The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

I love the The Thin Man series and have all of them. William Powell and Myrna Loy were outstanding as Nck and Nora Charles - a famous detective and his wife.. This movie doesn't hold a candle to The Thin Man! Although William Powell's character is a doctor, he and his ex-wife character, Jean Arthur, a writer of detective novels, get caught up in a real murder which they work on solving. Powell is great as usual but the ex-wife character, Jean Arthur is only fair in her performance. It's just irritating that she plays the part as cute, coy and often times, slapstick. Oh, Myrna, where are you? I gave it a 4 because of Powell's acting and humor.

When I happened upon this movie I wasn't sure I wanted to see William Powell solve a mystery without Myrna Loy at his side. I am so glad I gave it a chance. Jean Arthur is perfect as his mystery writing, always suspicious ex-wife who drops in on him unexpectedly with a man to serve a subpoena because Powell (Dr. Bradford) isn't making his alimony payments. He says he isn't going to pay because she already has 2/3 of the money in California. She invites herself to dinner and during the evening decides that she is going to marry him again. But the doctor has another unexpected visitor that night--a friend, Mr. North, who is involved in horse racing. The movie had opened with a big splash about a racing jockey who died before his horse could win a big race. Though it was said to be a heart attack, Mr North suspects foul play and asks the doctor to go to the morgue and see what he can find out, thus involving Dr. Bradford in a murder mystery he would rather not get near. His ex-wife is concerned for his safety and the next thing he knows she is moving into his guest room to keep an eye on him. She is also very inclined to get involved in the mystery herself. Though I wouldn't call this a screwball comedy in the strictest sense (whatever that is), it does have elements of that genre along with the mystery around which the story revolves.What is in the envelope Mr. North has mailed to the doctor but addressed to himself?Why does Mr. North call to say he is coming to get it and then never show?Why does the doctor's secretary suddenly leave her job, claiming illness when she obviously is not?Who took the scalpel from the doctor's office that he had used on the dead jockey's autopsy?What is so deadly about gelatin?Why does a corpse show up on the doctor's doorstep?And will the doctor remarry the Ex-Mrs. Bradford?All this and more awaits you in 81 minutes of pure black & white mystery pleasure. Presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen with absolutely NO extras (are we not used to this now with the Warner Archive Collection?), this DVD is printed on demand and is only made to play in "player only" models, not DVD Player/recorders. I felt like the images were very sharp, but the print had not been cleaned. There were many specks and flecks on the picture and an occasional blip. The sound was clear and I enjoyed watching it. If you are used to pristine, HD, remastered movies, this may not be quite up to your standard, but I did not feel the minor problems were a distraction to me as I watched. I only pay attention to such things in order to note it in reviews like this.The price at this writing is high and it is less at another website, however, buying from a marketplace seller here on the old Amazon with their minimal shipping was actually less expense than the other website with their inflated shipping. Just saying.

While no one can replace Myrna Loy, what a joy it is to see Bill Powell working with Jean Arthur, an actress with whom he has a great deal of chemistry (unlike Ginger Rogers in "Star of Midnight"). Paula Bradford (Arthur) is a mystery writer whose attempts to solve real mysteries drove her doctor husband (Powell) to the divorce court. But one day she shows up with a process server, who gives Dr. Bradford a summons for back alimony, hoping this will force him to marry her again. Later, in a very funny scene, we see porters carrying huge suitcases into the doctor's apartment. Paula is moving back in, whether Dr. Lawrence Bradford likes it or not!Now the story could have ended right there, but Larry learns through horse trainer Mike North that a jockey who was on his way to winning a big race suddenly died of "heat failure." All of a sudden, Larry and Paula are on the case, pursued not only by assorted gangsters but also Inspector Corrigan (James Gleason, who was born to play a police detective), who at one point believes Larry is the murderer (especially when a dead body falls into Larry's apartment!). And it's really funny that, whenever Larry starts rolling around the floor with a criminal, Paula winds up hitting Larry over the head with a vase!In one of the funniest scenes of the picture, Dr. Bradford decides to visit the morgue, and Paula wants to go with him. "The morgue is no place for a woman." What a sexist remark! Paula insists on going, and Larry insists on bringing his butler Stokes (Eric Blore was born to play a butler) along to take Paula home. As soon as Paula enters, she faints. Larry looks around for Stokes to take her home, but he's fainted, too!When Larry examines the jockey's body, he learns that there are traces of harmless gelatin on it. Later, Paula serves Larry a dinner of nothing but gelatin and wonders why they are both still alive! No, Paula, you can't die from eating "JELL-O"! It was what was inside the gelatin that killed the jockey.Larry believes that the murderer will strike again, so he goes to the track and instructs all the newsreel cameramen to take film not only of the race, but of everyone they see hanging around the jockeys. That night, he invites all the suspects (just like "The Thin Man") to dinner and shows them the film. We clearly see the murderer putting something on the jockey's back. And just so you know, the bite of a black widow spider can be very painful, but it's rarely fatal.

A bit of a mystery but all screw-ball comedy. Wonderful cast. I re-watch it all the time, right after I finish the Thin Man series.

Very well done with suspense and wit

Fans of this era will be used to seeing William Powell paired with Myrna Loy (most memorably in the Thin Man series), but Jean Arthur's performance ranks just as high as Myrna's. Powell, as ever, is superb as a reluctant amateur detective manoeuvred into investigating a baffling murder at the race track. Jean Arthur is a perfect foil as his ditzy crime writing ex-wife who can't let go of him and who gives as good as she gets in some knockabout comedy and witty repartee. If only they could still make films as good as this today. The DVD was technically flawless too, making it all the easier to relax into the plot and get swept along with the action. Fabulous.

If it wasn’t for the comical scenes with the charismatic William Powell and the lovely fluty-voiced Jean Arthur, I would give it a low vote -- mainly due to the uninteresting mystery plot. Having said that, I will be watching it over and over again....

He enjoyed it.

Glad to add this lesser known film to my Jean Arthur collection

Early Hollywood 'who done it', Enjoyable to watch