People are voting emotionally.

How sad is this?

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An inside-out murder mystery, one in which you know who dunnit and watch only to see if he can get away with it, "Guilty Hands" gets right down to business, as it has to - this isn't the kind of material that can take much stretching. It's already a bit of a stretch. But in a good way.At just over an hour, the film is essentially a programmer, never meant to be the main attraction of a night's entertainment. Exhibitors would pair it with a bigger picture, and add a couple of specialty shorts, choosing from among the available cartoons, song plugs, and travelogs. A night at the movies ca. 1931 set the pattern for a night around the TV-set in later decades. On that analogy, "Guilty Hands" is like a middling-to-better episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; it even sports an opening hook worthy of that show: a voice in the dark, talking of crime, says that a really clever fellow might commit a perfectly undetectable murder - and that under some circumstances, murder might be justified.The dark room turns out to be the smoking lounge of a train passing through a long tunnel, and soon after we come into the light the speaker, a lawyer who has in his varied career both prosecuted and defended murderers, finds himself in a tight spot that practically invites him to put his theory into practice. Lionel Barrymore, as the lawyer, leads a cast who do nothing short of a good professional job of putting across the high and low mischief that ensues. Barrymore's target, a rich rotter played by Alan Mowbray, is so dried out with debauchery that it comes as a surprise how much fight he has in him when he knows he's a marked man - cussedness seems to get his juices flowing. Soulful-eyed Kay Francis, as Mowbray's lover and (she hopes) Barrymore's nemesis, moves with the right mixture of languor and ardor - her character is half vamp, half noble sufferer - but she's been directed in one scene into some hambone-pantomime attitudes of terror, a style of acting that was already terribly old-fashioned in 1931. She does it expertly, and she's so beautiful we'd want to go on watching her anyway; still, the fustian is unfortunate. Less lucky in their roles are Madge Evans, as Barrymore's daughter, and the lad who plays her ideal young suitor: both characters are so bland the actors can do nothing with them but say their lines and try not to look too foolish. They manage it, and the film doesn't linger over them.Not lingering is the movie's best tactic for wriggling past its occasional weaknesses, especially the implausible motivation of that daughter character - she is possibly a watered down version of whatever the writer originally intended. The brisk pace comes from the makers' showbiz savvy; and if there was watering down, it was likely caution based on the same kind of wisdom about "what the traffic will bear." Those pre-code movies were seldom as daring as they're now cracked up to be; they were bent on entertaining, and a little bit of salaciousness could stir the plot - but they tried not to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth.Come now, what masques, what dances shall we have, to wear away this long age of three hours between our after-supper and bed-time? "Guilty Hands," plus a couple of shorts - and another, better movie, thanks.

Lionel Barrymore did play some villains in his time, but this is quite an unusual role for him. He's not an altogether dark character as he was in Rasputin and the Empress or "The Show". Here he's all shades of gray. The same for Kay Francis as the mistress of a truly horrible creature whom she loves and is willing to continue seeing after his marriage. In the opening scene, totally dark but for the silhouettes of two men to whom Richard Grant (Barrymore) is speaking, he gives his theory of how the perfect murder is possible and how murder might possibly be justified, and since he's sent four dozen to the gallows as prosecutor and spared eight dozen more as a defense attorney, he's seen murder cases from every angle. This is all academic until Grant reaches his destination - the estate of his client Gordon Rich (Alan Mowbrey). Rich tells Grant he is going to marry Grant's daughter Barbara, his only child, and the only thing he has to remember his long lost wife by. Having been Rich's attorney for some time Grant knows Rich will only bring his daughter unhappiness since he's quite the remorseless wolf, so Grant tells Rich he'll murder him as part of the perfect crime if he goes through with this marriage. Rich isn't intimidated, and neither can Grant convince his daughter of Rich's bad character. The marriage is to occur the next day.Later that night a woman's scream is heard in Rich's study, everyone races into the room, and there is Gordon Rich laying dead from a bullet wound to the chest, apparently self-inflicted since his gun is still in his hand. Before his death Rich has instructed his servants to watch Grant all night long and inform him if he leaves his room. They witness Grant's silhouette as he paces the floor in his room and nothing else.Now, of course, the fact that Grant did it is no secret to the viewer and furthermore Grant conveniently takes charge of the investigation until the police arrive. Only Marjorie (Kay Francis), Rich's long-time mistress objects to Grant's self-serving theory that this is suicide and she claims it is murder. However, if it is murder, Marjorie is the most obvious suspect since she would not inherit anything if Rich rewrote his will as he was planning, due to his impending marriage. So she had both jealousy and money as motives. Nobody else knew about Grant's threat on Rich's life except Rich, and he is in no position to tell anyone. So it's tricky business for Marjorie to insist on a theory that might cost her not only Rich's fortune but her freedom and her life. So the rest of the film is a cat and mouse game between Marjorie - who suspects Grant from the start - and Grant, and for most of the film it is Marjorie as the mouse - the keyword being most. Did I forget to tell you that before Rich died Barbara decided not to marry him due to a goodnight kiss that almost turned into a rape, making the murder the height of irony? This film has lots of atmosphere and a very well-paced screenplay, but if there is any reason to watch it is Barrymore as Grant whose real downfall is having been around murder cases so long that it has become like sport to him, causing him to lose the perspective of justice needing to be served. This film has an ending that is really nifty even if it is far-fetched. Highly recommended.

Thank God that Turner Classic Movies plays these forgotten early films. Using an innovative gimmick, the film starts in the dark with three men discussing the possibility that a truly clever man could get away with murder. And former district attorney Lionel Barrymore should know - he's prosecuted dozens of murderers, but he is soon considering the other side of the law. SPOILERS: Cast against type, Barrymore is a lawyer (soon to be a murderer) working for a spoiled playboy played with intense villainy by Alan Mowbray (also out of his usual element of pompous comedic roles.) Barrymore goes to Mowbray's private island to collect pay-off checks for ex-girlfriends/victims of Mowbray's, to keep them from causing "trouble." Fiendishly, Mowbray explains he's preparing to marry a girl because that's the only way he can "have" her. And he surprises the attorney with the shocking news that it is Barrymore's daughter (Madge Evans) that will soon be his bride conquest! Barrymore seethes with anger and threatens Mowbray with murder. Mowbray counters with "You may but I'll come back from the grave to accuse you." Hours pass with charming scenes of dinner guests oblivious to this hidden war with the likes of C. Aubrey Smith and frumpy Polly Moran filling in the background. But eventually, late that night the deed is done. Will Barrymore outsmart everyone? Will Mowbray have covered all his bases to get revenge, will it appear as a suicide to Barrymore's police buddies or will Kay Francis be the fall-girl? Seeing these two actors play characters opposite for what they are known for could be a risk except the director(s) are no less than W.S. Van Dyke and Barrymore himself! Sexy Kay Francis was the reason we started to watch the film and she is fascinating, but not the only beauty. Madge Evans parades her golden locks, long lashes and a wears a see-through negligee. This pre-code murder mystery comes with an ending that will remind some of THREE ON A MATCH. I recommend you watch it during a thunder storm with the lights down low

What a dopey little melodrama, even by the impoverished standards of early talkies. Lawyer Barrymore brags about being able to commit the perfect murder, then supposedly commits it, then conducts a pointless investigation among the guests in the country house, while a phony early-talkie thunderstorm rages outside. In the end he gets his ludicrous just deserts. Barrymore smacks his lips and harrumphs in his hammy theatrical style that was mistaken for great acting at the time, and he and Kay Francis, playing the deceased's mistress, seem to have a contest going over who can pop their eyes more. The scriptwriting is so lazy that we can't tell how we're supposed to feel about the protagonists, and the pretty young couple who supposedly should capture our sympathies are far too insipid to care about.