Penthouse (1933) *** (out of 4) Warner Baxter plays a lawyer who has a reputation of getting guilty men off with murders but in reality he takes those who look guilty and proves their innocents. After getting a gangster off for murder, he gets involved with a new case where a friend of his is accused of murder and the only way to break through the case is by taking up with a gangster moll (Myrna Loy). I was really looking forward to this film, which many (including Maltin) talk up as a major gem of the decade and while I wouldn't go that far the movie is still pretty good. I think the biggest benefit here is that we get a lot of pre-code material including Baxter and Loy spending the night together, some sexual innuendo and most important is the sight of blood coming out of bullet holes, which wasn't seen in some of the major gangster films of the era. Another major plus are the performances with Baxter and Loy doing great work and really having great chemistry together. Moy easily steals the film in a very sexy performance that gives her quite a bit of range in terms of her character development. The supporting cast includes Charles Butterworth, Mae Clarke, C. Henry Gordon, Nat Pendleton, Raymond Hatton and George E. Stone. I think the film gets a little long winded in the middle but in the end this is another winning picture from the director and certainly worth watching when it pops up on Turner Classic Movies.

This film contains all the elements of a great gangster story. It is a perfect example of 1930's big city gangster films. Yet it does not fall into a stereotypical mold at all. It is entertaining throughout. Just when you think it is going one way, it goes the other, building the suspense and irony until you realize it is not going to be a typical story.All the players keep in character and hold your attention with crisp and refreshing dialogue. Baxter and Loy are so in tune with one another, and you do not get the feeling they are acting.And isn't it neat to see Nat Pendleton play a smart, in-charge guy for once, instead of just a bumbling half-wit mob henchman. (Though he is always likable in that role, it surprised me to see what a smart guy he really was!) The plot of this film is genre-based, yet quite original and full of all the necessary elements: virtue, vice, mystery, false suspicion, resolution of mystery, resolution of false suspicion, romance, heavy action, jazz, and many doors that seem to want to open, but just the right ones open at just the right intervals to keep you entertained throughout this gem of a film.

Charming MYRNA LOY plays a call girl who helps WARNER BAXTER get to the bottom of a mystery involving slain "night-club hostess" MAE CLARKE and PHILLIP HOLMES, the man wrongly accused of murdering her.The plot is a pleasant fabrication and obviously in pre-code, tongue-in-cheek manner, as for example when Myrna says to Baxter: "Well, I didn't exactly have to fight for my honor last night," the day after spending a night in his fancy suite. Baxter enlists her aid in solving the mystery since she's likely to come up with some facts about Clarke's background that will be helpful to him.She's given the improbable character name of Gertie Waxted--hardly the sort of name one would give a "call girl" character--and frankly, Loy is much to sweetly sophisticated to play the part convincingly enough. She's obviously several steps above the kind of girl she's playing.Baxter fares better as the criminal lawyer whose favorite client happens to be NAT PENDLETON, a man who knows more than he's willing to tell about the whole scheme behind Clarke's murder.It's a silky smooth production--and typical of early '30s melodramas, there's not a trace of background music on the soundtrack--just over the opening and closing credits. Too bad, because this would have helped make the tale a bit more suspenseful.For fans of MYRNA LOY, this should be required viewing. She's even more attractive here than she was in the Thin Man films. As for WARNER BAXTER, I never could see what Hollywood saw in him as leading man material. He seems to lack the charisma of a true star.

"Penthouse" is a first-rate example of "they don't make 'em like that anymore." The tale of a society lawyer turned criminal defense attorney -- out to prove the innocence of the accused murderer who waltzed off with his fiancée -- zips along. The dialog of the fabled Hackett-Goodrich team is sassy and clever. The relationship between lawyer Warner Baxter and Nat Pendleton as the racketeer who's his guardian angel perks up the plot. But it's Myrna Loy as the call girl who joins forces with Baxter to nail the real killer who shines. There are certain people the camera finds irresistible. And here, as the most lovable fallen woman of the pre-code era, Loy demonstrates the impish allure that would light up the screen for years to come.