The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936)

Madeleine Carroll turns in a lively performance here as the accused socialite "Hope" who is on trial for murdering her wealthy husband. Her last ditch and emotional plea to the all-male jury does the trick and she gets off, but her mother-in-law (Beulah Bondi) wants her as far away from her child "Bobby" as possible so pretty soon they are going to have head back to court. Not only has the boy's grandmother employed "Waterston" (Alan Mowbray) as her solicitor - he was the defence lawyer for the original crime, but "Logan" (George Brent) the DA who failed in that prosecution has rather lost the plot since and taken to the bottle. "Hope" reckons the only way to keep her son is to prove, categorically, that she didn't kill her husband and so engages "Logan" to get to the bottom of just who did kill him! This hits the ground running and allows Carroll to pretty much own the screen throughout. There is some solid support from the wise-cracking Brent, Mowbray and the ever reliable Arthur Treacher brings a little stiff upper lipped humour as butler "Griggs". The actual investigation is a bit superficial and the clues rather fall into place but there's some fun to be had whilst the expected romance blossoms and the courtroom drama thickens. It might also show an early cinematic example of child grooming, too. Worth a watch, I'd say.