Cross-Examination

H.B. Warner and Sally Blane are the nominal stars (although lovely Sally is hardly in the movie at all) of "Cross Examination" with Warner in his element as the defense counsel, while Edmund Breese scores as the prosecutor in Arthur Hoerl's well-paced, edge-of-the-seat script. Richard Thorpe directs the court proceedings in fine style and manages to give this taut, 74-minute support attraction plenty of production values, despite his "B" budget. Don Dillaway makes an effectively soppy hero, Wilfred Lucas enjoys a substantial role for once (he's the judge), William V. Mong is in his element as the heavy, and the exotic Natalie Moorhead can be also glimpsed in what is by Poverty Row standards quite an extensive cast line-up.