For the Defense

For the Defense (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Exciting drama from Paramount has lawyer William Foster (William Powell) at the top of his game. He's a lawyer who plays strictly by the book but what rubs people the wrong way is that he gets criminals and thugs off of their crimes. Foster's skill is put to the test when the woman he loves (Kay Francis) asks him to defend a man that Foster knows loves her too. Things take a complicated turn when Foster learns that it was the woman who actually did the crime.

Back in the 1930s it wasn't uncommon for Hollywood to take newspaper headlines and wrap them into a movie. This film is partially based on the career of lawyer William Fallon who was flawless when it came to defending some of the biggest criminals of the era. FOR THE DEFENSE is a really good movie that has some terrific performances, a rather good story and an ending that really packs a nice little punch. The film manages to keep you caught up in the story from the opening credits up until the very end so fans of classic Hollywood are really going to enjoy this.

I think the greatest thing about the picture is the performance of Powell. When watching his films today it's amazing to see how easy he makes acting look because he could pretty much transform himself into any type of role and this here is what he is best at.

This is a very smart character, constantly thinking and constantly on the movie. Powell plays this with ease and manages to build a real character. Francis is also very good, although her role isn't nearly as memorable. William B. Davidson also deserves a lot of credit as the District Attorney who can never beat Foster and sees him getting criminals off as a major problem for the safety of the country.

The story itself has a couple nice twists and turns along the way and there's no doubt that director John Cromwell knows how to handle the material and he keeps the film moving at a very nice pace. The great thing about Turner Classic Movies is that you can always stumble across films with actors that you know but perhaps films you haven't heard of. It's really too bad that FOR THE DEFENSE isn't better known today because it's a perfect example of a great cast, a strong story and how these small movies used to be made for quality.

I love this period in film. I'm particularly attracted to the detective genre because it had a significant role in shaping how movies work.

A key personality in this, especially in the pre-code period, was the free-spirited fellow. Later he would be a tough guy, but in this era he was more likely to be interested in sex and partying. The actor that works best in this is William Powell, who happened to be working at a time when the industry was full of experiments. Rather than work hard on making a film perfect, they just rattled off this guess and that, try to see what worked. Unlike today, what worked was a moving target as the vocabulary and viewers matured.

This is such an experiment. Here the "detective" is a brash lawyer. The job changes slightly but the tweaking of the police and the DA is as with most from this period. Also constant was the notion that the key character could control the world around him to some extent. In this case, the lawyer pays a particularly high price, but is able to twist the story precisely as he would wish.

By itself, its uninteresting. In the context of hundreds of other movies that deal with what would become noir mechanics, it matters. And because it is in that period where honesty about sex was allowed, it has an edge.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

In their second of 6 screen-team efforts, William Powell and Kay Francis excel in this courtroom melodrama. Controversial lawyer Powell receives a quasi-marriage proposal from actress girlfriend Francis. "After all these months, don't you think that would be rather silly?" he replies. Francis, disappointed, decides to rendevouz with a boozer pal (Scott Kolk),she has been keeping on the side in case her "Powell affair" fizzled. With Kay at the wheel, Kolk pawing her in a drunken haze -- she hits and kills a roadside bystander. Francis begs Powell to defend Kolk who is taking the rap for her. Kolk gets off the hook and Powell learns about his liason with Francis. I won't give away the ending, but Francis must have been grateful for finally having a role at Paramount that was rather substantial and chock full of emotional complexities. FOR THE DEFENSE was her 10th film at the studio and they seldom built up her parts. This was her 2nd of 5 films with director John Cromwell.

William Powell is an unscrupulous lawyer who always seems to get his clients, whether they're innocent or guilty. Kay Francis is the lady who loves him. Or does she? While the film starts out rather slow, we find out almost halfway through the film, she thinks she's in love with another man, who wants to marry her. The pace picks up, due to a car accident they had. From there, it gets even more intricately involved, culminating in a rather abrupt albeit upbeat ending. This was a good little film, though not as great as I might have hoped, considering the lead actors. Also, the film definitely feels old and doesn't have the freshness a quick programmer would have. If you like the leads, you'll probably be pleased, but all in all, I've seen better films with Kay and William.

But, for that matter, what movie did William Powell and Kay Francis team up in that wasn't a fine example of movie-making? William Powell plays William Foster, a flamboyant and successful defense lawyer that reminds me of Powell's Thin Man character except, unlike Nick Charles, William Foster is an unhappy man at his core. He gets drunk and pretty much stays that way to soothe this unnamed pain, not to add to the edge of a giddily happy life. His long-time lover, Irene Manners (Kay Francis), is the one thing he claims he can depend upon, but whenever he says this you get the feeling that he counts not even on that. Marriage is out of the question from Foster's standpoint, but Kay wants matrimony and finds someone who offers it in a less interesting package than Foster in the person of wealthy Jack Defoe. Jack and Irene meet late one night and take a ride in Jack's car to talk things out about the future - Irene is still unsure about how she wants to proceed. Irene is driving because Jack had been drinking. When Jack gets fresh, he causes the car to swerve and Irene hits a pedestrian. Jack sobers up quickly at this point and tells Irene to run away so he can claim responsibility for the wreck alone as he fears for Irene's reputation whether she is named as the driver or just a passenger. Unfortunately for Jack the pedestrian is dead. Also unfortunately for Jack, he still has the smell of alcohol on his breath when the police arrive.

Now Jack is up for manslaughter. Foster has never liked Defoe because he considers him a spoiled brat, and now Irene is begging Foster to defend Defoe in spite of that, all the time trying to keep from Foster the fact that she was with Jack that night and that they were talking marriage. Defoe is maintaining the same charade as Irene. Meanwhile the district attorney and the police have had just about enough of Foster winning every case he takes and are keeping a close eye on his business practices. Who will go to jail? Will anybody go to jail? Watch and find out.

William Powell and Kay Francis were always great together because they usually played less than perfect people that made the perfect couple. Regardless of how things worked out for them at the end of their films, you just felt their characters were soul mates. This film is a great showcase of their talents when they were at the peak of their popularity in the 30's.