The Solitaire Man

Herb Marshall is Oliver Lane, long time con-man, aided by Mrs. Vail (May Robson). when one of Lane's cronies shows up with a famous stolen jewel, they insist it be returned, to avoid being investigated by scotland yard. co-stars Mary Boland, Lionel Atwill. Boland steals any show of which she is a part! and best known as the Countess in "The Women" from 1939. this one tells a good story. we're rooting for the con-man, who must go straight on the insistence of his girlfriend. some twists. and a whole lot of ribbing about how loud and annoying the americans are, since it takes place in england. directed by Jack Conway, who also made BoomTown, Libeled Lady, and so many other great films. was there, right at the beginning of film. Pretty good film!

The Solitaire Man, like The Amateur Cracksman in "Raffles", or the Sparrow in "Twin Husbands," is a thief. Like many thieves who've been successful, he was getting out of the game.

Oliver Lane (Herbert Marshall) was the Solitaire Man and he had a small crew: Mrs. Vail (May Robson), Helen Heming (Elizabeth Allan), and Robert Bascom (Ralph Forbes). The gang was experiencing turmoil because Robert was in love with Helen who was in love with Oliver. Fortunately, this wasn't the principal part of the plot. That would've been the last thing I wanted to watch, but it was important.

Robert, who was a young upstart, put everyone in hot water when he stole a necklace. Oliver decided that putting it back was the safest and best course of action. When he went to place the necklace back where it belonged, someone else entered the dark room too. When a Scotland Yard officer entered the room he was shot and killed which made everything exponentially worse.

Oliver and crew scheduled a flight the very next day to Devonshire. On the plane they encountered a man claiming to be a Scotland Yard inspector, Inspector Wallace (Lionel Atwill), and he knew that Oliver was the Solitaire Man.

These are the kind of wrinkles I enjoy: a time crucial situation. I just watched "The Silk Express" in which a train had to get to New York in a certain amount of time. The main character was going to have to solve the murder that happened on the train before it reached New York if he was to have his silk offloaded on time.

In "The Solitaire Man" Oliver and his entire crew had until they reached England to figure out who killed the cop or Oliver would go down for the murder. It was compelling theater. There were a couple of lights out scenes in there which are a bit comical, but besides that it was a solid plot and script.

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What was it about jewel thieves in the 1930's? All the major studios seemed to thrive on them, especially in their "B" movies, one of the most delightful forays a film aptly titled "Jewel Robbery," from Warners, and starring dapper William Powell and clothes-horse Kay Francis. The sophisticate in The Solitaire Man is erudite Herbert Marshall, he of the rich, clipped English tones, a suave thief ready to give up his craft for love and move take his sweetheart, supportive Elizabeth Allen, to a manor home in respectable Devonshire.

Most films from MGM tended to be less snappy than the Warner's product, but this zippy little "B" begins on The Continent where rich folks hang out in fancy hotels, robbers sneak into lavish apartments, and there's even

a killer at work when the lights go out. This initial set up soon transfers to the interior of a small airplane (looking not unlike a large cardboard box with windows), where snappy give-and-take dialogue moves the pace along as fog closes in around the plane, the cool tones of Marshall contrasted with character actress Mary Boland, a rich, loudmouthed American from Peoria, who tosses out quips like candy while the rest of the cast quibbles about comeuppance.

This is not a film of great import, but if you are a fan of the period, it is great fun--with Boland and Marshall joined by such experts as Lionel Atwill and May Robson. On it's own merits, and not because it's a timeless classic, I'd give it an eight--It's a perfect Saturday matinée popcorn film--and there will be time for another feature, too!

"The Solitaire Man" is a slick, stylish,sophisticated thriller, a throwback to an era when spinning a good yarn was more important than bloating the budget or running up the running time. When we first meet Herbert Marshall as Oliver Lane, he has a small problem. A Paris-based master criminal, he's about to retire to Devonshire, marry Elizabeth Allen as his fetching accomplice and turn from safecracking to milking cows. But a drugged-out henchman has committed a robbery that could get them both sent to the slammer -- and Lane has no choice but to reluctantly return the loot. How that leads to a plane bound for London, a battle of wits with Lionel Atwill as a mysterious Scotland Yard inspector and the contribution of an American socialite played with mirthful glee by Mary Boland takes up much of the movie. The result is tight, taut, cleverly directed by Jack Conway and a lot more modern -- in style, dialogue and devilish humor -- than most of the movies made back in 1933. Or a good many made since.

This is one of those little MGM quickies that is unfairly overlooked by both film fans and historians. Without giving anything away, the plot involves a jewel theft and murder, with the suspects aboard a plane flying from France to England. There are several plot twists before and after the plane lands. It may not be hard to guess who the villain really is, but the film maintains a good level of suspense and is well acted. It's not without a major goof, at one point in the film Lionel Atwill calls Herbert Marshall "Wallace", the name of Atwill's character. How MGM let that get by is a mystery. This film is a good example of what could be done on a limited budget.