The Night of June 13

In the new, pricey suburban development, it's an ill-assorted group of neighbors: climbing new money, snobbish old money, younger people who don't care, and aging wives who very much care about their husbands being gallant to pretty girls. Clive Brook comes home on the late train to find his wife, depressed Adrianne Allen, has committed suicide and left a note explaining that she has done it because he has run off with Lila Lee. To keep Miss Lee's name out of it, he burns the suicide note and puts his faith in the legal system. When, however, his neighbors lie about what they heard and saw to cover up their own peccadilloes, it looks like his reward will be the hangman's noose.

Stephen Roberts directs from an early novel from Vera Caspary in which she rips apart the morals and pettiness of people. Roberts gets a lot of comedy from the satire, and there are performances from such well-remembered performers as Charles Ruggles, Gene Raymond, Mary Boland, Charley Grapewin, and Helen Jerome Eddy. The production is more efficient than cinematic, but works very well for all that.