Murder In Greenwich Village (1937)

An heiress (Fay Wray) fleeing the apartment of a photographer forcing himself on her is rescued by another photographer (Richard Arlen). But when the first photographer turns up murdered, the heiress becomes the primary suspect. Directed by Albert S. Rogell, this mixture of screwball comedy and a murder mystery should be a lot more fun that it is. The comedy is weak but the main flaw is that the murder and its solution just isn't that interesting. As if sensing this, the movie spends more time on the romantic hijinks between Wray and Arlen than on the actual murder mystery. It might have helped with more experienced farceurs in the leads, say Carole Lombard and Melvyn Douglas. But Wray and Arlen are sincere, perhaps too sincere when they should have a bit of the devil in them. Anyway, it's watchable but forgettable. With Leon Ames, Marjorie Reynolds, Marc Lawrence and Thurston Hall.