Let's be realistic.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Copyright 15 May 1936 by RKO-Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rivoli: 27 May 1936. U.S. release: 15 May 1936. Australian release: 7 October 1936. 81 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Surgeon is suspected of murdering a jockey. He solves the case with the help of his ex-wife, a writer of dime-novel thrillers.NOTES: Number 39 at Australian ticket windows for 1936. Equally successful in America, the movie proved to be RKO's third most profitable of the year.COMMENT: Every time J. Roy Hunt's camera focuses on Jean Arthur we are practically blinded by the dazzle of light. Miss Arthur has the further advantage of some dazzling costumes too, but not even this decorative alliance plus the urbane, unflappable Mr Powell - here essaying yet another foray into Thin Man territory - can overcome the juvenility of a super-awful script and the impossibly mundane direction.I was amazed to find the film was so popular on its first release. I thought it was a "B"-feature. Certainly it has all the characteristics of that class - unsophisticated script with a mystery that even the casual addict would snort to scorn; dialogue that tries hard to be funny and light and amusing but succeeds only in being tedious and dull and heavy-handed; minimal production values with just a few crummy sets and a stock footage climax; and the plot constantly rehashed for the benefit of late-comers. Eric Blore mugs frantically but even he cannot save this one. The rest of the support players are just as tedious. The few action spots are unintentionally laughable. And there's no background music. None at all! Mr. Webb who is credited as music director certainly had it easy. If ever a film has dated it's this one and I doubt if even the most uncritical member of a modern audience would have anything good to say about it. The Ex-Mrs Bradford is the sort of film that gives old movies a bad name.The only reason I can give for the enthusiasm of other critics, is that they are actually watching a vastly different print. OTHER VIEWS: One of the year's top-flight comedies. - Frank S. Nugent in The New York Times.

Jean Arthur imbues her movies with so much grace and inner-sparkle that her performances usually save the day, no matter what the picture. Curiously, both she and William Powell are stuck here in a second-string screwball outing, one with a flimsy plot about the investigation into the death of a jockey. Arthur (photographed in gauzy, movie-magazine fashion) either wants alimony from ex-husband Powell or another shot at marriage, but one never feels for her because the character isn't conceived as person--she's just a string of wisecracks. This is the type of 1930s heroine prone to comical inquisitiveness, yet once inside a morgue she does what all women are supposed to do--she faints. Powell reportedly had a high time working with Miss Arthur, but you'd never know it from these results. The two stars look awkward next to each other, hesitant over their banter. The actor playing Powell's valet is excruciating, and the pauses for the expected laughs are pregnant with unease. *1/2 from ****

It's not Nick and Nora, but it still works. The formula is similar and there is a murder mystery to be solved, and it's a pretty good one. the big difference is that Myrna Loy is not here and her place is taken by Jean Arthur, and she proves to be a very adequate replacement. She is the Ex-Mrs. Bradford in the title and also has the requisite comedic touch for such a part, and helps to keep the picture moving at the quick, breezy pace the genre is known for.The plot involves a murder at a race track and another one connected to the first. If you are a fan of the Thin Man series you will enjoy this one as they are remarkably alike in pacing and screenplay. And the intricate mystery plot will keep you guessing right up to the end. A very enjoyable 80 minutes, even without Mrs. Charles.

William Powell and Jean Arthur team in this murder mystery comedy about a divorced couple who get together to investigate a string of murders centering around the horse racing industry.It's definitely a Thin Man knockoff, but all the right elements are present. Powell plays an erudite physician as the straight man who gets implicated in a murder. Arthur is the comic as his ex wife who helps him track down the killer as he gets ready to strike again.Like a lot of depression era espacist movies, this film focuses on wealth and lavish lifestyles. Much of the film takes place in swanky high-rises with penthouse apartments. Powell has a butler and personal secretaries and makes his way through New York's elite horse racing set.It's a fun movie even if you don't buy the black widow spider as the murder weapon. It's also a production code era movie that deals gently with the subject of divorce. The Bradfords start out as a divorced couple in an obvious love/hate relationship, but they fall in love again during the course of the movie. The last scene is the two of them getting remarried. That's the way they made you play that subject in those days.