Compound Fallony

Convenient for occupational melodrama, with which the cinema is trying to replace last year's gangster cycle, was the career of Lawyer William J. Fallen. Lawyer Fallen ably defended innumerable criminals, then defended himself when he was accused of bribing a juror. He was noted also as a libertine and toper. He was the hero of a gaudy biography by Gene Fowler, The Great Mouthpiece (TIME, Oct. 26, 1931). First cinema based on the career of Lawyer Fallen two years ago was For the Defense, with William Powell. Elmer Rice's play, Counsellor-at-Law, had elements of similarity. Last week were released two more cinemas about lawyers who somewhat resemble William J. Fallen.

The Mouthpiece (Warner), adapted from an unproduced play by Frank J. Collins, is about a lawyer who had good reason to defend criminals for his livelihood. As assistant district attorney, Vincent Day convicts an innocent man for murder and is unable, when he learns of his mistake, to stop the execution. His methods of atoning for his error are brilliant and unscrupulous. He takes up with a collection of rogues, sees to it that they are not penalized for their crimes. Finally a little Southern secretary (Sidney Fox) makes him ashamed of shabby practice.

He "squeals on" a thug to save her fiancee. For doing so he gets shot, apparently to death, unlike Lawyer Fallen who died of a hemorrhage from drink."*

As Lawyer Day, Warren William in his first featured role gives a polished and jaunty impersonation. A large actor with a handsome profile resembling John Barrymore's, he has hitherto been cast in heroic or romantic roles (Honor of the Family, Beauty and the Boss, The Woman from Monte Carlo).

State's Attorney (RKO) shows John Barrymore himself making an address to a jury which is surely as impassioned as the one (in A Free Soul) which last year got his brother Lionel a prize from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He is a criminal lawyer named Tom Corrigan, inclined to making cynical observations on the discrepancies between justice and the law. One evening he sees a girl (Helen Twelvetrees) brought into court on a vice charge. He defends her, makes her his mistress. Like Lawyer Day, Lawyer Corrigan is thick with thieves. A political gangster (William Boyd) helps him to be made state's attorney. When called to defend a murderess, Corrigan remarks, "She'd be free tonight if I were her lawyer." Then he obtains a confession and conviction.

Presently Lawyer Corrigan is called upon to make a difficult decision. He has a chance to be made governor if he refrains from convicting his gangster friend for murder. Instead, with icy contempt for his listeners, his career and his gangster friend, he sets out to obtain a conviction. Director George Archainbaud directed State's Attorney with a feeling, rare in the cinema, for the trivial and revealing irrelevance of his characters in speech and action. Good shot: Lawyer Corrigan slipping a wedding ring on the finger of Helen Twelvetrees when he is trying to prove that she is no prostitute.

*Last week Miss Ruth Fallen (daughter) sued Perry Spencer, manager of Warner Bros, theatre in Syracuse, for criminal libel, charging that he advertised The Mouthpiece as her father's actual private life.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.