Slightly Honorable (1939)

Directed and produced by Tay Garnett

The death of a corrupt highways commissioner focusses attention on an evil political boss (Edward Arnold), who finds himself targeted by a lawyer (Pat O’Brien) and his associate (Broderick Crawford), hired to run interference on a new highways bill. The lawyers’ battle, however, is hindered by murder, romance, blackmail, chicanery - and humour.

As a comedy / mystery, Slightly Honorable is much more successful as the former than the latter. It owes much to the presence of O’Brien, who was later often relegated to secondary roles, but who shows here that he can easily carry a film. He portrays a man who is smart, attractive to women and slightly shady but with a decent heart. His performance is ably assisted by Crawford, and a host of character actors, including Eve Arden, as a secretary whose incompetence is matched only by her apathy. Evelyn Keyes is seen in a bit part as another secretary.

The writing is both snappy and adult, filled with visual and spoken innuendo. The script must have been risqué at the time, and hasn’t moved far from that territory by now. A substantial sub-plot concerns the comic and presumptuous infatuation for O’Brien on the part of an eighteen year old (under-aged in 1939) chorus-girl. O’Brien’s euphemism, uttered whenever the girl unworriedly undresses in front of him, may not have fooled everyone at the time. There is also O’Brien’s reputation for physical rough-stuff with women, called by one character his ‘technique’. While enough to enrage one father, who puts two and two together, the viewer gathers that O’Brien has a much tougher image than he deserves.

The story, which gave me the impression of being rather more suited to a 1920s setting than a late ‘30s, does not support its mystery well. The murderer’s motives are not plausible and there are virtually no clues as to the identity of the killer. But if viewed as an adventure, rather than a detective story, something that is helf screwball comedy, there are fewer expectations to be disappointed.

Slightly Honorable is a fun film, a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, even these days, and, though not quite pulling off the combination of comedy, mystery and light-hearted caper it probably hoped to be, is still an entertaining movie.