Still image from the 1933 film The Keyhole.

The Keyhole

Directed by Michael Curtiz

A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he's been hired to frame.

1933 1h 9m Drama TV-G

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CAST
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Michael Curtiz, Director
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Michael Curtiz
Director

1

Kay Francis, Anne [Vallee Brooks]
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Kay Francis
Anne [Vallee Brooks]

2

George Brent, Neil [Davis]
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George Brent
Neil [Davis]

3

Glenda Farrell, Dot
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Glenda Farrell
Dot

4

Monroe Owsley, Maurice [Le Brun]
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Monroe Owsley
Maurice [Le Brun]

5

Allen Jenkins, Hank [Wales]
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Allen Jenkins
Hank [Wales]

FULL SYNOPSIS

Anne Vallee is married to wealthy Schuyler Brooks, a man several years her senior, and is being blackmailed by her former husband and dancing partner, Maurice Le Brun. When she protests, Maurice threatens to get the money from her husband, so she agrees to pay him somehow. At home, Anne lies to her husband when he asks where she has been. Noticing that the necklace she wore at dinner is missing, Schuyler becomes suspicious and makes a note to check up on her activities. The next day, Anne tells her story to Portia Brooks, her sister-in-law: She married Maurice when she was young and they formed a dance team. When things became bad between them, Maurice asked for a divorce, but after her marriage to Schuyler, he reappeared to tell her that the divorce had never been completed. Portia suggests that Anne leave the country, luring Maurice along, and promises that once he is out of the country, she will use her connections to ensure that he can never return to the United States. Anne sails to Cuba using her maiden name, and Schuyler hires a detective, Neil Davis, to follow her without revealing to him that Anne is his wife. On board ship, Neil meets Anne through a ruse, and once the introductions are complete, he never leaves her side. She resists his advances, however, and Neil cables Brooks that she is not interested in a flirtation. Meanwhile, Neil's fortune hunting partner, Hank Wales, meets gold digger Dot. They both pretend to be wealthy, each one hoping to marry the...


VIDEOS
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Original Trailer
Trailer

ARTICLES
In the mid-1930s, the female fans of Kay Francis expected a certain formula from her films, with sophisticated sexual intrigue, an attractive leading man and an endless parade of smart fashions. Not for nothing was the actress (who had a bit of trouble with her "r's") known around the studio as "the wavishing Kay Fwancis." Warner Bros.' The Keyhole (1933) did not disappoint, providing Francis with a plot that flirts with adultery, a sexy new costar in George Brent and 15 or so costume changes courtesy of the studio's star designer, Orry-Kelly. In this romantic drama with comedic overtones, Francis plays Ann Brooks, who is married to a wealthy older man (Henry Kolker) and heads to Cuba to obtain a quickie divorce from a scheming ex-husband (Monroe Owsley). Ann sets sail on the same ship as her oily ex, who claims their marriage was never legally severed and threatens blackmail. Also aboard is the suave private detective her suspicious current husband has hired to trail her (Brent, in the first of several teamings with Francis). As Ann plots to have the ex barred from re-entry to the U.S. (where he is not a citizen), the gumshoe tries to seduce her and then falls genuinely in love. Meanwhile, back at home, Ann's sympathetic sister-in-law (Helen Ware) explains all to the jealous husband, who decides to fly to Cuba in an attempt to straighten things out. Providing amusing support are Allen Jenkins as Brent's obtuse sidekick, Glenda Farrell as a brassy gol...

NOTES

Alice Duer Miller's screen story was entitled "The Adventuress." Kay Francis and George Brent were teamed for the first time on this film. Film Daily notes that Monroe Owsley replaced Antonio Moreno in the role of Maurice, and William Powell was originally announced for the George Brent role. According to Warner Bros. production reports contained in the film on the film at the AMPAS Library, the film took twenty-five days to shoot and was made for a total cost of $169,000. Although not based on the same source, the plot of Romance on the High Seas, a musical made in 1948 by Warner Bros., had some similarities to The Keyhole. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and starred Doris Day and Jack Carson.

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