Penthouse (Warner Archive)

Penthouse marked an important turning point in the career of Myrna Loy. Not only did the 1933 film, a deft mix of romance, comedy and mystery, allow Loy to display her considerable charm and sophistication onscreen in a major role, it was also her first teaming with director W.S. Van Dyke, who just a year later would guide the actress through her iconic performance as Nora Charles in The Thin Man. Prior to Penthouse, Loy was being misused to an almost inexplicable degree, perhaps most notoriously in yellowface casting in pictures like The Mask of Fu Manchu, where she appeared opposite Boris Karloff. She had had small roles in dozens of silent films and remained stuck down the cast list, including in Love Me Tonight and John Ford's Arrowsmith, for the first few years of talkies. What Loy really needed was a break to get her out of the exotic stereotype. Penthouse, if not directly then certainly by extension, would provide just such a opportunity.

Fans of The Thin Man and its sequels might notice a basic similarity here. A respected man (with a snazzy pencil thin moustache) involves himself in a murder mystery as a collection of friends and the lovely Myrna Loy offer their help. The tale is told in a fairly lighthearted manner but not without some modest amount of suspense and danger. Clever plans are hatched and so on. Nonetheless, Penthouse provides basically just a hint of what would follow with The Thin Man and various other pictures using that template. Loy doesn't appear until well into the movie and the lead here is In Old Arizona Oscar winner Warner Baxter. He's far less wry and charismatic in comparison to Loy's Thin Man co-star William Powell. You can almost imagine Van Dyke putting together The Thin Man on the basis of Penthouse and Loy and then calling for a leading man who, unlike Baxter, could match Loy's effortless air of cool. Add copious amounts of alcohol and stir. Garnish with an adorable terrier.

As the lawyer protagonist who's recently been ditched by his love and now finds himself crusading for the freedom of his replacement, Baxter is never less than fine. His more serious acting style hasn't aged half as well as Powell's, though, and we're left with a rigid good guy rather than a mischievous, accidental gumshoe who clearly knows how to have a good time. This, again, simply separates Penthouse from its subsequent cousin a little, never hindering the overall pleasantness of the picture. His wardrobe, including a striking white hat, contributes probably a third or more of what works about Baxter's performance.


While Martha Sleeper lives up to her surname in making little impression as Baxter's former flame, a pair of actors do come on strong in support. The irrepressible Nat Pendleton, familiar to all fans of pictures from the early thirties and another carryover into The Thin Man, plays a lovable gangster thug. He's defended by Baxter's character and acquitted, yielding our hero the undying affection of Pendleton's large ogre. Pendleton ultimately introduces Baxter to Loy, who's both an escort and a witness. The murder victim is - stop to avoid spoilers - Mae Clarke as a hussy sort named Mimi Montagne. As a potential charter member of Mae Clarke's nonexistent fan club, I can only add that she makes a decent impression in Penthouse but doesn't have more than a couple of scenes' worth of screen time. Anyone interested in Clarke, the actress unfortunately known as much for being on the wrong end of a grapefruit as for her career, should check out James Whale's Waterloo Bridge, a film that allows her to give an absolutely exquisite and natural performance. It can be found in the R1 edition of Warners' Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1.

Ultimately, the charms of Penthouse are owed greatly to Loy, who's such an appealing performer, and a plot that's generally able to sustain interest and intrigue without falling too far in any one direction. Audiences of the 1930s were in many ways smarter than modern cinemagoers and they expected it all rather than a mere morsel of a single type of entertainment. Penthouse, in this regard, has so much to recommend and amounts to a wonderfully enjoyable experience. It follows through on the mystery, the comedy, the romance and the hints of suspense and drama. Thus, it's not unlike a rough version of The Thin Man even if the movie is nonetheless entirely fun in its own right. Maybe it's a throwaway but there's still something to be said for a pleasant diversion. Films of this type rarely get more pleasant than Penthouse.

The Disc

The Warner Archive has been targeted over and over again in my writings here so I'll give it a slight pass this time with the acknowledgment that Penthouse probably isn't the sort of movie that would have otherwise seen the light of day on DVD anytime soon.

That's DVD-R, to be more accurate, and it looks rather worn on this burned, single-layered disc. The print appears to be unrestored and retaining the various scratches, grain, and damage that accompany such a lack of time and money. Blacks are basically nonexistent in favor of a more grey tone and the image is on the soft side. Still, we're hardly dealing with a print that's not watchable and the film manages to register quite well given its age. Most anything that looks this decent from the decade gives little reason for complaint when considering the general apathy shown by the studios in releasing pre-Code pictures. In short, it's not great but I'll take it without much backtalk. It's also a progressive transfer.

Audio is mono, of course, and enhanced with hiss and crackles that come as largely expected for films of this vintage. Is it still audible? Absolutely and it's probably even a little above average all things considered. The Warner Archive policy of excluding subtitles remains a significant thorn in the side of shelling out up to twenty dollars or more for these burned discs.

The only extra is a trailer (2:50) for the film.