Black Legion (1937)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Don't Believe the Hype

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Black Legion" is one of the more controversial films from "Warner Bros" and it should have made Humphrey Bogart a star. The film's premise is daring for the times, especially after the American Film Censors had clamped down pretty hard on Hollywood films in general. Bogart plays a factory worker who has had the same job for many years. He is a married man with a son and has an ordinary existence. At the beginning of the film, Bogart has the chance of being promoted to that of shop steward at the factory. However, he is passed over by a young worker who is from an Eastern European background. Angry and resentful, Bogart is coerced by a work colleague into joining a secret society that tries to rid America of all citizens who aren't born and bred Americans. The society is a thinly veiled version of the Klu Klux Klan, as aggressive and violent means are employed. Before long, Bogart is in over his head and it's not long before tragedy occurs. This is the kind of film that reflects the old fashioned kind of Republican politics and is disturbing because of that. The cast of talented actors do full justice to some excellent dialogue. The violence is quite stark and unflinching. I wouldn't be surprised if "Black Legion" ran into Censorship trouble. The film turns into a human interest story about how American society is reflected and portrayed via the politics from the secret society. Humphrey Bogart does very well in the leading role. If only "Warner Bros" had found more films like the above for him, Bogart wouldn't have been stuck in a rut the way he was until 1941. The climax is what you would expect from a film like this but it rounds up a fine film.

. . . at High Noon E.S.T., specifically, for the nation once called "America." The BLACK LEGION, now known as the AltRight, will be sworn in at that moment as the Supreme Potentate of the USA, totally under the thumbs of Arch Fiends Steve Bannon, Vlad Putin, and Satan Himself. This is thanks to the dim-witted dupes filling the BLACK LEGION screen and populating the hate-filled Real Life Rump Rallies these past 18 months. Though 2.7 million MORE Americans chose to be on God's Side, the fatal Racist "Electoral College" Loophole finally gave the BLACK LEGION the victory they've so desperately craved since Rebel Traitor Lee finally surrendered at Appomatox Courthouse in 1865. As the judge says here while sentencing the ENTIRE Basket of Deplorables making up the BLACK LEGION--from Humphrey Bogart, its lowliest pawn, up to the Steve Bannon model himself--to Life in Prison, "(If Rump is sworn in) this nation may as well abandon its Constitution, forget its Bill of Rights, tear down its Courts of Justice, and revert to the Barbarism of Primitive Violence" (1:20:18 to 1:20:26). Lock them ALL up, BLACK LEGION preaches, as soon as Liberty comes to her senses. It may well take a Bloody Civil War; thousands if not millions may perish, but a minute marching onward as a Christian Soldier is worth a Lifetime as a Racist Slave under Rump.

In order to fully appreciate this movie a person needs to understand what the United States was like back in the 1930s. America was in the midst of the most severe depression it had ever known with approximately 25% of the workforce unemployed at one time. That said, here we have Humphrey Bogart playing the role of Frank Taylor who has worked at his job for many years, is well-liked and happy. He is fortunate to have a good wife named "Ruth Taylor" (Erin O'Brien-Moore) and an adoring son. Unfortunately, because a Polish immigrant gets a promotion he thought was rightfully his, he angrily joins a secret society known as the Black Legion. At first, things are going very well for him. But so much anger and hatred has a way of dragging people down and things begin to spiral out of control very quickly. He eventually loses his wife and then his job. Not long after that he kills his best friend due to fear of being exposed and gets sentenced to life in prison. As he's being led away he looks mournfully at his wife who is in tears and seems to wonder how everything went so wrong. One interesting aspect of this film is that Humphrey Bogart got to deviate from his typical "tough guy" role and showed a bit more emotion in this film. Additionally, even though Ann Sheridan (who played Ruth Taylor's next-door neighbor) gets more credit, I thought Erin O'Brien-Moore gave a truly excellent performance. The film was well-directed, had a decent supporting cast and the original story was nominated for an Academy Award. Not only that, but the National Board of Review selected it as the best film of 1937. In short, a very good movie for its time and I think anyone who gives it a chance will be glad they did.

Okay, so Bogie is great at everything, but what is he absolutely the best at? Here, we have a story about a group called THE BLACK LEGION, but clearly implied is that it is the KU KLUX KLAN.It is a well written account about how a very ordinary man is swept up into the group. We see hordes of men clinging to the safety of the group. When in the lynch mob, they become different.We see the man's life torn apart, but also the lives of those around him who just want to make their lives, and the lives of others a better place.We are given lots of views of what is taking place in this drama. The drama is full of action, too. It isn't the Macbeth like horror, but the more realistic, every day horror that is depicted, and how it gets out of hand.And that brings us to what Bogie does best. Like the Sierra Madre and other Bogie classics, he is the absolute best at giving us the villain with insecurities, the "realistic" villain, who we see fighting within himself. Much of this is clever writing, also. But it's hard not to think much of it is the genius of Bogart.Obivously a top film, and still as entertaining and interesting today as it was then.