Lawyer Man (1932)

one of my absolute favorites!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

William Powell was a master of the double take. I can't think of any actor who used it more often or better for comic effect. In "Lawyer Man," he must have done a dozen or more double takes. They range from the obvious scene stoppers of a knowing look on his face and turn of the head, to more subtle light pauses with a stern or amusing look as if to catch a breath. We see the first big one in the opening scene when he is stepping out of his office building onto an open market street on New York's East Side. An iceman is delivering a block of ice and is entering the building with it over his shoulder. Powell's character, Anton Adam, says, "Good morning, Jake. How's the ice business?" Iceman, "Not so hot." Powell pauses a second and turns his head toward the iceman who has passed him in the doorway. There's no way the audience could miss the humor of the dialog with Powell's double take that allows just enough time for it to sink in. One might say the double take multiplies (doubles) the comedy of the lines. This movie isn't billed as a comedy, and one can see why. It's one of the earliest films about city machine politics and corruption, and shady aspects of a political justice system. But, this drama and crime movie has a good dose of comedy. It's mostly in Powell's character, rather than situations. This is the story about a New York East Side (of the 1930s) lawyer who makes good and moves up to Park Avenue. Adam has been in the East Side defending the poor and the down and out for some years. He is well known and liked in the neighborhood, and by the cops and by others in his profession. He then tackles a case that beats the political machinery. That starts him on a rise and track of prominence. After a double-cross by the machine connections, his reputation is hurt among the high-class set. So, he starts over defending low-life criminals and others. But now he takes some shady cases and charges them accordingly. He has become a shyster, in his own words. There's nothing in the film that indicates he did anything illegal himself, but that he was defending a lot of people who were shady operators and getting them off. He wins and builds himself back up. When he gets appointed assistant district attorney, he comments about being back on the right side of the law. Indeed, Anton Adam's character seems to have high ideals about justice. In a very early scene, he turns down a case from a man who he says must come to justice. When the man leaves and Adam's secretary comes into the office, Adam says of the guy, "Just a small-time mouse trying to be a big time rat."Joan Blondell is Olga Michaels, Adam's long-time and faithful secretary and confidant. She's crazy in love with the guy, but keeps her composure, and he doesn't know it until toward the end of the film. Adam has one weakness, which we see in his glances at pretty women. It's likely more in his head than in practice, though, because when he gets with an attractive stage performer, he is shy and awkward. Olga knows his weakness, and some of the humor of the film is when she brings him up short for it. An exchange between the two sums up the situation. Olga, "I worked for a successful man once, and you know why he was a success?" Anton, "Sure, because you worked for him." Olga, "No! 'Cause he left the dames alone." After the double- cross, Olga says to Anton, "That's what happens when a smart lawyer gets mixed up with a dumb blonde."The supporting cast in "Lawyer Man" are all very good. David Landau is especially good as John Gilmurry who runs the local political machine. Alan Dinehart plays Granville Bentley, the Park Avenue attorney whom Adam beats in a big case and who then invites Adam to be his partner. Claire Dodd is very good as Virginia St. Johns and Allen Jenkins plays a usual heavy or hooligan role as Izzy Levine. This is a very good film that most adults should enjoy. Here are a couple more favorite lines from the movie. Olga, "Who's gonna take your case?" Anton, "I am. I know. I have a sap for a client."Olga, "Remember, I told you about taking these cases against those big uptown lawyers. They got too much pull." Anton, "Yeah, well I got a lot of push."On a historical note for younger generations, the iceman was a common site in America before the mid-20th century. In the years before electric refrigerators, the iceman delivered blocks of ice to homes that had iceboxes. The lady of the house would use an ice pick to chip the ice block into pieces to fit in the top of the icebox. The term "icebox" continued to be used for decades, referring to the refrigerator. More than a few early crime movies had murders committed with ice picks. I doubt if one could be found in a 21st century home.

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.

A Pre-Code movie that would be G-rated by today's standards, "Lawyer Man" is entertaining and good fun but should be billed as a drama/comedy, if you can imagine such. It moves very quickly as its star, William Powell, goes from honest, hard-working lawyer to shyster and back in 72 easy minutes. The problem is that, apart from Powell, all the other characters are two-dimensional, and are seemingly there for Powell to bounce lines off. David Landau, especially, was criminally wasted (no pun intended) as the 'big boss' and king-maker. Despite his role, he was likable while enduring endless insults from Powell. Most men in his position probably would have had Powell 'rubbed out' early on.That said, there is a lot to like in this picture. First off, there is Powell himself, elegant and dapper while miscast as a lower East Side lawyer representing lower class shlubs. There is also Joan Blondell, in her customary role as the torch-bearing secretary overlooked by Powell. There is Alan Dinehart, an excellent 30's character actor with a part that was too small for his talent. Despite the seriousness of the plot, much of it is played for laughs. In one amusing scene, two hit men turn soft in a goofy confrontation with Powell. Throw in some laughs via Blondell wise cracks, and you have a basically good-natured movie which I would rate a seven.P.S. Do you like old standards? This picture has some of the best you can hear nowadays on the soundtrack, played in the background by a 30's band.

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.