John Barrymore wisely turned down this contrived courtroom melodrama that instead trapped poor Ricardo Cortez. He plays Robert Mitchell, an attorney who runs into his estranged wife Dorothea (Barbara Robbins) and her lover, artist Jerry Hutchins (John Beal), in a department store, the three of them purchasing, respectively, a hat, a coat, and a pair of gloves. All these accoutrements later turn up at Jerry's murder trial, the struggling artist having been accused of killing a former girlfriend (Dorothy Burgess). Dorothea persuades Robert to represent her former lover and the ace attorney not only wins an acquittal but also the love of his no longer estranged wife. Hat, Coat and Glove marked the screen debut of Broadway ingénue Barbara Robbins, whose only feature film it would prove to be. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi