The Lady in Question (1940)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 23, 2022

Brian Aherne is quite good in this comedy drama. He is an enthusiastic juror who having convinced his colleagues to acquit "Natalie" (Rita Hayworth) of a charge of murder after she attempted to extort money from her beau, offers her a job in his family bicycle shop. He keeps her identity secret. Soon his son "Pierre" (Glenn Ford) is really pretty smitten and their normally ordered life starts to become a little bit hectic. At times, this is really quite enjoyable - Aherne is on good form (he reminded me a bit of Robert Donat), with a quickly paced script and a few red herrings about the girl's guilt or innocence to keep the plot interesting. The ending is a little bit contrived, but it is still not a bad reimagining of "Gribouille" (1937).