The Judge Steps Out

Probably the lack of really name players in the male lead helped make The Judge Steps Out a big flop at the box office. Good as he is in the title role no one ever accused Alexander Knox of being box office.

Knox plays a prim and proper Boston judge who one fine day decides to just up and leave. He goes all the way to California and winds up a cook in Ann Sothern's hash house. Pretty soon they're an item, but he's got a slight enganglement a wife Frieda Inescourt and a daughter Martha Hyer who is about to be married.

The Judge Steps Out might not have flopped at the box office had they had a name lead opposite Sothern. I could see Ronald Colman in the part.

A few good character players fill out the cast of The Judge Steps Out with your Knox delivering an articulate and carefully delinieated performance.

Given the Code was at it's height 'm surprised the ending slipped by those censors. Still not a bad film.

Alexander Knox plays Judge Bailey, a very well respected judge. However, despite his success he's not a happy guy. He's henpecked by his wife and daughter and he seems to be going through the motions in life. Because of this, when by chance he misses a train, he sets off on an aimless adventure...and the world thinks he's dead! The aimless wandering leads him to a diner in California and a sweet lady who runs the place (Ann Sothern). He gets a job here and tells no one he's a judge. However, over time he comes to realize a lot about himself as well as himself as a judge.

This is an excellent drama, and one of the few that Alexander Knox made. Despite being Oscar nominated for playing the lead in "Wilson", this Canadian actor didn't make all that many films in the States...and here he shows what a shame this is because he's go good. An excellent mid-life crisis film...one that shines due to him and some lovely writing.

SPOILER: This is a movie that was almost great, but the had to force the ending to fit the "Hays Office" guidelines. You wanted to scream at the judge not to be a whiner and go back to a wife clearly ill-suited for him. But Proper Morality wins out. Though they stretch it out till nearly the last minute of the film.

Still this is a nice showcase for too often overlooked actors. Lead actor Alexander Knox is best known for the stodgy Woodrow Wilson biopic, but here shows a delicate comedic sense. Ann Southern was never more appealing. George Tobias showed why he never seemed to be out of work. Whitford Kaye nearly steals the movie as the wise country doctor. And the great Ian Wolfe is marvelously smarmy as only he could be.

This is a movie that could have been longer as it zips right along, and a few scenes were not developed enough (especially the romance and the relationship of Peggy and Nan).

Pity this one got sandbagged by conventionalism, but is mighty tasty till then.

After watching this film, you wonder why the superb Canadian character actor Alexander Knox did not get many better roles after his Best Actor Oscar nomination for the classic "Wilson" in 1945. This role, as a Boston probate judge who "drops out," Knox co-wrote for himself. Ann Sothern is her usual cute, lovable self and the cast of character actors in this one reads like a who's who of Hollywood 1940's character actors. Fine family fair and bring a handkerchief. You won't be disappointed!!

"The Judge Steps Out" is superb in all aspects. The script is intelligent, wise, and (for 1949)an avant-garde take on personal fulfillment vs. responsibility to society.

The acting is outstanding and believable throughout. Alexander Knox never had a role this showy nor as demanding. Ann Sothern's acting demonstrates what a fine and underutilized dramatic actress she was. The unlikely yet thoroughly convincing romance between Knox's and Sothern's characters is heartbreaking in it's beauty. Frieda Inescort scored in her characterization as Knox's wife, in which she displays far more maturity and insight than movie "wronged wives" usually displayed.

The use of staged sets and location shooting, plus the lyrical, sometimes stirring score fit seamlessly together and are so right for the film.

"The Judge Steps Out" may have been released in 1949 and films today may display grittier content in portraying drama but "The Judge Steps Out" is an adult drama in every sense of the term that few other films since have been able to match for honesty of subject matter and honesty in how the characters act and react to the situations in the film. A gem and a classic waiting to given its rightful place in American film!