Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

lpeterson2 OK... I've been more or less watching Kay Francis films and am I the only one who noticed George Brent always ends up being the boyfriend?? Well the basic plot of this thing is Kay's first husband is blackmailing her.Her current husband thinks she's cheating or something. And the P.I. falls in love with her. I'm an old movie fan but people fall in love as easy as I can scramble an egg This formula of the long suffering Kay wears on me thin. Yeah she's pretty but I'm being to understand why no one remembers her. Youknow at first I liked her movies. But after what feels like I'm watching the same movie it gets on my nerves. And I used to like George Brent, but the more I see him the duller he gets. I did like the side story with the "vallet" and the con artist but besides that it was OK. What I didn't get why didn't Kay just tell her husband the truth instead of this dumb plot .I guess if she did she wouldn't have a chance to fall for George Brent I gave it 6 for the clothes and that it moved fast.

Neil Doyle There are so many elements of the storyline for THE KEYHOLE that were obviously re-worked years later for 1948's "Romance on the High Seas," Doris Day's first starring vehicle directed by Michael Curtiz, who is the director here.This one too is about a suspicious husband who hires a private detective to follow his wife when she sails off to Cuba. Only big difference is that she's escaping the clutches of a former lover who wants to blackmail her. Naturally, it's the perfect set-up for KAY FRANCIS to wear fancy gowns and to carry on an affair with GEORGE BRENT, who is the man her husband hires to keep an eye on her.It's predictable stuff, very formula and with the usual weak comedy support from GLENDA FARRELL and ALLEN JENKINS in an attempt to put some much needed life into the script. It doesn't work.There are very few Curtiz touches in the direction but the photography is fluid and the sets are fairly interesting. Still, it's a minor item when you view it as a typical Kay Francis vehicle in the early '30s.

kidboots Apparently women went to a Kay Francis film to view her dresses and with 20 changes of costume in "The Keyhole" she doesn't disappoint. One of the most beautiful stars of the 1930s, she is completely complimented by George Brent (one of the most handsome of leading men.)This film was loosely remade by Warners in the late 40s as a Doris Day vehicle - "Romance on the High Seas" - Janis Page had the Kay Francis role. This film being a pre-coder, had a few more unlikeable types in it.Kay plays Ann, who is married to wealthy businessman, Schuyler Brooks (Henry Kolker). He is very suspicious of her and already has her chauffeur giving details of her movements. Suddenly she announces her plans to holiday in Cuba for a couple of weeks so Brooks employs private investigator Neil (George Brent) to shadow her and try to make her fall in love with him.Ann has a secret - she was originally a dancer and married to her partner (Monroe Owsley in another oily performance). She thought she was divorced but he has come back into her life and is blackmailing her on the threat of exposure. She wants to holiday in Cuba to finally be rid of him.Allen Jenkins plays Neil's "valet" who becomes entangled with a mercenary gold-digger played with gusto by Glenda Farrell - "the only way he will get rid of me is to jump overboard". This plot was left up in the air with Jenkins happily going off to marry Farrell, still thinking she is an heiress.When they arrive in Cuba. Neil finds he is really falling in love with her - and Ann trying her hardest to resist.I really liked the film if only to see Francis and Brent together, and can heartily recommend it.

elpep49 Kay Francis plays a woman being blackmailed by a former partner (Monroe Owsley). She discovers that he never got the divorce he promised and her new marriage is illegal. Hatching a scheme with her sister-in-law (Helen Ware), she flees to Havana, hoping the cad will follow. He does but so does the detective (George Brent) her husband hires to spy on her. Wild storyline becomes more believable as the film goes on because of the chemistry between Francis and Brent. Good support from Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, and Clarence Wilson. This ranks as one of Kay Francis' best women's pictures of the early 30s--with One Way Passage and Confession.