The Mouthpiece

One of the better movies of 1932, "The Mouthpiece" features a tour de force performance by Warren William as a brilliant but corrupt prosecutor with a weakness for dames, drink and dollars but who is redeemed by a stubborn moral sense that sometimes overcomes his vices. The screenplay, by the prolific but tragically short-lived Joseph Jackson (whose other work includes such gems as "Safe in Hell" and "One Way Passage"), is both hard-edged and witty, with many of the funniest wisecracks delivered memorably by the incomparable Aline MacMahon as William's loyal secretary, the type of role that might have been played by Joan Blondell or Glenda Farrell had the studio casting dice landed another way. The familiar Warners-First National stock company appears in full force including Guy Kibbee as a speakeasy bartender; Noel Francis as a golddigger; J Carrol Naish as a gangster; Walter Walker as a district attorney. The diminutive Sidney Fox persuasively plays a secretary in William's firm who helps to set him on the right path.

ADA Vincent Day (Warren William) successfully prosecutes a man for murder through only circumstantial evidence, and when his innocence is discovered Day tries to contact the prison before the man is executed, only to be too late. He is torn up about this, resigns, and then oddly tries to right his wrong by becoming a criminal defense lawyer and getting acquittals for people who are very guilty. He does this sometimes just through his great talent, but he also does some dishonest and very risky things.

Day also likes the ladies, and he hires naive country mouse Celia Farraday (Sidney Fox) for his office staff planning to seduce her. But when her reaction to his advances is not what he expects he has a rebirth of conscience. This conscience comes in handy when Celia's fiance is arrested and accused of stealing his employer's bonds though he claims that he was robbed, and he doesn't seem to have a consistent believable story at all. Complications ensue.

This was the part that got Warren William noticed. He had been playing the cad for about a year, but his performances, though enchanting, didn't have the depth and empathy of his role in The Mouthpiece. The success of this film caused him to be placed in similar roles in a string of precode movies to the point he was typecast and had a hard time continuing his career at the leading man level once the precode era ended. Sidney Fox, largely a Universal star, really does well here. It may even be the best thing she ever did, in spite of that rather distracting southern accent. With Aline MacMahon as Day's Girl Friday with her usual witticisms and wise girl attitude, this one is well worth watching 90 years later.

THE MOUTHPIECE (Warner Brothers, 1932), directed by James Flood and Elliott Nugent, does not pertain to anything regarding to the inventions of a smoking pipe, a telephone handset nor a component of a brass instrument. In fact, the term "mouthpiece" is a slang term for lawyer, a highly regarded role enacted by Warren William. Taken from the play by Frank J. Collins, the story scripted by Joe Jackson, is reportedly based on the life of William J. Fallon, a New York City attorney, but fiction or not, THE MOUTHPIECE is a perfect example of what extremes that any attorney would do to win both case and fame.

The plot opens in a New York City courtroom where Vincent Day (Warren William), an assistant district attorney, through his testimony, convinces the jury to convict Robert Wilson (Emerson Treacy) for "taking the life of an innocent girl." On the very night of Wilson's execution in the electric chair, Day is notified by District Attorney Forbes (Walter Walker) that Wilson innocent with the real culprit caught and arrested. Because he sent an innocent man to his death, Day drowns his sorrows drinking heavily in a bar where he's served by Paddy, an Irish bartender (Guy Kibbee) who convinces him to put his legalistic knowledge to work, and making more money in the process, by becoming a defense lawyer. Day soon accepts his new challenge working as a "mouthpiece" for mobsters. His first case finds him proving Pondapolis (Stanley Fields), a boxer, guilty by catching him off guard with one punch. He later rises to fame after getting Tony Rollo (J. Carroll Naish), an Italian mobster, off for poisoning an administrator. Having opened his own law office, Day acquires a personal secretary in Miss Hickey (Aline MacMahon), and Celia Farraday (Sidney Fox), recently from Riverport, Kentucky, as his stenographer. While Hickey is secretly in love with Day, his sole interest is on Celia. Unlike the other women from his illicit past, Day comes to realize Celia's loyalty to Johnny Morris (William Janney), the boy she intends to marry. Learning how her salary has come from Day's "blood money," Celia quits her job, agreeing to resume her position (at no salary) until Day is able to obtain another secretary to replace her. Some time later, Johnny, working as a bank messenger, is arrested on the charge of a $2,000 bond theft. Believing him innocent, Celia comes to Day for help, even at the possible risk of he endangering himself for going against his gangster friends.

THE MOUTHPIECE is Warren William's showcase from start to finish. A dress rehearsal for his latter attorney role in the short-lived "Perry Mason" film series (1934-36), many rightfully label his role of Vincent Day to be one of William's top screen performances, and naturally so. Aside from his astounding courtroom cases, it's hard to forget his underhanded method by getting Barton (John Wray), a bank cashier, off for embezzling $90,00 from his employer, Mr. Smith (Morgan Wallace) of E.A. Smith & Associates, then "earning" the remaining $10,000 of the bank's own money for himself; and swallowing an entire bottle of poison to prove his case in the courtroom to give the jury a reasonable doubt his client is innocent.

Supported by a capable cast of Warners stock players, including Berton Churchill (The Judge); Murray Kinnel (Thompson, Day's Butler); Mae Madison (Elaine); Ralph Ince (J.B); the mean-looking Jack LaRue (Joe Garland) and Charles Lane (Hotel Desk Clerk), only the pert and dark-haired Sidney Fox makes her loan-out assignment to Warners from her home-base studio of Universal. Fox, an interesting screen personality with a brief movie career (1931-34), is quite believable as the honest but naive Celia Farraday, down to her Southern accent. Also giving a commendable performance is Aline MacMahon playing another loyal secretary no different from her debut screen performance in FIVE STAR FINAL (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson. Her sincere performance is the sort of role that remains in memory long after the film is over.

Remade twice by Warners, first as THE MAN WHO TALKED TOO MUCH (1940) with George Brent and Virginia Bruce; and as ILLEGAL (1955) with Edward G. Robinson and Nina Foch, the 1932 original, though virtually forgotten until resurrected during the early years of Turner Network Television (1988) followed by occasional broadcasts on Turner Classic Movie, has never been surpassed. In the Hollywood sense, pace is fast, story contrived but interesting, and conclusion quite suspenseful.(***)

The Mouthpiece is a great showcase for the thespian talents of Warren William playing a great criminal defense attorney. This was the golden age of them with Clarence Darrow, Earl Rogers and James Fallon on whom William's character was loosely based. They and the notorious clients they represented provided much colorful copy for the tabloids of the day.

At one time William was a prosecutor and a good one. But when he sends an innocent young man to the electric chair something snaps inside him. Better to be saving the innocent than killing them. Soon he realizes that a lawyer with his skills can make a lot more money on that side of the courtroom.

One priceless scene is William negotiating an out of court deal over an embezzlement charge that John Wray is really quite guilty of. William really handles it beautifully.

Young tiny Sidney Fox goes to work for William in his law office and William falls for her. But she likes William Janney who's good looking enough, but has no dynamic personality. When Janney is accused of stealing bonds, she goes to William for help and it's the beginning of his downfall.

Aline McMahon as William's super efficient above and beyond the call of duty secretary gives one of her most memorable screen performances. Ditto for J. Carrol Naish in one of his early screen roles as a hood that William gets off with one spectacular gesture in court.

The Mouthpiece really belongs to Warren William. It's certainly easy to see why they chose him for Perry Mason in movie series.

A disillusioned Assistant DA becomes THE MOUTHPIECE for a scurvy assortment of crooks & criminals. His new public persona is mirrored by his shady, lustful private life. Can the influence of two very different women save him before it's too late?

Warren William drives this very entertaining, albeit forgotten courtroom melodrama. With its rapid-fire plot & smart aleck dialogue, the film is a perfect representation of its era.

William was ideal at this kind of role; indeed, he played several others in the early 1930's which were almost mirror images of Vincent Day, the shyster lawyer he gives life to here. With his patrician bearing & interesting bass voice, William's characters were always worth watching. In this film, his courtroom scenes are especially engrossing as he engages in histrionics & sly subterfuge to sway the juries. It is to Hollywood's discredit that this very fine actor is virtually unknown today.

Aline MacMahon gives another of her splendid performances, here as William's world-weary, tough-as-nails secretary who secretly loves him. Sidney Fox is very good as the innocent Southern girl who's smart enough to recognize William's wicked ways.

Guy Kibbee has the small role of a sympathetic bartender. Movie mavens will spot an uncredited Charles Lane as a hotel clerk.