Guilty Hands (1931)

Touches You

Fantastic!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Guilty Hands is listed as the film Lionel Barrymore followed with after his Oscar winning performance for A Free Soul. Nothing is truer in the film business than if something succeeds, follow it with several imitations. In A Free Soul Barrymore played a defense attorney who defends gangsters but doesn't want them courting his daughter. In Guilty Hands Barrymore is a former prosecuting attorney who does not like the news that a playboy client wants to marry his daughter Madge Evans and take her away from her earnest sweetheart William Bakewell. He says that he will kill the client Alan Mowbray and soon to prevent it. And by God he does kill him and really cleverly as well, it looks like suicide. However the Mowbray's former mistress Kay Francis is well on to him. Even though he was throwing her over, Francis is still carrying a torch.By 1930 at least this cast of players had mastered the technique of sound film and there was no overacting even in a film like this which goes melodramatic. I was impressed by Kay Francis in the climax where Barrymore with his years of criminal justice experience walks the local police through the scene and has them convinced of suicide. Yet your main focus is on Francis who with her expressions conveys a gallery of emotions as she knows the truth, but Barrymore has her cowed.Guilty Hands, a decent followup to A Free Soul is way melodramatic, but still has a certain fascination. Watch Francis in this, she really is something.

I really did not care for the acting in the film, with the exception of Lionel Barrymore, who (Spoilers ahead) played the murderer Richard Grant, nor with one notable exception the characters, because until the last 15 minutes, none are really worth rooting for, because they are either bad, naive or do nothing for the film. Even Barbara "Babs" Grant who is the daughter of Grant, is not the type of character you feel for (Let alone want to marry), because she set in motion the murder of Gordon Rich (Alan Mowbray), by agreeing to marry him almost on a whim, despite the fact she knows he is a creep. However, those final 15 minutes are the best part, because (Spoilers ahead)Marjorie West (Kay Francis) who is the kicked upon g/f of Rich, is willing to do the right thing and risk her own life and expose Grant as the killer (Grant goes through a long scene explaining how she will either get inherited millions from Rich, or be put on trial for the murder), until fate interferes and Grant is killed (Spoilers ahead), with the gun that he used on Rich. This allows her to remain quiet, and not tarnish the reputation of everyone else involved. Finally, for a film to work, you must either like the acting, like the characters, hate the characters (Rich is not likable, but is not a memorable screen villain), or some combination. In this film, the only good acting is done by Barrymore, and the only character that I like is Marjorie, because of her willingness to uncover and fight for the truth, no matter what, then by staying silent for the benefit of Babs.

Guilty Hands (1931) ** (out of 4) A lawyer (Lionel Barrymore) believes murder can be justifiable under certain circumstances and he takes his chance when he daughter gets ready to marry the wrong guy. This mystery is somewhat interesting considering when know Barrymore is the killer yet we get to watch him investigate the murder. Barrymore is pretty good in the role, although he goes over the top a few times like no other actor can (well, perhaps John was better at it). The ending also has a nice, if silly touch but the rest of the film is forgettable with way too much dialogue for its own good.

The opening sequence is stylish, unusual, disorienting. We don't know where we are or what is going on for a few minutes, and that reflects the film's morally disorienting territory. The premise is excellent. Barrymore is not "hammy" but commanding in a very natural way; he's playing a successful lawyer who is used to declaiming his arguments for an audience. The script employs daring ambiguities: we partly want to see the rich man murdered and Barrymore get away with it, yet Barrymore is clearly not a moral character himself, and the woman who insists upon justice for the man she loved is a "tramp" mistress who would have been willing to carry on her affair with the scoundrel after his marriage. What a crew! The magnetism of Barrymore and Francis in their moral contradictions keeps us riveted even through the parts that are like any other old-dark-house mystery. The ending is both preposterous and brilliant. You can look back and see how they set it up, yet it's very difficult to predict!