Movie Review: The Lady in Scarlet (1935)

Synopsis: While dining at a restaurant with his secretary, private investigator Oliver Keith is approached by his friend, Julia Sayre, who asks him for his help because she believes her new, wealthy husband, Albert, is in some sort of trouble and she'd like to know what he is hiding. However, when they return to Albert's office, they discover the art dealer has been murdered and later learn $100,000 in government bonds have been stolen from a safe only Albert and Julia knew the combination to.

Who's in it? The movie stars Reginald Denny, Patricia Farr, Dorothy Revier, Jameson Thomas and Lew Kelly.

Review: After a short walk to the Kwik Trip a couple blocks from my office, I realized it was getting too hot/humid for a longer walk and decided to watch a movie at lunch instead. This ended up being The Lady in Scarlet, which I came across last week and thought sounded interesting. After watching it, I can say it more than met my expectations.

The murder mystery turned out to be an interesting one, mostly because there were so many potential killers. Julia (Revier) was a suspect because many believed she was cheating on her husband with the family physician, Dr. Boyer (Thomas). The victim's daughter, Alice (Claudia Dell) was about to be cut out of her father's will after marrying his assistant, Arthur Pennyward (James Bush) without his blessing, making both suspects. 

On top of it, some of Albert's (John T. Murray) shady business dealings also meant he could have been killed over something that wasn't inheritance related and the film does a good job keeping the killer's identity a secret until the end.

Another thing that made this movie entertaining was the main protagonist, Oliver Keith (Denny), who brought a good mix of cleverness and quirkiness to the role. I especially loved the scenes with his girl Friday, Ella (Farr) because they played off each other in a way that kept the overall mood lighthearted even during some of the more serious moments and the chemistry was believable.

The movie, like many from this era, did have a bit of a sequel feel to it, as though I was supposed to know who some of the characters were ahead of time. It wasn't anything that necessarily ruined the movie for me, I just wish there would have been a bit more effort to establish Keith's background rather than just expecting me to assume he was a talented detective.

Final Opinion: It's an entertaining movie with a solid mystery and a likeable protagonist pair. I'm glad I took the time to watch it.

My Grade: A

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Here are some reviews of other 1930s mystery films:

Movie Review: The Death Kiss (1932)

Movie Review: A Strange Adventure (1932)

Movie Review: A Shriek in the Night (1933)

Movie Review: Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)