Her Husband Lies
Cast & Crew
Edward Ludwig
Gail Patrick
Ricardo Cortez
Akim Tamiroff
Tom Brown
Louis Calhern
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
J. Ward Thomas of Park Avenue leads a double life as an investment broker and as notorious gambler Spade Martin, despite the protests of his beautiful wife Natalie, a nightclub singer who retired when they married. Spade's younger brother "Chick" wires Spade from Seattle that he has quit gambling for a job in real estate and is about to marry a nice girl named Betty. Relieved to find his kid brother is straight, Spade sends him $10,000 cash as a wedding present. When a woman posing as a pregnant wife comes to Spade for a loan, Spade gives it to her. Later, when Steve Burdick, the woman's supposed husband, brags in a bar that he made a fool of Spade, Spade's hit man, Trigger, kills Burdick. Tired of Spade's gambling, Natalie books a return engagement at Cafe Nocturne, telling him that she is a singer rather than a wife now. Spade promises to go straight in six days; however, Chick arrives in New York with a cocky attitude after having made fifty grand out of the ten. He is now ready to gamble against Spade Martin himself, unaware Spade is his brother. To teach Chick a lesson, Spade sets up one more game with "Big Ed" Bullock, the head of a gambling ring that lures wealthy tourists into joining them at poker. Inevitably, the outsider takes a heavy loss, and the gang splits the profits. Spade tells Big Ed he wants Chick to go straight, but while Spade and Natalie are at a romantic hideaway, Chick wins $70,000 in the poker game. Big Ed, furious, believes that Spade set him up and threatens to murder Chick if Spade does not get him his money back. Spade, meanwhile, has promised Betty that he will send Chick back to her a broke, but decent man. Following the game, Big Ed orders Spade's old gang to locate him, and while Natalie sleeps, Spade slips out of their cabin and returns to the city. Big Ed, meanwhile, has invited Chick to play Spade in another game, in which Spade plans to help Big Ed beat Chick. When Chick recognizes his brother, he is more determined than ever to beat him, but cannot outwit Spade. Near the end of the game, Chick has lost $50,000 to Spade, but Spade is caught dealing from the bottom of the deck, although he swears he has never turned a crooked card before. Chick, disheartened, walks out, and Big Ed threatens to have Spade killed by his own former henchmen if he does not return the balance of Chick's profits. Natalie, meanwhile, has woken up to discover that Spade has again deserted her and vows to end their marriage. The now reformed Chick leaves New York with Betty, and Spade sends them $10,000. Natalie returns to the Cafe Nocturne and, that night, Big Ed is seated in the audience with his thugs. When Spade arrives at the club, one of the thugs shoots him. Fatally wounded, he returns Big Ed's money, then exits through the audience and collapses as Natalie sings a torch song.
Director
Edward Ludwig
Cast
Gail Patrick
Ricardo Cortez
Akim Tamiroff
Tom Brown
Louis Calhern
June Martel
Dorothy Peterson
Jack Larue
Ralf Harolde
Bradley Page
Ray Walker
Adrian Morris
Fuzzy Knight
Robert E. O'connor
Noel Madison
Thomas Jackson
George Lloyd
Albert Conti
Stanley Andrews
William Royle
Edward Keane
John Hamilton
Ivan Miller
Davison Clark
Frank Dawson
Helene Millard
Louise Robinson
Mary Gordon
Kenneth Hunter
Paul Fix
Eddie Kane
Sam Flint
Nick Copeland
Carey Harrison
Lee Phelps
Harry Tyler
William Cline
Harry Strang
Orien Heyward
Judy Ford
Emily Larue
Virginia Meyer
Richard Kipling
Crew
Robert Bischoff
John N. Cope
Albert D'agostino
Ralph Freed
Oliver H. P. Garrett
Jack Goodrich
Eve Greene
Edith Head
Burton Lane
Ray Lissner
Boris Morros
George T. Nicoll
B. P. Schulberg
Leon Shamroy
Wallace Smith
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film's working title was The Love Trap. According to reviews, it was based on incidents surrounding the murder of gangster Arnold Rothstein, who was involved in a narcotics ring. According to news items in the New York Times, on November 5, 1928, Rothstein was found shot near Central Park Hotel after attending a gamblers meeting, but refused to name his assailants. He died on November 7, 1928. The investigation into Rothstein's murder and gang activities was covered extensively by the press for the next two years. This film marked artist's model Orien Heyward's first screen appearance. This film is a remake of the 1930 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. film Street of Chance, starring William Powell, Jean Arthur, Kay Francis and Regis Toomey, and directed by John Cromwell (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5437).
