''The Ex-Mrs. Bradford'' is a 1936 American comedy-mystery film.

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...

and

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

star as a divorced couple who investigate a murder at a racetrack. This was the last film directed by Stephen Roberts before his untimely death from a heart attack. The similarity between

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

's ''The Ex-Mrs. Bradford'' and M-G-M's ''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

'' (1934) and was speculated about given the chances that RKO's film would eclipse ''

After the Thin Man ''After the Thin Man'' is a 1936 American murder mystery comedy film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and James Stewart. A sequel to the 1934 feature ''The Thin Man'', the film presents Powell and Loy as Dashiel ...

'' (1936), which was to be released later in the year, at the box office. Modern sources claim that the film was RKO's third most successful production of 1936.

Plot

Wealthy murder mystery writer Paula Bradford (

) returns from her worldwide travels to see her former husband, surgeon Dr. Lawrence "Brad" Bradford (

). He had divorced her because she was always involving him in real-life murder cases, but she wants him back. When a jockey riding the favorite dies while leading a race, she is convinced it was murder. She and Mike North ( Frank M. Thomas), the horse's trainer, persuade the reluctant doctor to investigate. Brad is puzzled when he finds traces of gelatin on the corpse. Then he receives an envelope at home addressed to North. North telephones a little later to say he sent it and will come pick it up. Someone claiming to be North calls shortly afterward and instructs Brad to meet him somewhere else, but without the money. Curious, Brad opens the envelope to find a great deal of money and replaces it with some torn up magazine pieces. Suspicious, Brad takes a taxi, but gets out a short distance away and returns to his suite. As he anticipated, a burglar is inside looking for the envelope. When the two men start fighting, Paula tries to help using a skull she picks up, but ends up knocking Brad out instead, allowing the intruder to get away. Soon after, the doorbell rings. When Brad opens the door, North's body falls in. Police Inspector Corrigan (

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Life and career Gleason w ...

) names Brad as the main suspect in the second death. Now Brad has to solve both murders to clear himself. All sorts of suspects present themselves: Nick Martel ( Robert Armstrong), a bookie who owed North $125,000 for a winning bet; Leroy Hutchins (

Ralph Morgan Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan. Early life Morgan was born in New York City, the eig ...

), the owner of the winning horse; John Summers ( Grant Mitchell), the favorite's owner; Mrs. Summers, who is seeing Martel behind her husband's back; and Summer's lawyer, Henry Strand (an uncredited

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

). Even Brad's receptionist, Miss Prentiss (

Lila Lee Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel; July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras. Early life The daughter of Augusta Fredericka Appe ...

), had been spotted with Martel. Brad discovers that North made the bet through someone else and Martel was instructed to send the money to an address he was given, but decided to confront North in person instead over what he considered to be deceit; though North claimed he did not place the bet, Martel did not believe him and gave him the money. Going to the address provided, Brad finds Paula already there. They then discover the body of Lou Pender ( Paul Fix), the would-be burglar who had masqueraded as North, in a Murphy bed after he kills a spider. As Brad is examining the corpse, an unseen person shoots at him from the window. He is not seriously wounded. Brad eventually figures out how the murders were committed. The killer put a deadly

black widow spider ''Latrodectus'' is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. Howeve ...

inside a gelatin capsule, secretly attached it to the victim's body, and waited for the gelatin to melt from body heat, releasing the spider. Since the police have the $125,000, Brad assumes the killer will try the same trick again. The same two horses are scheduled to race against each other the next day, so Brad has film cameras set up around the racetrack. The murderer does strike again, but Brad had taken the precaution of inoculating the jockey beforehand. Brad invites all of the suspects to his suite, hoping the culprit will stay away. When that fails, he screens the film footage he had taken. It shows Mr. Summers slipping a capsule down the jockey's back. Pulling out a gun, Summers admits his motive was revenge against his unfaithful wife and Martel. Brad subdues him before he can shoot the lovers. During the struggle, however, Paula accidentally knocks out her ex-husband with a vase. Despite this, the couple remarry.

Cast

as Dr. Lawrence Bradford *

as Paula Bradford *

as Inspector Corrigan *

Eric Blore Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appe ...

as Stokes, Bradford's butler * Robert Armstrong as Nick Martel *

as Miss Prentiss * Grant Mitchell as John Summers *

Erin O'Brien-Moore Erin O'Brien-Moore (born Annette O'Brien-Moore, May 2, 1902 – May 3, 1979) was an American actress. She created the role of Rose in the original Broadway production of Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, '' Street Scene'' (1929), and wa ...

as Mrs. Summers *

as Leroy Hutchins * Lucile Gleason as Mrs. Hutchins ;Uncredited (in order of appearance)

Reception

The film was very popular and earned a profit of $350,000.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ex-Mrs. Bradford, The 1936 films American romantic comedy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Stephen Roberts American horse racing films RKO Pictures films 1936 romantic comedy films 1930s comedy mystery films American comedy mystery films 1930s American films