Society Lawyer (1939)

Director:

Edwin L. Marin

Writers:

Arthur Somers Roche (story)
Frances Goodrich (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Society lawyer Christopher Durant agrees to defend his friend Phil Siddall when Siddall is arrested for the murder of an ex-girlfriend...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Lawyer | Singer | Nightclub | Male Female Relationship

Cast

Walter Pidgeon	...	Christopher 'Chris' Durant
Virginia Bruce	...	Pat Abbott
Leo Carrillo	...	Tony Gazotti
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Jim Crelliman
Lee Bowman	...	Phil Siddall
Frances Mercer	...	Sue Leonard
Ann Morriss	...	Judy Barton
Herbert Mundin	...	Layton, Durant's Butler
Frank M. Thomas	...	Lt. Steve Stevens
Edward Brophy	...	Max, Gazotti's Bodyguard (as Edward S. Brophy)
Tom Kennedy	...	Alf, Gazotti's Bodyguard
Clarence Kolb	...	Mr. Leonard
Pierre Watkin	...	Henry V. Adams
Ian Wolfe	...	Frederick Schmidt
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Tim Murtock

Also Known As:

Penthouse (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5198) | Sweden:15

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

A plagiarism suit was filed by Robert Brister and Harry T. Bliven against the use of the title, but it was dismissed by the court.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Penthouse (1933)

Soundtrack:

I'm In Love with the Honorable Mr So & So

Did MGM plan a series out of this?

I just saw this film on TCM and it was a pretty good product from MGM's B picture unit. Walter Pidgeon was stepping into Bill Powell's shoes as a slick society lawyer.

Pidgeon is a properly WASP attorney in what would now be called a white shoe law firm. But he has a taste for criminal law that doesn't sit well with the other members of his firm, including his prospective father-in-law. They agree to part professionally and later on Pidgeon's fiancé breaks off the engagement.

That sets off a series of events that has the fiancé's former boy friend on trial for shooting a girl he dumps. At that point Pidgeon's services suddenly become in great demand.

It really looked like this was a series that Walter Pidgeon may have been slated for. Playing his butler was Herbert Mundin who is always very funny. This was the last film that Herbert Mundin ever did, he was killed in automobile crash shortly after this film was made. Some of the incidents in the film with Mundin and Pidgeon are pretty funny as are those with Mundin and Virginia Bruce. He would have been an integral character in a running series. I'll bet that's why a series never developed.

Some of the plot was a bit too coincidental for my taste. Still the players are all good in this. Besides Pidgeon and Mundin, Virginia Bruce is a nightclub chanteuse who's introduced to Pidgeon by former gangster client Leo Carrillo who has a key role in solving the case. Lee Bowman is the framed society boyfriend, Eduardo Ciannelli is another gangster, Ann Morriss is the murder victim and Tom Kennedy and Edward Brophy play a pair of inept bodyguards that Carrillo sends to watch Pidgeon's back.

The film is a remake of MGM's earlier film Penthouse and since this one was now done under the Code, some of the innuendo of the older film has been left out.

For a film entitled Society Lawyer there isn't one courtroom scene. Still this looked like a promising film series, stillborn.