RKO bought a play by Wilhelm Speyer for the star John Barrymore, but his unavailability resulted in the studio borrowing Warners' Ricardo Cortez to fill the part. The tricky courtroom drama Hat, Coat and Glove (1934) was released after the enforcement of the Production Code, yet displays ample pre-Code content. Attorney Robert (Cortez) is separated from his wife Dorothea (Barbara Robbins) but agrees to defend her artist lover Jerry (John Beal) on a murder charge, on the condition that Dorothea return home after the case is won. Robert's casual attitude regarding the justice system is clear when he tells Jerry, "You're no criminal. Nor murderer. I'm sure I could prove that. If I want to." Dorothea's infidelity is played up, along with the seductive moves of Jerry's ex-lover, Ann (Dorothy Burgess), whose only costume is a sheer nightgown. As directed by Worthington Miner, the film's second half is a drawn-out trial ordeal without much in the way of visual interest. But the story sounds like a natural for Alfred Hitchcock. The characters are introduced in a department store when each buys one of the title items, each of which becomes pertinent evidence at the trial. Robert is certain he can free Jerry of the murder charge because he was present when Ann died, and knows exactly how to undercut the prosecution's case without implicating himself as a possible murderer. It's never fully established that Robert is faultless in Ann's death, another moral wrinkle overlooked by the Production Code Office. Ricardo Cortez continued to play suave leading men and shifty villains, but leading lady Barbara Robbins never made another theatrical feature, and Dorothy Burgess's screen roles also declined after the pre-Code period. This was one of the first films of stage star John Beal, whose fame never transferred to the screen despite a long and varied career. Worthington Miner never directed another theatrical feature, but entered television on the ground floor and enjoyed success in that medium directing and eventually producing. Miner produced the Sidney Lumet/Jason Robards TV adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (1960) as well as Lumet's artistic theatrical film The Pawnbroker (1965) with Rod Steiger.

By Glenn Erickson