Ruth Chatterton

Adolphe Menjou

Claire Dodd

George Barbier

Douglass Dumbrille

Noel Madison

Henry O'Neill

Phillip Reed

Henry Kolker

Frank Reicher

Edward McWade

Walter Pidgeon

Frank Darien

Clay Clement

Elsa Janssen

Bess Flowers

Lowden Adams

George Blackwood

Maurice Brierre

Sidney D'Albrook

Jane Darwell

Jean De Briac

Lester Dorr

Harold Entwistle

Virginia Hammond

Ann Hovey

Olaf Hytten

Lorena Layson

Marjorie Lytell

Mary MacLaren

George Magrill

Claire McDowell

Paul Panzer

Edward Peil Sr.

Rosalie Roy

C. Montague Shaw

Larry Steers

Maidel Turner

Ellinor Vanderveer

Renee Whitney

Pat Wing

Harry Woods

Hazel Hayes

William Keighley

Leo F. Forbstein

Charles Kenyon

Jacques Deval

F. Hugh Herbert

James Gibbon

Hal B. Wallis

Ernest Haller

William Clemens

John Hughes

Heinz Roemheld

Charles Lang

Orry-Kelly

Olga Collings

Crime

Thriller

Journal of a Crime

First National Pictures

United States of America

CinemaSerf

"Moliet" (Adolphe Menjou) is under pressure from his mistress "Odette" (Claire Dodd) to end his marriage and come live with her. He is reluctant, but his hand is forced when his wife (Ruth Chatterton) overhears a bit of conversation that causes her to preempt things by shooting her rival - conveniently, as it happens, as hoodlum "Costelli" is nearby, apprehended and convicted of the crime. Thing is, "Moliet" knows who really killed his lover and she knows he knows, so their home life becomes something quite attritional with "Francoise" determined to keep her man at all costs and he equally determined, though rather benignly, that she will come to terms with the ramifications of her actions and, he hopes, do the right thing. Will she, though? The film here isn't really anything more than a standard revenge drama, but Chatterton's role offers her a chance to play the increasingly troubled character with some deft. Her gradual realisation of the impact of her actions - on her, her husband and even on the man who will take the rap, gradually makes her ill and lifeless and she performs this latter part of the role so as to encourage us to feel almost sympathetic for her. Menjou does fine as a conduit for his co-star to shine here and though the denouement is a bit of a let down, it's still worth a watch to remember that Ruth Chatterton's move into sound pictures was a great deal smoother than many.

Deutsch

English