Libeled Lady

Libeled Lady (1936)

At the top of their game.

When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.

Date of release
1936-10-09
TMDB
7.3 / 10 (138)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Comedy, Romance
Director
Jack Conway

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Libeled Lady is a 1936 American screwball comedy film starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy. It was directed by Jack Conway, with a screenplay by Maurine Dallas Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, and George Oppenheimer, from a story by Wallace Sullivan. This was the fifth of fourteen films in which Powell and Loy were teamed, inspired by their success in the Thin Man series.

Production

The film went into production in mid-July 1936 and wrapped on September 1. Location shooting took place in Sonora, California. Lionel Barrymore was originally cast as Mr. Allenbury, and Rosalind Russell was originally considered to play Connie Allenbury.

Harlow and Powell were an off-screen couple, and Harlow wanted to play Connie Allenbury, so that her character and Powell's wound up together. MGM insisted, however, that the film be another William Powell-Myrna Loy vehicle, as they originally intended. Harlow had already signed on to do the film but had to settle for the role of Gladys Benton. Nevertheless, as Gladys, top-billed Harlow got to play a wedding scene with Powell.

Tracy had previously been enamored with Loy, who was newly married to Arthur Hornblow Jr. at the time of this production. Loy’s autobiography recounted the humorous atmosphere on the set. For example, Tracy set up an "I hate Hornblow" table in the studio commissary, reserved for men who claimed to have been romantically rejected by Loy.

Two passenger liners made cameos as the ship in the film, Cunard's RMS Berengaria (in the pierside view, as the SS Queen Anne): and France's SS Normandie in an aerial shot.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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