from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur as reporters interviewing Gentry 10 minutes in, even more surprising cameos from their respective wives 48 minutes in, Fanny Brice and Helen Hayes, seen by the camera panning through a hotel lobby. Another feature debut is that of Paula Trueman, a ubiquitous presence playing elderly eccentrics in the 70s and 80s, looking very much like Fanny Brice's 'Baby Snooks' in her scene stealing role as Buster Malloy, Carmen's stage partner, who inadvertently aids the despised Gentry with his meticulously plotted alibi.

kidboots Critics and public alike were dazzled by "Crime Without Passion" written, produced and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who had collaborated on many plays over the years. Having the Paramount Astoria, New York studio almost to themselves, photographer Lee Garmes and special effects director Slavko Vorkapich created many striking technical innovations often copied over the years.For the small percentage of the public who happened to see this independently made film - the astonishing first few moments would have shocked them out of their seats. Near naked furies rise from a murdered woman's blood and with breaking glass and maniacal laughter show the sordidness of tawdry affairs. Lee Gentry (Claude Rains) is a brilliant but cynical attorney who claims there would be no-one in prison if there were more attorneys like him to defend them. In his private life he is not so brilliant as he is completely besotted with icy but socially prominent Katie (Whitney Bourne) and far above (in his opinion) Carmen Brown (Margo), his current inamorata, who is clingy but passionate and loving.Lee thinks he knows all the angles involving criminal law which comes in handy when he accidentally kills Carmen - or does he??? Goaded on by his alter ego the all too human Lee, while setting up a certain Mr. White (Stanley Ridges, who was also excellent in "Black Friday" (1940)) to take a fall, accidentally drops a telegram on his way to Carmen's apartment, then bumps into a woman he wishes to avoid in the middle of setting up his alibi.All too soon it is over, as dazzling as it began. Claude Rains, seen for the first time by movie goes (he was only heard in "The Invisible Man") scored brilliantly in the lead and Margo, in her screen debut was appropriately warm and passionate as Carmen.