The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Homicide detective Melvyn Douglas is determined to make good in his chosen career, but his long-time girlfriend Joan Blondell would rather him retire and push baby carriages, the thought of which makes him wince. She is tired of his being pulled away from their romantic evenings out on the town, so she begins plotting ways of getting him to either be fired or resign. "I'm more interested in making Kenny a good cop rather than a good husband", police chief Clarence Kolb tells Blondell after she inquires if he's been fired. But once a cop, always a cop, and even after he does resign, circumstances change which keeps him working much to Blondell's frustration.A funny subplot involves an ill-fated romance between Blondell's co-worker Ruth Donnelly whom Douglas sets up with Edward Brophy. All would be fine if Brophy didn't have a 40 year sentence waiting for him upstate. "Age before beauty", he tells her, allowing her to go in front of him. Blondell comments, "Your friend doesn't waste much time" to which Douglas replies, "He hasn't got much time to waste". Brophy proves to be a rather dashing dancer, hoofing with both Blondell and Donnelly, promising her, "I'll never look at another dame as long as I live." It seems that the biggest challenge in police chief Kolb's job is to find a police officer willing to dress in women's clothing to trap a killer. Guess who ends up in drag! "Good grief, you look like my Aunt Nellie!", Blondell exclaims upon seeing him. Of course, he doesn't remove his mustache, covering it instead with a flowered see-through veil. Blondell follows him, is attacked, and through guilt, Douglas promises to marry her, much to Kolb's dismay. A smart and funny script keeps the wisecracks flowing, while the action comes fast and furious, giving enough mystery both for the murder and whether or not Douglas will ultimately commit."Congradulations! I hope all your kids have flat feet!", Donnelly tells Douglas after he stands Blondell up at their city hall marriage for police business. Eventually, like Nick and Nora (and many other "Thin Man" knock-off couples), Blondell joins Douglas in helping him in his investigation in order to save him from going to jail, and this leads to a more serious last quarter. Even though Blondell may seem a bit one sided in her determination to grasp onto Douglas and take him away from his career, she does seem to come around and understand why he has to do for a living what he does. So in the end, this is less about a clinging, manipulative woman, but about two people in love coming to an understanding and how they deal with their differences.

This is the third of three films Melvyn Douglas made with Joan Blondell in 1938 and 1939. It seemed that Columbia Pictures was trying to generate some momentum with the two but it apparently didn't take. It's too bad, as I really liked the two together--at least in the two films I saw (this one and "There's Always a Woman"). They seemed to have good chemistry.This one begins with Douglas as a police lieutenant. For some odd reason, the Captain seems to want to destroy Douglas' love life with Blondell. Every time they plan a date, the Captain insists that Douglas needs to respond--even on his off days. This puts Douglas in the dog house with his girlfriend and eventually it causes Douglas to do something really crazy. The Captain, again in an effort to break up Douglas and Blondell, sends Melvyn on an errand to escort a convict to prison. But, Douglas is afraid to tell Blondell that their date has been canceled--so he brings the convict with him on the date--figuring he can drop off the guy at the prison later! And naturally, it blows up in his face and the police end up looking pretty bad.Eventually, after many further indignities, Douglas has finally had enough. He knows the only way to get her back is to quit his job once and for all. But, like a retired fire horse, he just can't get it out of his system and despite telling Blondell he'd quit, he is tricked by the boss into investigating a murder/robbery. The notion of Douglas freeing a convicted murderer is just plain nuts. Why didn't he just let the guy stay in jail while he investigated instead of putting himself in jeopardy of a long prison term for such an act. And, sadly, at the point in the film the plot seemed to drag--mostly because it became more of a standard mystery film at this point. Like Nick and Nora Charles and Douglas and Blondell in "There's Always a Woman", the two pair up to solve a crime....and the film becomes all too ordinary Overall, I liked the characters and the story had some nice moments, but the final 1/2 of the film is a bit of a let-down. Not bad, but after such a nice start, not all that great either.

The only other review of this movie as of this date really trashes the stars and the movie itself. I usually like to read the user comments to give me an idea of what to expect from a movie I don't know much about. It's unfortunate when there aren't many comments for a certain tile, because when there is only one review and it unreasonably trashes the movie and cast, you don't get an idea of what to expect. I read the review before watching this title and I don't know where all the venom for this movie and the stars came from. Douglas and Blondell were both very talented and attractive people who usually delivered, even when the material was not the greatest. I found the movie and the performances fun and enjoyable. It isn't one of the great all-time classics, but a pleasant and funny diversion-much more than you can hope for in most newer movies. If you are a fan of these stars, you will not be disappointed.

There's nothing amazing about 'The Amazing Mr Williams'. Part of this movie's problem is its lead actor Melvyn Douglas. He was a lousy actor and lazy with it. For most of his career, he allowed his good looks, a glib manner and (usually, but not in this movie) some fine scriptwriting to make up for his lack of acting ability. I disliked Douglas as an actor before I knew anything about him as a person; I've learnt enough about him to know that I also despise his politics. I'll give Melvyn Douglas credit for one thing: his chromosomes did produce the incredibly talented and sexy actress Illeana Douglas.Melvyn Douglas made this movie right after the brilliant 'Ninotchka' ... talk about a comedown! 'The Amazing Mr Williams' is allegedly a comedy, but I never laughed. Douglas plays a plainclothes detective on the homicide squad, named Kenny Williams. I never heard of a police detective named Kenny, but if they called him Kenneth Williams ... well, what a carry-on. The whole city is in a panic because a serial killer is going about, killing women. No motive is given for this; he just likes to kill women. The mayor (Jonathan Hale, better than usual) calls Williams on the carpet to account for his failure to catch the killer.SPOILERS APPROACHING. The cheap, vulgar, untalented and unattractive Joan Blondell plays the mayor's secretary. (She doesn't sound literate enough to file a letter, much less type one.) Blondell and Douglas squabble like a cat and a dog, so it's blatantly obvious they're going to end up together.At this movie's lowest point, Melvyn Douglas decides to draw out the killer by dressing up as a woman. You do NOT want to see Melvyn Douglas in drag! He's well over six foot, and he doesn't even shave off that annoying moustache. The similarly-'tashed William Powell was an actor very similar in type to Melvyn Douglas (but much more talented). When Powell disguised himself as a woman in 'Love Crazy', he had the integrity to shave off his moustache: a genuine sacrifice, as Powell needed it to grow in again for his next role. But Melvyn Douglas brings nothing whatever to his role in this movie, not even a razor. He plays his drag scenes with the same annoying smirk he used throughout the bulk of his career.On the plus side, 'The Amazing Mr Williams' has several of those splendid supporting players who made Hollywood's movies of the '30s so delightful. Edward Brophy is brilliant here, touching and funny as a criminal who gets an unlikely furlough from his life sentence. The dyspeptic Donald MacBride is fine as a cop who gets mistaken for the killer, and is nearly lynched by a mob. Ruth Donnelly is splendid: as usual for her, but here she gets a chance to show her talents away from her usual orbit on the Warner Brothers backlot. Jimmy Conlin, Luis Alberni and the grinning Dave Willock are all fine in small roles. Barbara Pepper (whom I usually dislike) is good here too. The grossly unpleasant Maude Eburne gets some screen time; I always loathe her, and she gives the same performance in every film ... but some audiences enjoy Eburne's one-note performance very much, for reasons I can't fathom.If you're familiar with Hollywood character actors of the 1930s, and the roles they tended to play, one glance at IMDb's cast list will tell you who the murderer is. That's the problem with 'The Amazing Mr Wiliams': everything is too obvious. I'll rate this movie 2 points out of 10.