Discussion of "True Confession"

True Confession (1937) is an American screwball comedy directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and John Barrymore. The supporting cast included Una Merkel, Porter Hall, Edgar Kennedy, Fritz Feld, and Hattie McDaniel.

Carole Lombard plays Helen Bartlett, a housewife and aspiring fiction writer. Helen is a habitual storyteller; she is often fast and loose with the truth. Helen bangs out short stories on her portable typewriter at home while her husband, Ken (MacMurray), tries to establish his fledgling law practice. He has a problem: he’s only interested in taking on clients who are truthful and innocent. He is the complete opposite of Helen. Ken’s refusal to take on “guilty” clients causes friction between the young couple struggling to make ends meet. Helen writes stories in an attempt to help with the family finances, which Ken resents. When Helen is conjuring up a lie, her tongue is planted firmly in her cheek, and you can see the wheels turning in her head.

When Helen applies for a private secretary position at an incredibly generous salary, her best friend, Daisy (Una Merkel), smells a rat. Helen’s boss, Otto Krayler (John T. Murray), really doesn’t want a secretary, but rather a playmate. On her very first day on the job, Krayler makes a pass at Helen, and she quits in a huff. Later, she realizes that she left her hat and coat at Krayler’s lavish apartment. When she and Daisy go to retrieve them, the two discover that Krayler has been murdered and that, according to Detective Darsey (Edgar Kennedy), Helen is the prime suspect!

How is Helen going to get out of this mess?

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