"Portia on Trial" has a lot of reasons to assume it's a stinker. First, the cast is made up of mostly unknown or supporting actors (the only really recognizable actors were all character actors...Walter Abel, Clarence Kolb, Neil Hamilton and Barbara Pepper...no big stars. Second, the film was originally 72 minutes long...but was hacked to 52 minutes in order to make the film fit into a TV time slot! Third, the plot is really tough to believe. Yet, oddly, it IS still well worth seeing and might even merit an 8 or 9 if you can find a complete version...if it's even available.
John Condon (Kolb) is a powerful newspaper owner. But he also is morally bankrupt...doing some very unethical things IF he thinks it's merited. For example, when his son, long ago, got a girl pregnant, instead of allowing the couple to marry, used extortion to force the girl to give up the child to his father. If she hadn't, Condon promised to destroy her...to trump up charges and get her sent to prison. And, he meant it...had she not agreed, she would have been sent to rot in prison.
Seventeen years later, this wronged woman (Frieda Inescort) has turned around her life. She's a defense attorney and is married to a prosecuting attorney. And, her life is looking good, as her old fiance has finally told his son about his mother and the attorney and her son are building a relationship.
HOWEVER, John Condon is about to rear his ugly head. His son (Neil Hamilton) is clearly a weakling who is bullied by his father...and his father hates the woman he is dating. So, he's arranged for immigration agents to arrest her for 'moral grounds' and they essentially say the new fiancee is a whore. She is also to be deported in order to prevent her from marrying Condon's son. And, the son, being a weakling, won't stand up to his father for the woman he loves. Soon after, this wronged woman kills her fiance...and her defense attorney is the woman Condon wronged seventeen years ago! And, she'll be defending the woman against the district attorney...her husband!
If all this sounds incredibly contrived and melodramatic, you're right...but it's also incredibly compelling and kept me on the edge of my seat. I chalk this up to great direction and some terrific acting...particularly by Kolb who plays the monstrous John Condon to perfection. It makes for a very strong story...melodrama and all. Well worth seeing.
