SHADOW OF DOUBT (1935)

Careful, this isn't the Hitchcock classic about the "Black Widow" strangler--that's SHADOW OF A DOUBT. Instead, it's an MGM B-comedy/thriller that, though not as creepy or suspenseful as Hitchcock, is still quite entertaining. Ricardo Cortez is a wealthy advertising man with an even wealthier aunt (Constance Collier). He wants to marry Virginia Bruce, an actress, but she's gotten tired of waiting for him to make his move, so she's agreed to marry play producer Bradley Page, whom we know from the get-go is a no-good bastard. However, Betty Furness is also set to marry Page, and a lovely nightclub singer (Isabel Jewell) also slips in and out of the proceedings. Page winds up dead, and Bruce and Furness are the primary suspects. Collier, an eccentric woman who hasn't left her home in 20 years, doesn't initially approve of Cortez marrying Bruce, but soon Collier's on the girl's side and she gets involved (with Cortez and the police) in trying to clear Bruce's name by finding the real killer. Collier, in her late 50's, was making her sound film debut (many years later, she played the stuffy matron in Hitchcock's ROPE) and she's quite funny and energetic; she's mostly absent from the middle of the film, but she dominates the last half-hour. She's especially good bantering with the police inspector (Edward Brophy); their relationship is more interesting than that of Cortez and Bruce. Cortez is OK--he looks *weird*, more like Basil Rathbone than himself. Maybe it's just the haircut, but I'd swear that he's wearing a false nose! All the young women are fine, especially the lovely Bruce, whom I know mostly as the title star of that odd little 40's comedy THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. Regis Toomey is a gossip hound who tags along with Cortez; Ivan Simpson has a couple of fun moments as Collier's butler. The stormy night finale is great fun, definitely worth sticking around for. [TCM]