Everyone’s favourite alcoholic detective, Nick Charles, arrives in San Francisco with his wife, hoping for a quiet time but he is soon dragged into a mystery involving wife Nora’s rich friends. They send him to find a rich wastrel, played by Aussie actor Alan Marshall – who soon ends up dead.
The cast is impressive: Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia, George Zucco (fun as a bespectacled shrink) and James Stewart. I’m trying not to be wise in hindsight but Stewart is really impressive, star quality all over him even at this stage – I think it’s that deep voice. Stewart has a wonderful confession monologue which involves him having a near-nervous breakdown, a forerunner of the stuff we would do for Hitchcock in Vertigo (and a rebuke to critics who claim he had to go to war to become a “dark” actor.)
This reprises many elements of the first film – a gallery of suspects played by an impressive array of character actors, a party where Nick’s friends get on the boozer, colourful old friends of Nick, a finale with all the suspects gathered and interrogated. Myrna Loy and William Powell are fun again – she is very cute, especially when winding up in women’s prison. Asta is good too. I have to admit, though, these aren’t my favourite detective movies – Powell boozes too much and it goes on for too long.
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