Lawyer Man

William Powell plays an ambitious bush league lawyer who goes to work for a high-class law firm, taking along his trusted secretary Joan Blondell. It isn't long before Powell's clashing with a corrupt political boss and getting involved with the wrong women. When things come crashing down for him, Powell vows to become successful no matter what tactics he has to use.

Enjoyable Pre-Coder from Warner Bros with nice work from Powell and the always dynamite Joan Blondell. She's great here, throwing in one snappy rejoinder after another. Kinda hard to believe anybody would look twice at another woman if they had sexy young Blondell as an option, but perhaps that's more my personal taste. The supporting cast is nice. The script is fun, though nothing groundbreaking. It's all pretty simple and familiar stuff but well-done and entertaining.

Despite two very winning star players, this picture is all surface: a trite story with no depth of characterization whatsoever, constructed of an unusually large number of very brief scenes which move the plot along but are not sufficiently developed to generate any feeling for the characters. The potential "meat" of the story concerns a presumed crisis of conscience for William Powell as a very capable but too ambitious attorney, along with his relationship with radiant Joan Blondell as the secretary/Girl Friday he takes for granted. Lots of potential here, all of it sacrificed to keep the plot moving.

Really liked 'Lawyer Man's' premise and thought to myself quickly that this had potential to be a great film. Have loved Joan Blondell and especially William Powell in other films and was interested to see how Powell would fare in a role quite different for him. William Dieterle wasn't one of the greatest directors in my view and some films were better (much better in a few cases) than others, but his best work was absolutely great.

'Lawyer Man' was not quite great. Two thirds of it actually to me was great and extremely entertaining, one third not so much when things got less plausible. Dieterle did do better, as well as worse, films but 'Lawyer Man' is a solid representation of him. Same goes for Blondell, who was nearly always was a bright spot in her work, and for Powell, who always gave it one hundred percent and had a commanding presence in everything he did.

Both Powell and Blondell are great here. Especially Powell, whose suave charisma, easy-going charm and intensity really shines in a type of role that people wouldn't usually associate him typically with. Blondell is pert, lovely to watch and has a good deal of energy. They gel very well together. The supporting cast are solid too, although generally the supporting characters themselves could have been better fleshed out. David Landau plays his crook with a heart sort of character without over-playing or looking bored. Dieterle makes sure that the energy and intrigue doesn't slip.

It has a slick, professional look and much of 'Lawyer Man' goes at a lively pace, having a good deal of content without cluttering and it doesn't feel padded. Two thirds of the story is hugely compelling with lots of tension and intrigue and little obviousness, further benefitting from a sharp script with a surprisingly cynical edge on politics and legal ethics handled thoughtfully and not in a preachy way.

Sadly didn't think that the final third was as good, where credibility is pushed and strained to the limit. The pace also didn't feel as tight.

Also felt that the film ends a little too patly and pretty predictably and it is a shame that the supporting characters are not developed enough, most being there as mainly plot devices.

Overall though, well worth seeing for namely Powell. 7/10

That song, mentioned above, played throughout the film. William Powell is "Lawyer Man" in this 1932 film also starring Joan Blondell, Allen Jenkins, Helen Vinson, and Claire Dodd.

Powell plays Anton "Tony" Adam, a lower east side attorney with a small practice. He comes to the notice of a higher-priced attorney who invites him to become a partner. His secretary (Joan Blondell) of course goes with him. But Adam runs into trouble almost immediately when he takes a breach of promise case. The case is merely a setup by the corrupt political machine to frame him. Adam is thrown out of the partnership. On the face of it, he decides that if he can't beat 'em, join 'em. Actually, he has something else in mind.

Powell is very good, but he's too uptown to be a lower east side lawyer. The role was more suited for other contract players, such as Jimmy Cagney or Humphrey Bogart. Blondell is great as a secretary who's smarter than her boss, in love with him, and can see his mistakes before he even makes them.

William Powell is worth seeing in anything, even something he's not quite right for, and Joan Blondell is always a delight. This was probably a B film as it's pretty short.

This film moves too fast for introspective angst or art design to be an issue, so if you want that go watch an MGM or Paramount film of the period. Instead the film focuses on rapid fire dialog and keeping the plot moving. What makes this one a cut above most films of the early 30's are the players, in particular the dapper and charming William Powell as East Side lawyer Tony Adam and brassy Joan Blondell as Olga, his secretary who wants things to be more than they are between herself and Tony. Sparks do fly from time to time, and when they do it just doesn't quite work on the romantic level - rather like picturing James Cagney and Myrna Loy as romantic leads in a film.

When the film opens Tony is a lawyer with a hole in the wall office on the East Side of New York City. He's defending neighborhood hoods and ripped off struggling businessmen, but he wants more - he wants to be a big shot. He gets what he wants and then some and the film shows his trek through the ups and downs of an uptown practice, his run-ins with the corrupt political boss of the city that can't decide if he wants to hire Tony or rub him out, and the high society ladies who use him and lose him along the way.

The final speech by Tony as he makes a crucial career decision will have you going huh?? where did that come from?? as there has been no indication that Tony is learning anything from any of this up to the last two minutes. Still it's enjoyable to see darts flying from Joan Blondell's eyes and William Powell unruffled in the the face of bullets, ballots, or blackmail. I'd recommend this one to anyone who enjoys the precodes, and in particular the fast moving WB precodes.