Before he was fully established as a mature bon vivant, William Powell was still bringing a slightly menacing edge to the lead roles he had recently been promoted to by Paramount, paired for the second time with the also sophisticated and up-and-coming Kay Francis in her slinky, short-haired siren days.
After the usual courtroom theatrics such as the one involving a bottle of nitroglycerine, the film becomes an intense romantic melodrama, adroitly directed by John Cromwell and atmospherically lit by Charles Lang; its vintage indicated by a straight appearance by James Finlayson minus his moustache as a put-upon juror and a sneering Thomas Jackson as the detective who hounds Powell the way he would soon relish making life uncomfortable for Edward G. Robinson in 'Little Caesar'.
After the usual courtroom theatrics such as the one involving a bottle of nitroglycerine, the film becomes an intense romantic melodrama, adroitly directed by John Cromwell and atmospherically lit by Charles Lang; its vintage indicated by a straight appearance by James Finlayson minus his moustache as a put-upon juror and a sneering Thomas Jackson as the detective who hounds Powell the way he would soon relish making life uncomfortable for Edward G. Robinson in 'Little Caesar'.