Stonger Than Desire, from 1939, is a crime/mystery drama starring Walter Pidgeon and Virginia Bruce, with Lee Bowman and Ann Dvorak taking on co-starring roles. It is virtually identical to 1934's Evelyn Prentice, my favorite William Powell/Myrna Loy film. In fact, I turned on the TV at one point and said to myself, "Oh, this must be a remake of Evelyn Prentice." The storyline was exactly the same, and even some of the lines were identical...in my mind I could hear both Loy and Powell in many of the things Bruce and Pidgeon said.
The names were different from Evelyn Prentice. In this film, Walter Pidgeon's character, a prominent defense attorney, is Tyler Flagg. His wife, Elizabeth, weary of his workaholic ways, misses spending time with him. One evening, while Tyler is with a client and she is at a club with friends, Elizabeth catches the eye of married ladies' man, Michael McLain (Lee Bowman). McLain makes it a point to garner an introduction to Elizabeth, and the two begin spending time together...on a strictly platonic basis.
Meanwhile, Tyler's latest client begins to put the moves on him, even following him on a trip to Boston. When it appears to Elizabeth that Tyler is having an affair with his client, she is devastated; hurt, she continues spending time with Michael. Ultimately, though, Elizabeth comes to believe that her relationship with Michael ought not to be; although they aren't doing anything wrong, she doesn't think they should continue to see each other. Michael, however, sees dollar signs in their relationship, and he sets out to blackmail her about some letters she had written to him. The only recourse Elizabeth has is to shoot him, a crime for which Michael's wife (Ann Dvorak) goes to trial.
And that, my friends, is where I will leave off. To find out anything more, you will have to watch this film. As I said, it's nearly exactly like Evelyn Prentice, which I reviewed HERE. Why not watch both films and see which one you prefer.
Happy viewing!!
