Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      Penthouse

      1933 1h 30m Comedy Drama List
      Reviews 61% 50+ Ratings Audience Score After lawyer Jackson Durant (Warner Baxter) successfully defends racketeer Tony Gazotti (Nat Pendleton), Durant's fiancée, Sue (Martha Sleeper), leaves him. However, she soon needs his help when her new beau, Tom (Phillips Holmes), is accused of killing his old girlfriend (Mae Clarke). Durant takes the case, and, with the help of Gazotti and Gertie (Myrna Loy), the victim's roommate, he determines that crime boss Jim Crelliman (C. Henry Gordon) played a role in the murder. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (9) audience reviews
      Tom M Baxter and Loy have great chemistry. Good gangster story with enough intrigue and enough humour to make it a great film. Butterworth is precious as the dedicated butler. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/21/20 Full Review Audience Member “Oh, I cawn’t, cawn’t I?” This movie with Myrna Loy is one of the best crime movies from the 1930’s. It’s filled with suspense and comedy as well as memorable lines. Definitely a must-see! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/18 Full Review jack c I Heart Myrna Loy so much. The rest of this is okay, Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Fine pre-code comedy/crime drama I'd never really heard of before, but is well worth watching. From director W. S. Van Dyke about mob lawyer Warner Baxter teaming up with call-girl Myrna Loy to take down a rival mobster. Besides being a tight and entertaining story, the pre-code elements were a lot of fun as well, which includes one female character being introduced with nothing on except for a towel, Loy's profession being described as "The kind you can take home for dinner and no hard feelings if you don't ask her to stay for breakfast." Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Enjoyable. Snappy dialog up. Myrna Loy. Friendly mobsters. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member 'Penthouse' tells the story of a lawyer who loses his job and then his fiancé because he defended a gangster, but who then gets called it to help the same woman when her new boyfriend is framed for murder by a rival gang. It has a reasonably tight script and is well cast, with Warner Baxter playing the lawyer and Myrna Loy as the gangster's moll, a 'bad girl' with glittering eyes who he quite understandably falls for. Despite the company he keeps, however, he's a virtuous man - he won't take bad money, he stands up for the accused even when his life is ominously threatened, and when Loy sleeps over at his place, it's just that, sleeping over (much to her surprise). I think the film is pretty good but doesn't really stand out because it's too polished - the gangsters have gentlemanly attributes, far from Cagney's more realistic portrayal, and for all their pre-Code banter, the romantic exchanges lack real passion, with the exception of Mae Clarke (in a minor role), whose reaction when she's jilted is quite good. I suppose that's just it - Loy is very beautiful, but not quite right, whereas Clarke nails it. Not horrible, no major plot holes, nothing to really pan, and if you're a Loy or Baxter fan it may be worth watching - but you could do better. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      Photos

      View All Penthouse photos

      Penthouse

      Penthouse (1933) Penthouse (1933) Penthouse (1933) Penthouse (1933) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

      View All (1) Critics Reviews
      Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's a good preview for the upcoming superior series of The Thin Man. Rated: B Oct 5, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis After lawyer Jackson Durant (Warner Baxter) successfully defends racketeer Tony Gazotti (Nat Pendleton), Durant's fiancée, Sue (Martha Sleeper), leaves him. However, she soon needs his help when her new beau, Tom (Phillips Holmes), is accused of killing his old girlfriend (Mae Clarke). Durant takes the case, and, with the help of Gazotti and Gertie (Myrna Loy), the victim's roommate, he determines that crime boss Jim Crelliman (C. Henry Gordon) played a role in the murder.
      Director
      W. S. Van Dyke II
      Screenwriter
      Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett
      Production Co
      Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (DVD)
      Oct 6, 2009
      Runtime
      1h 30m