Monday, May 21, 2018

Discarded Lovers (1932)

Discarded Lovers is an enjoyable little murder mystery involving the murder of a Hollywood star. Actress Irma Gladden (Natalie Moorehead) is what used to be known as a "loose woman", with various men on the go. She is found dead after finishing a film and suspicion falls on... well quite a few people.

Apart from a rather annoying and silly policeman (Fred Kelsey) the story is solid if rather cliched and has some decent performances including Irma's secretary Valerie (Barbara Weeks) and Jason Robards as Rex, one of Irma's lovers.

Naturally being a Golden Age period murder mystery the police are happy for a civilian, in this case a reporter (Russell Hopton), to be involved in the case. As a police investigation it isn't exactly text book but the sheer glamour of the occasion and the exuberance of some of the acting makes up for everything.