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It's always a pleasant surprise to run into one of Myrna Loy and William Powell's legendary pairings. "Libeled Lady" was even more pleasant than usual! Spencer Tracy is marvelous as the too smooth operator, while Harlow shrills her way through the film, stealing every scene.

Still and all, the real selling point of this film is the clever drawing room dialogue and rat-a-tat-tat delivery! One does not see this type of intelligent comedic script come out of Hollywood these days. Full of double entendre, perfectly honed sarcasm and beautifully timed quips, this film keeps you smiling, even as you wince at Powell's adept physical comedy, full of falls and falls and falls.

As for his co-star, watching Loy glow on screen is always magic, the moments that she raises an eyebrow and drops in a gem of a line, well, there's the real abracadabra...

This movie is over 70 years old but is far better than what mostly comes out of the film industry these days. The picture is genuinely funny and all the performers are excellent. In brief a newspaper who have libeled a lady need to get her legal action against them stopped to prevent the newspaper going out of business so they devise a plot to set up their victim. There are all sorts of comical twists and turns and plenty of good gags and amusing moments. The movie is very well directed, has an excellent script and the voters here on IMDb have got the high mark exactly right. Well done to Turner Classic Movies for showing this on their channel:

8/10

Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Jean Harlow star in "Libeled Lady," about the attempts to convince a society woman to drop a lawsuit against a newspaper.

Spencer Tracy is a scream in his role of a newspaper editor who has been engaged to Jean Harlow for some time, but his work keeps getting in the way of their marriage and relationship. His whole life revolves around his newspaper. When an heiress, played by Loy, sues the newspaper for libel, Tracy puts William Powell to work, hoping that by photographing them together, he can convince Loy to drop the suit. But it will only work if Powell is a married man caught cheating, so Tracy convinces Harlow to marry him.

Harlow is her usual feisty self. Powell is marvelous, especially in his fishing scenes, which are classics, especially the one in which he literally chases a trout through a stream. It's laugh out loud material if there ever was any. Loy has the least showy part, though she's quite beautiful and works well with Powell, portending great things to come.

This is a very enjoyable film with Tracy milking the comedy for all it's worth. Apparently his comedic work was a revelation back then, unlike today, when we know how adept he was at it.

A film with four stars of this magnitude was an event in 1936 and, indeed, it still is in 2004. Though the subject matter is slight and the acting is not too terribly taxing on the affable quartet, it was well-thought-of-enough to rate a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Tracy plays a newspaperman whose own wedding plans are interrupted by the fact that his paper has mistakingly run a libelous story about the daughter of one of his competitors. Loy, as the daughter, slaps a $5 million libel suit against Tracy's newspaper which, if won, will sink it. Since he knows he will lose, he rehires former employee Powell, who he feels will be able to charm Loy into an indelicate situation, thus rendering her reputation spoiled enough to cost her her libel suit. Part of the scheme, however, to make it seem legitimate is to marry off Powell to his own fiance (Harlow.) It is here that the film gets a lot of its laughs as desperate-to-wed Harlow finds herself getting married......but to the wrong man! Powell and Loy get most of the sparkling dialogue and sophisticated repartee, but contemporary audiences are likelier to get a kick out of mouthy, hilarious Harlow. Her comedic gifts (and her ample physical assets) are on prime display, notably when the judge says it's safe to kiss the bride and in a later scene where Powell is learning to fly-fish. All of the stars do very well and each gets a chance to rub up against the others. Powell and Loy are a legendary pairing with 14 films to show them off. Tracy does a slick job and shows his versatility. They are aided by a stable of amusing character actors, the type of people Hollywood was famous for and can no longer provide with regularity. (Today, almost any character actor that scores a hit is thrust into his/her own TV show, TV talk show or lead role in a film!) The film offers both wit and slapstick, wrapped up in some gorgeous sets and costumes. (The MGM gloss is fully in place.) Sadly, the light that was Harlow would be dimmed in just a year after this, but audiences are still able to enjoy her fine work in films like this.

The beginning of "Libeled Lady" shows its four stars walking arm in arm toward the camera. The stars being Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, some of the best actors working in Hollywood in the thirties!

Only a studio like MGM could pull this coup. They had in its heyday some of the best and more radiant figures in its payroll. As a studio, it could gather the best talents working in those days and create fabulous vehicles for them to shine, which is the case with this film. This delightful screwball comedy with romantic overtones has kept its luster even after almost seventy years since it was produced. Jack Conway directed with a light touch.

"Libeled Lady" got away with a lot having been filmed before the Hays Code got its grip in everything that was produced in Hollywood in the succeeding years. The dialog is quite frank and sophisticated, even for that era.

Jean Harlow had perhaps her best moment in the movies playing Gladys Benton, the woman who is engaged to be married and has her wedding postponed. William Powell, who was at the height of his career, and popularity, plays Bill Chandler, the man who is called to do a favor to the man that has fired him, by taking an interest in an heiress who is notorious for suing any newspaper that dares to print anything about her that is not true. Myrna Loy is the heiress, Connie Allenbury, who falls for the ruse that Bill Chandler is made to perform, but deep down she has fallen in love with him. Spencer Tracy is the editor of the newspaper in question, who concocts the plan to get the paper off the hook in paying the five million dollars.

In supporting roles we get to see some of the best actors of the time: Cora Witherspoon, William Connolly, Charlie Grapevine, William Benedict, Bunny Beatty, and others that enhance the film with their presence.

The film will not disappoint. It is one of the funniest comedies of that period.

In the best movies of the thirties, the stars are glib (in the best way) and glamorous. Libeled Lady is blessed with a clever script that serves up fastballs that the cast handles adroitly. And I have to credit the amazing wardrobe by Dolly Tree, made all the more remarkable as she was responsible for the wardrobes of 23 films in 1936. Loy's wardrobe, in particular, is impeccable.

This was the 5th in the series of William Powell/Myrna Loy pairings. They were cranking them out at a rate of about 2 per year during this period, so you might think that the chemistry between them would be stale or formulaic. But in Libeled Lady, the chemistry is fresh and the relationship between their characters is not just another Thin Man performance.

Then there are Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. Tracy is adept at the machine-gun delivery required by this (screwball) comedy, and Harlow just shines, showing more depth of character and emotion than she is sometimes given credit for. After Libeled Lady, she only acted in two films, so the screen never saw what greater depths of performance she might have achieved. (She died of uremic poisoning during the filming of Saratoga Trunk)

The plot involves a newspaperman (Powell), good at the con, who ingratiates himself to a wealthy young woman (Loy) and her father in order to set her up for a blackmail situation. She suspects his motives, but he manages to pull her in. Plenty of plot curves ensue, adding humor and more character development.

I particularly liked the fishing scene. Without much dialogue it advances the plot, provides some laughs and shows that Dolly Tree can even make Myrna Loy look sexy in fishing gear.

William Powell must have loved the year 1936. It was the year he made "The Great Ziegfeld" (which won the best picture Oscar), "My Man Godfrey"(for which he was nominated for best actor), and one of the best screwball romantic comedies ever made. That picture would be "Libeled Lady". Although this film is widely viewed,with good reason, as one of Jean Harlow's best films, I think that Powell steals the picture and runs away with the best performance.

Not that the rest of the cast is too shabby, either. Myrna Loy as the titled character, and Spencer Tracy as a newspaper editor from Hell, add to the madness and mayhem. And Harlow is at her best in her role as a woman who is engaged to Tracy, and married to Powell. That's as far as I'll go as far as the plot is concerned. Just see the movie.

One of the best points about this film is the fact that it was made before the production code was put in place. Movies like this could be much freer with sexual situations and dialogue, while still leaving much to the imagination.

The film is directed at breakneck speed by Jack Conway, who smartly, gets out of the way and lets his wonderful actors take over.

If you haven't seen "Libeled Lady" yet, you must make a point of watching for it the next time it's on Turner Classic Movies. Then tape it. You'll be glad you did. You'll want to watch it over and over again.

9 out of 10

Wealthy socialite Myrna Loy and her father Walter Connolly sue for the sum of five million dollars the newspaper Spencer Tracy works at for libel for a story that claimed Loy was chasing after a married man. Tracy convinces smooth William Powell to first marry Jean Harlow, who is Tracy's long waiting fiancée, and then to attract Loy's interest enough to get alone with her in order to show that she really is the kind of woman that was suggested in the original story. Powell, perhaps because his part puts him in society as he gets closer with Loy, is probably the most fun to watch, while both Tracy and and Harlow have their moments, but are both forced to run around too much in order to carry out the elaborate and increasingly ridiculous plan. In this regard, Libeled Lady seems to get a little too strained along the way, and the way is a bit too long as well, thus diminishing its comedy value somewhat, though it is still plenty funny and witty enough in parts to be recommendable.

... and it definitely is a roadmap on how to make a film that is interesting to adults and feels authentic during the production code era. And that was needed because for the first three or so years after the production code began to be enforced, the studios released some real stink bombs.

The New York Star prints a story that calls out socialite Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) as a home wrecker. The story turns out to be false, and Connie Allenbury sues the Star for five million dollars, which if awarded would cause th paper to go under.

The Star's managing editor Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy), once he unsuccessfully begs Connie to drop the suit, comes up with a plan to show her up as a homewrecker in another situation entirely, thus hoping to either get her to drop the suit at that point, or putting her in a position to lose the suit by reputation. He gets reporter and lady's man Bill Chandler (William Powell) to marry Warren's fiancee, Gladys (Jean Harlow) in what the three of them know to be a sham marriage. Bill is then supposed to woo Connie, after which his "wife" will burst in on them and accuse Connie of busting up her home. Complications ensue when Bill really does fall for Connie.

William Powell makes this movie with his combination of urbane charm, facial expressions, great comic timing, and something he rarely gets to show off - a real talent for slapstick comedy. Of course he and Myrna Loy always had great chemistry together, and another great tribute to his acting is that the script calls for the relationship between his character and his "wife" to seem strained - it does - when he and Jean Harlow were the actual real life couple in this film. Spencer Tracy is actually fourth billed at this point, but he's only been at MGM for a year and is still playing "the hard guy" at this point, and he has been playing similar roles for about five years. That will all change with "San Francisco".

Highly recommended and great for repeat viewings.

One might wonder about casting 4 heavyweights in the same film-- any one of the leads could carry a film by themselves-- but all together you're afraid that they might either weigh down the film or, ala the "Dream Team" 1990, fail to live up to expectations. But this is one time you time you will not be disappointed-- with hysterical antics by Jean Harlowe, the always dependable repartee between classy Myrna Lowe and suave William Powell, and Spencer Tracy proving for the first time that he can handle snappy dialogue like the best of 'em-- the chemistry between the cast makes every scene in this film a delight.

The banter flies so fast you'll miss it-- this is the height of screwball comedy. When people say they don't write them like this anymore, alas, they really don't.

We all have our biases concerning favorite actors and actresses. The more of I see of Myrna Loy and William Powell, the more they impress me, and Libeled Lady doesn't disappoint. However, I feel Spencer Tracy was miscast; I didn't find him very funny in this movie. And as for Jean Harlow, she was at times amusing, but after awhile her overacting got under my skin. I agree with one reviewer that at times she was behaving like a gangster's moll. However, her evolving relationship with Powell was a nice twist. The middle section where William Powell goes fishing was a refreshing change of pace, especially with the outdoor setting, though his ineptness was a bit over the top. I wonder if they derived some inspiration for the fishing sequences from Buster Keaton's 1923 short, The Balloonatic. For me, the scenes with Loy and Powell were by far the most satisfying. I doubt he has an equal in delivering witty lines oozing with biting sarcasm. I strongly disagree with many of the reviews rating this one of the greatest romantic comedies ever, even comparing it to My Man Godfrey. While that movie had one of the most satisfying endings I've ever seen (with Powell delivering a surprising, brutally honest, assessment of the family he's been working for), the ending to Libeled Lady is a dreadful contrived mess that attempts to dismiss rather difficult complications in noisy, albeit trivial, fashion (as if they had no idea how to end it). Nevertheless, it's well worth the watch to see William Powell in top form.

Man oh Man. Harlow, Tracy, Powell and Loy in one film. There truly were more stars at MGM than in the heavens. This is one of the best screwball comedies of the 30's maybe only out done by My Man Godfrey. The script funny as heck even by todays standards. The acting top of the line. Tracy was great at comedy it's great that MGM allowed him to do one every know and then. Loy is Loy classy, sassy, funny and witty. Powell at the zenith of his game and Harlow glows and steals the film. Harlow marching around in a wedding dress is a hoot. It's hard to believe that within a year Jean Harlow would be dead. If it's on TCM or you see it in a video store grab it and see what a screwball comedy really looks like

Libeled Lady is yet another screwball comedy about a ditzy heiress. But it certainly is one of the best that came out of the Thirties. All four stars are at the top of their game in this one.

The ditzy heiress is Myrna Loy. Some drunken correspondent from London filed a false story and Myrna and father Walter Connolly want to sue the paper. Owner Charley Grapewin and editor Spencer Tracy are worried. In fact Tracy has postponed his wedding to sweetheart Jean Harlow for the umpteenth time to meet this crisis.

He hires back former star reporter William Powell to get something on Loy. Tracy and Powell hatch a scheme that would involve Powell marrying Harlow temporarily and then wooing Loy to get her in a compromising position. Of course the long suffering Harlow actually agrees to this piece of insanity.

I'm convinced that Harlow's character is the model for Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. Adelaide put up with almost as much before she finally landed Nathan Detroit. It's hard to believe that a year later, Jean Harlow was gone.

Myrna Loy is not stepping too much out of character as the heiress. Her role her as Connie Allenbury is only about three steps from Nora Charles. She's a rich woman in the Thin Man also, indulging hobby Nick in his hobby as a detective away from his full time profession as drinker.

The women had worked with each other before and both male leads had played with both women before. But this was the only time that MGM heavyweights Spencer Tracy and William Powell were ever in the same film together. That in itself is reason to see Libeled Lady.

The single most hilarious scene for me is Bill Powell trying to fish in order to get in with Loy and Connolly. His scene in the trout stream landing 'old wall eye' is priceless. In fact Powell's battle with the fish was the premise for one of Rock Hudson's best comedies, Man's Favorite Sport.

And Tracy proved he could play sophisticated comedy. No doubt the reason MGM cast him with Katharine Hepburn later on.

Simply the best. Right up there with My Man Godfrey and all those sparkling comedies Tracy did with Hepburn later on.

This is funny and entertaining. A lot of so-called screwball comedies from around this time were formulaic, shouty affairs clearly made just to make a financial profit. Although MGM engineered this to be a guaranteed hit by using focus groups to ensure audience expectations were met - so it's nothing original or groundbreaking - it does feel different mainly because everyone seems to be having so much fun.

It feels like the script was written by a team of writers in the same way modern tv sitcom-coms are produced nevertheless it's slick, genuinely funny with characters you can believe in. Even for us fans of 1930s movies, the humour from that era doesn't always work but this still has some real laugh out loud moments. You'd never associate William Powell with slapstick humour but his surprisingly hilarious fishing routine is funny enough to make even the surliest cat laugh.

I never really took to Spencer Tracy but he's ok in this. Likewise to me, Myrna Loy has always looked like a sinister scary being risen from the underworld but she's also fine in this. The real star is William Powell - this is his film and he's as brilliant as always.

Top billing however goes to Jean Harlow which still bemuses me. She was an atrocious actress but like Alice White a few years earlier, it was her personality not her acting skill on which her performance relied. In this she plays the Jean Harlow character turned up to 11 and in this film it's absolutely perfect. Something which she was the undisputed master of was bouncing! There's nothing quite as amazing as simply watching her walk across a set wearing one of her distinctive loose fitting silk dresses. Nice but she's still no Alice White!

A moderately funny film that tries for a screwball zaniness that it just can't quite deliver. Its biggest selling point is the quartet of stars that headline it, four of the biggest MGM had to offer at the time: William Powell and Myrna Loy (who had already struck gold as a team in "The Thin Man"), Spencer Tracy (just on the verge of winning back-to-back Oscars) and Jean Harlow, trying (and failing, in my opinion) to prove herself as a comedienne.

Tracy plays a newspaper reporter engaged to Harlow, who can't ever quite get around to marrying her because of his devotion to his work. Loy is a society girl who is slandered in Tracy's paper. Tracy sends Powell out on a mission to put the moves on Loy so that the slander will be fact and save his paper from a libel suit, a scheme which also entails that Powell and Harlow pretend to be married. Things get complicated (as these things do) when Powell begins actually falling for Loy and no longer wants to trick her, and Harlow begins actually falling for Powell, much to the dismay of Tracy, whom no one seems to fall for.

This all sounds like it should be the makings of a grade-A comedy, but somehow it's not. The movie is always amiable, but rarely does it take off as a screwball comedy the way other comedies from the same time, like "My Man Godfrey" or "Bringing Up Baby", do. Much of my resistance to the film lies in the casting of Harlow, an actress I simply can't stand. Every time I see her in anything, I can't help but think how much better Ginger Rogers would be in her place -- they had the same look and played the same types, but Rogers had a graceful way with comedy and Harlow clunks around, always looking like she's trying too hard. No complaints about the other three though, especially Myrna Loy, one of my favorite actresses, who looks absolutely adorable in this.

The film is worth watching, though, for one scene: William Powell trout fishing. I'll say no more.

Grade: B

Since Jean Harlow didn't make many movies, it's important to treasure every one she made. Even the ones with Spencer Tracy. Since Myrna Loy and William Powell only made fourteen movies together, it's also important to treasure every one they made. In this one, they don't play husband and wife, but instead rivals in a divorce suit. Myrna claims she's being libeled by being named as correspondent, and newspaper editor Spencer Tracy hires reporter Bill to pretend to seduce her to brand her as a harlot. That way, the newspaper isn't sued for libel and Spence can still be a world-class jerk.

In case you don't think he's a jerk yet, here's how he treats his fiancé Jean Harlow: he repeatedly puts off marrying her then suggests she marry Bill to help him with his newspaper story. Who wouldn't want to marry Jean Harlow? It's just not believable that Spence wouldn't want to marry her, and that the beautiful, sensational Jean would stick around after being treated so badly. Jean and Bill were an offscreen couple during the time this movie was made, but since the romances don't pair them together, it's not nearly as much fun to watch as it could have been. This one isn't the worst movie out there, and it's a classic fast-talking screwball comedy that could have starred Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, or Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas, so if you like that genre, you'll want to rent this one. In the supporting cast, you'll find former Rag-winner Walter Connolly as Myrna's dad and future Rag-winner Charlie Grapewin as Spence's boss. And if you blink, you'll miss seeing Hattie McDaniel.