The Kiss Before The Mirror (1933)

When a husband (Paul Lukas) kills his adulterous wife (Gloria Stuart), his friend and lawyer (Frank Morgan) takes on the case. As he plans the defense, he suspects his own wife (Nancy Carroll) has a lover and wonders if his defense works for his client, could it work for him if he murders his own wife. Based on the play by Ladislas Fodor and directed by James Whale (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). The provocative premise may sound intriguing but boy, does this hoary pre-code melodrama creak! The acting is stiff, the dialogue is trite and there's an unpleasant undercurrent of misogynism running through the film. The whole argument that a man is justified because of the "unwritten law" in killing his wife is pure crap! The wives are played as glamorous and seductive sirens deceiving their hard working ordinary husbands. The husbands are such a dull lot that one can't blame the wives for looking elsewhere. With Walter Pidgeon, Jean Dixon and Donald Cook.