Le témoin à abattre

Illegal (1955)

If a little creaky on the edges, the core of this minor movie is solid as it gets: Edward G. Robinson as a troubled lawyer. It starts fast, gets faster, has some spectacular twists (in the courtroom, apparently based on real legal cases), and ends up being redemptive.

The support cast is the biggest problem here (and probably the direction that is trying to get the most out of them). The story is slightly sensational, and has some clichéd parts (the bad mobster, the crooked D.A., the woman caught in the middle) but it's a lot of fun at the same time. Director Lewis Allen is obscure, and possibly over his head in a fairly complicated movie. The only big name behind the scenes is the impeccable Max Steiner, so the score is terrific.

And Robinson shows how much he can act, again. It's worth it just for him.

A bit of far-fetched legal melodrama is anchored by the performance of that old pro Edward G. Robinson.

Robinson plays a renowned attorney with a flair for the theatrical who turns crooked after he finds out a man he sent to the chair was truly innocent and his faith in the system of justice is shaken. He attracts the attention of a crime kingpin because of his skill in winning cases by any means necessary, but he suffers a crisis of conscience when his sort-of surrogate daughter/sort-of love interest (Nina Foch) ends up on trial for a murder she didn't commit that's tied to the activities of the crime boss.

Robinson is terrific as usual. He excelled at roles like this one -- the rogue anti-hero who doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own. You always root for him, even when he's the bad guy.

"Illegal" is packaged as a film noir, but it's not even close to being one, so you might be disappointed if that's what you're expecting. However, if you can get past that, it's a fun, snappy film that has a refreshingly off-kilter unpredictability to it. Three quarters of the way through the film I was still trying to guess where it was headed.

Grade: B+

Illegal puts Edward G. Robinson through more perils than Pauline ever suffered. A tenacious District Attorney on his way to the governor's mansion, he resigns when a man he had sent to the electric chair proves innocent. But the civil practice he hopes to undertake goes bust, and he takes to the bottle (a plot development which goes nowhere).

Down and out, he defends a fellow inmate he encounters in a holding cell, and decides to apply his legal acumen to becoming a sharp, high-priced criminal attorney. To get off a guilty client, he grandstands in court by downing a bottle of poison placed in evidence, only to rush off to have his stomach pumped. (This particular ploy was originated by George Brent in 1940's The Man Who Talked Too Much.) He's such a brilliant mouthpiece he comes to the attention of civic crime boss Albert Dekker, whose blandishments he tries to resist.

Meanwhile, back at the D.A.'s office, he's left behind his protégé Nina Foch (looking matronly), whom he had taken under his wing when her father, an old mentor of his, passed away. Though he harbors romantic feelings for her, he gives his blessing when she announces her marriage to a young, ambitious lawyer, Hugh Marlowe. But a series of leaks from the office concerning Dekker's activities brings suspicion on all three. Ultimately, Robinson finds himself defending Foch for murder, during which Jayne Mansfield, Dekker's mistress, sashays to the witness stand in a wasp-waisted black outfit, replete with picture hat.....

The fast and too complicated plot takes a few pointless and baffling turns. Though on the talky side, there's a high quotient of gunplay. Still, it's absorbing. Robinson, still in his early-50s string of B-pictures owing to his guilt-by-association in the wake of the anti-Communist crusade, holds everything together with his bag of old tricks. And credit must go also to director Lewis Allen, who somehow brought a distinctiveness to several of his films which otherwise might have passed unnoticed: Desert Fury, Chicago Deadline, Suddenly. It's hard to point out just how, but he brought some of it to Illegal, too.

Illegal marks the third time Warner Brothers told this tale of a lawyer's downfall and redemption. It was previously filmed as The Mouthpiece and The Man Who Talked Too Much with Warren William and George Brent playing the role that Edward G. Robinson does here. I've not seen the other two films as yet, but it's hard to imagine either of the other players doing it better. In fact both the other guys would certainly play it differently than Robinson.

Illegal finds Edward G. Robinson cast as a zealous prosecutor who convicts DeForest Kelley wrongly of murder. There's no last minute pardon from the governor however, no verdict set aside, because the evidence that could clear him comes as the switch is being thrown on the electric chair.

Robinson's an ambitious fellow who would like to have been governor or more, but this does set him back on his heels and he takes to drink. But soon enough he realizes he still has the skills so now he can put them to work for the other side.

That by the way is the standard way criminal defense attorneys are born, the best training they can receive can be as Assistant District Attorneys. After a nifty bit of legal legerdemain Robinson winds up working for mobster Albert Dekker. In the meantime his former assistant in the DA's office Nina Foch winds up killing her husband Hugh Marlowe when she discovers he's been a mole there for Dekker.

The legal legerdemain is by far the best bit in the film. Robinson gets James McCallion out of an embezzlement charge and fixes it so that McCallion's boss Howard St. John is left without a leg to stand on.

Jayne Mansfield lends her gravity defying presence to Illegal in one of her earliest films. She plays Dekker's moll and sings Too Marvelous For Words very badly. But as a singer it's not her voice that perks Dekker's interest.

In many ways the lead in this story is a dream role for a player. Every actor worth his salt wants a courtroom drama because of the histrionics involved. Robinson has several courtroom scenes on both sides of the fence and convicts and frees clients by some interesting methods.

In his memoirs Robinson called from 1949 with All My Sons until 1956 in The Ten Commandments as his B picture period. But I'm here to say that while the films weren't big marquee box office, they were pretty much well done dramas that Robinson brought his sense of professionalism to each role. Illegal is one of the best of them.

This movie may not look like a film noir, but there are some great film noir-type lines here, like the one I used in the subject head. I heard at least a dozen that I almost laughed out loud at because they were so good and/or clever. This is a not a "B" film with its dialog and terrific cast.

I agree it's not one that is terribly exciting, either, but it has more than its share of good points. One good starting point is the star: Edward G. Robinson. It's tough to knock a film with him in the lead. It's a little talky but there are some dramatic, surprising moments, too, with Robinson's "Victor Scott," doing some things you have to see to believe.

Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe and Albert Dekker are all good in key roles, but I found it more interesting at times to see familiar faces in the supporting characters. Actors such as Ellen Corby ("Miss Hinkel"), DeForest Kelley ("Edward Clary"), Edward Platt ("Ralph Ford"), Jayne Mansfield ("Angel O'Hara"), Henry Kulky ("Taylor), Jan Merlin ("Andrew Garth") and a few others, were all fascinating. I liked Corby, in particular. You may not know all their names, but you know their faces. Kelley starred for years on "Star Trek" and Platt was the boss in "Get Smart." In Mansfield's case, you know more than just her face!

This is the first half of a film noir twin-bill recently offered on DVD. The other film is "The Big Steal," so you get two pretty good movies for the price of one.