Advogado de Defesa

Attorney for the Defense (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Far-fetched but entertaining courtroom drama has Edmund Lowe playing lawyer William Burton who makes a living and headline off of sending people to the electric chair. Things change when he sends a man (Dwight Frye) to the chair who turns out to be innocent so the lawyer gives up his D.A. job and promises to support the man's widow and child. Ten years later the kid is now an adult in college and might have killed a woman who was trying to blackmail the lawyer. ATTORNEY FOR THE DEFENSE comes from Columbia and is a good example of a pre-code drama with some real sexuality as well as a dark plot full of twists and murder. I'm not going to sit here and say the film was flawless but it's certainly an entertaining picture that manages to keep one caught up in the story from the story to the end. I've always been very hit and miss on Lowe as an actor with most of his films and performances just not connecting with me but that's certainly not the case here because this is the best I've ever seen him. I thought the performance was excellent no matter what the screenplay called for. This includes him being cocky early on and more sensitive towards the end of the film. In the movie's highlight, after news breaks that the man was innocent, the lawyer goes to see the man's family and this is an exceptionally great sequence with Lowe really selling the emotions. Evelyn Brent is a real snake as the woman using blackmail and Constance Cummings is also very good as the lawyer's partner. Donald Dilloway is also good as the grown up boy and Dorothy Peterson is also good in her role. The supporting cast includes the before mentioned Frye, Nat Pendleton and Clarence Muse. The courtroom scene contains some very good energy, although the twist in the story is pretty far-fetched. Still, fans of these early courtroom dramas has enough working here to make this worth sitting through.

The first half of this movie is a fine example of a fast-paced pre-code drama raising moral issues (i. E., how far should an attorney go in prosecuting a doubtful case) with crisp dialogue, surprising plot twists, and a cynical attitude. About midway it slows down and resolves in a tepid courtroom scene with the climax pulled out of a hat as in a lesser Perry Mason episode. Too bad. Worth a watch for pre-code buffs and those who enjoy any courtroom scene as long as the good guy wins.

PC alert: Talented black actor Clarence Muse, who seldom got meaningful roles in that era, plays a key witness. He isn't treated disrespectfully but Muse was made to act the role in the stereotypical eye-rolling childish manner and cornball dialect then seemingly required.

This is the weakest of all those 1932 lawyer films inspired by real life celebrity prosecutor turned defender, Gene Fowler. It's weaker in terms of story, direction and especially its star, Edmund Lowe. This role relies on the charisma of the lead but unfortunately Edmund Lowe just doesn't have it. He's not a bad actor, he simply doesn't sparkle. Compared with his counterparts in the other 1932 lawyer films he doesn't have either: the sleazy charm of Warren William in MOUTHPIECE, the over-the-top extravagance of John Barrymore in STATE'S ATTORNEY or the warmth of William Powell in LAWYER MAN. He's just an actor reading his lines - you don't feel as though you want to know anything about him.

Of all these similar movies, the story in this one is possibly the most interesting and unexpected but because of the pedestrian direction and the one dimensional characters you never fully engage with it. On paper this probably sounded really exciting and handled differently it could have been but it looks like Columbia picked their B team for this and it shows.

"Attorney for the Defense" is a good film about a district attorney, William J. Burton, who turns from prosecuting accused criminals to defending them. His conversion happens after the real killer confesses to a murder for which an innocent man has already been convicted and executed. It was Burton's prosecution that convinced the jury to give him the electric chair. But Burton's change of heart doesn't mean life will be a bed of roses for him from then on.

Burton's past acquaintances with a two-timing gal, Val Lorraine, and his new career and dedication to helping Mrs. Wallace and her son Paul, will lead to problems in the future. His devoted secretary and legal assistant, Ruth Barry, is his last hope when Burton himself stands trial for murder.

There are a couple of good twists in this Columbia Pictures mystery drama. The production quality isn't very good - Columbia was a second tier studio at the time and wasn't able to as quickly adopt the changes and innovations that the major studios of the day made. The screenplay is just fair, but the plot is a good one.

And this is a good film in which to see an actor who isn't much remembered in the 21st century like many of the movie icons of the mid-20th century. Edmund Lowe finished his last decade in TV series in the 1950s, but had a career with more than 100 films. Many of those were in leading roles during the silent film era. He transitioned well with sound, but was already 40 years old in 1930. He still got lead roles, mostly in mysteries with some comedies and dramas through the mid-1930s. But after that, when the new young stars begam making names for themselves, Lowe's roles were most often supporting. He made movies for different studios, including some B studios by the end of his film career.

Constance Cummings is very good as Ruth Barry. Nat Pendleton is the most recognizable of the supporting cast. Most of the rest of the cast wouldn't be recognized except by die-hard movie buffs and aficionados.

Here's a favorite line from this film.

Val Lorraine (played by Evelyn Brent), "Anyway, it'd ruin my chances to marry the man from Dubuque." William Burton, "Grand Rapids."

***SPOILERS*** Being the 18th man to be sent directly to the Sing Sing electric chair James Wallace, Dwight Frye, makes a ruckus at his trial sentencing accusing the local D.A William "Hot Seat" Burton, Edmund Lowe, of railroading him like the other 17 men prosecuted by him just to get publicity in order to get himself elected in his upcoming race against Governorn F.D Roosevelt for governor of the Empire State of New York. This big victory on "Hot Seat's" part soon falls apart after Wallace's execution that the murder that he was zapped or executed for was admitted in a death bed confession, in knowing that he's got nothing to lose anyway, by the real murderer as he was about to check out for good!

In Burton trying to repent for sending an innocent man James Wallace as well as who knows how many more to the electric chair he takes it upon himself to pay for the late James Wallace's son Paul's, Don Dillaway, collage tuition in order to make up for what he did to his dad. Paul being both young and in love as well as a bit stupid falls head over heels for the two timing gold digger Val Lorraine,Evelyn Brent, who was a former old flame of Burton. It's Lorraine who uses the poor and love sick sop to steal a number of document from Burton's office safe in order to blackmail him that can have him disbarred. That in him stealing cash or chump change from his clients; That they probably didn't miss anyway.

***SPOILERS*** The rub in all this is that after Paul found out what Larraine was up to and how she played him, her lover, for a sucker he got gloriously drunk and passed out in her apartment only to find her dead when he finally, after about 5 hours, came to. In pops "Hot Seat" Burton who to save Paul's drunk and sorry a** from getting burned takes responsibly for Lorraine's murder, or so were made to believe, and is set to got on trial for it in order to prove his, Burton's, innocence. Using all the skills of a shyster or lawyer Burton draws out the true killer of Lorraine by playing the fool and letting the prosecution make him look, with him helping out, like a complete idiot on the witness stand. The link that prove's that the person who murdered Lorainne wasn't him is a bruise she had on her neck that was the results of a ring that her killer wore. Which Burton used to punch out one of the members of the audience with to prove his case!

P.S With all that now behind him Burton finally proposes to his long time and suffering private secretary Ruth Barry, Constance Commings,who put up with all his BS all these years and waited for him to finally pop the question. That's before he drops dead, he's some 15 years older then her, or is killed by one of his outraged clients or or one of those, after being released from prison, innocent men that he sent up the river.