I Am the Law

I Am the Law (1938)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing crime/drama from Columbia has Edward G. Robinson playing a law professor who is hired by civic leaders to try and bring down gangsters as a special prosecutor. The prosecutor thinks this will be an easy job but soon he realizes that no one wants to testify and if anyone agrees to then they end up dead. I had high hopes going into this film but the end results were pretty disappointing as we've seen this story countless times before and this one doesn't offer up anything new. I'm really not sure why Robinson would leave Warner to do this film as this one has a lot to do in common with the various crime pictures he was doing already. Considering Columbia wasn't known for their crime pictures it goes without saying that this one comes off rather bland and watered down as the screenplay doesn't have any real gut to it. The screenplay goes from one cliché moment to the next and I honestly didn't see one surprise throughout the entire thing. Robinson is pretty good in his role but it's certainly far from one of his best performances. The highlight of the film is a scene where we get Robinson on the dance floor, which has to be seen to be believed. The supporting players are pretty rich with John Beal, Otto Kruger, Wendy Barrie and Barbara O'Neil offering up nice work.

As the title suggests, Edward G. Robinson plays a man on the right side of the law this time around. No more gangsters for him! In fact, he's such a well-respected professor that he gets asked by the district attorney to help scourge out the organized crime of the city. He wants a group of men to testify against the gangsters who sold them protection of their stores, but the men are too frightened of getting killed. Eddie G finds out how serious their fears are, and he's outraged! Add in the subplot of John Beal as Eddie G's law student protégé and John's father Otto Kruger as the head of the evil organization, and you've got a ticking time bomb embedded in the story.

By far and away, though, the highlight of the movie is the nightclub scene. While out on the town with Wendy Barrie, they tear up the floor with the "big apple" dance. It's a sort of jitterbug, and with his huge grin, eyes crinkled in merriment, and finger waving in the air as he wiggles his hips, it's the cutest scene of his career. I loved seeing Eddie flirt around in this movie, not only with Wendy, but with his wife, Barbara O'Neil. They have separate beds, but she crooks her finger and says, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. . ." As Eddie kisses her and buries his head in her bosom (yes, he really does that!) she tells him there's a present for him in the dresser drawer. He whines and grumbles, not wanting to leave her bed; it's very funny.

There is a healthy balance of comedy and drama in I Am the Law. Family relationships are tested, policemen plan elaborate schemes, and courage is rewarded in usual ways. Eddie G has tons of energy, and John is great as a "Franchot Tone's younger brother" type. For more Eddie G in similar types of roles, check out The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse and Five Star Final.

Back in the Thirties when Thomas E. Dewey was becoming a national figure by putting all kinds of racketeers behind bars, the special prosecutor was considered a fearless figure and good subject matter for a film hero. In this loan out film for Columbia Pictures, Edward G. Robinson plays a law professor appointed just such a city prosecutor while he's on a year's sabbatical.

Robinson who plays a character with the soon to be famous name of John Lindsay has been programmed to fail because some of those same city fathers that want him in the job are those heading the rackets. And it's not like there isn't competing gangs within the underworld. But Eddie proves to be pretty resourceful and gets the job done. At least Dewey had a hand at picking his own staff.

Coincidentally enough the John Lindsay who became New York's Mayor did a stint in the Eisenhower Justice Department before he was a Congressman and then Mayor.

Columbia Pictures and Harry Cohn gave their visiting star as good an ensemble cast as he normally would have gotten at Warner Brothers for this kind of film. Barbara O'Neil, next year to be Scarlett O'Hara's mother in Gone With The Wind, plays Eddie's loyal supporting wife. John Beal is his ace graduate and number one assistant.

Wendy Barrie plays a sob sister newspaper columnist with a sideline and Otto Kruger is her sugar daddy and father of John Beal. Both are deceptive characters.

I Am The Law is a typical programmer, not too much different from what Robinson was doing at Warner Brothers at the time. Still fans of Mr. Robinson will enjoy and appreciate.

Law professor John Lindsay (Edward G. Robinson) is asked by a civic leader (Otto Kruger) to become a special prosecutor to go after the racketeers in town. He doesn't know he's being duped by the civic leader until a man he promises protection to is killed by the man's henchmen. After realizing that gangsters have infiltrated his staff, he recruits his law students to form an army of law enforcers.

Robinson is excellent in a "good man" role and Barbara O'Neil is radiant as his supportive wife. John Beal is a little too enthusiastic in his supporting role as Kruger's son but Wendy Barrie makes an interesting impression as a glamorous and ruthless gang moll.

Although the script is full of improbabilities, it's a tense and tidy little programmer, and this time Edward G. is working at Columbia instead of Warner Bros. Despite that fact, the film has the look of the kind of gritty crime melodramas Warners produced in those days--which is a compliment.

"I am the Law" (1938) Professor John Lindsay (E.G. Robertson) is taking a sabbatical from his law position. He volunteers to go after the gangsters in town. He thinks it will be easy but very quickly he learns those in charge don't want him to succeed & that includes his staff chosen by the city fathers & Eugene Ferguson (Otto Kruger) Paul's father & head of the mob.

So he & his top student Paul Ferguson (John Beal) volunteer to go after gangsters & corruption from his home. Because those in charge want to see failure John & Paul are fired. With his wife Jerry (Barbara O'Neil) he recruits his top graduated law students to form an unpaid army of law enforcers. What will happen next? What & see!