A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
- Cliff Moore
- (as Joseph Sawyer)
- Judge
- (as Samuel Hinds)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe location used for the machine shop is actually the real Warner Brothers machine shop, which still exists and can be seen today on tours.
- GoofsThe movie end credits list the name of the character played by Helen Flint as "Pearl Davis" but throughout the movie - particularly during her courtroom testimony - her character is referred to as "Pearl Danvers."
- Quotes
Cliff Moore: Read!
Frank Taylor: [reading the Black Legion oath] In the name of God and the Devil, one to reward and the other to punish, and by the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, here under the black arch of Heaven's avenging symbol, I pledge and consecrate my heart, my brain, my body, and my limbs and swear by all the powers of Heaven and Hell to devote my life to the obedience of my superiors and that no danger or peril shall deter me from executin' dere orders. That I will exert every possible means in my power for the extermination of the anarchist, the Roman hierar...
[He has difficulty in pronouncing it]
Frank Taylor: ... hierarchy and their abettors. I swear that I will die fighting those whose serpent trail has winnowed the fair fields of our allies and sympathizers. I will show no mercy but strike with an avengin' arm as long as breath remains. I further pledge my heart, my brain, my body, my limbs never to betray a comrade and that I will submit to all the tortures mankind can inflict and suffer the most horrible death rather than reveal a single word of this, my oath, before violatin' a single clause or implied pledge of this my obligation. I...
[He pauses]
Frank Taylor: Do I have to say dis?
Cliff Moore: Say it!
Frank Taylor: I will pray to an avengin' God and an umerciful Devil to tear my heart out and roast it over the flames of sulfur, and lastly may my soul be given into the torment that my body be submerged into molten metal... and stifled into the flames of Hell, and that this punishment may be meted out to me through all eternity. In the name of God, our creator, Amen.
All: Amen.
- Crazy creditsThe names of all characters -- the characters themselves-- the story-- all incidents and institutions portrayed in this production are fictitious-- and no identification with actual persons, living or deceased, is intended or should be inferred.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood and the Stars: The Angry Screen (1964)
Warner Brothers as the working class studio was the only one who could have made a film like Black Legion. Working class stiff Humphrey Bogart gets passed over for a promotion at a job, losing it to Polish American Henry Brandon. This makes him ripe for the propaganda of a nativist crew of nightriders who call themselves The Black Legion.
Another co-worker Joe Sawyer gets Bogart to join with a whole lot of bad consequences for just about every principal player in the cast.
Since this film was about ordinary people it had a great message to tell. We've had nativist outbreaks in America through out our history. The Twenties and Thirties with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Legion were particularly bad. Bad economic times usually bring out either the best or the worst in people.
Humphrey Bogart is joined by a whole bunch of people from his film debut in The Petrified Forest. Joe Sawyer, Dick Foran, Paul Harvey, Eddie Acuff, it must have seemed like a reunion film. For me this has always been Joe Sawyer's career role for the screen. In The Petrified Forest he was one of Bogey's gang. Here he's the evil influence on Bogart, a nice reversal. He had a similar part in San Quentin.
Dick Foran is the Mercutio/Benvolio part here, the good friend to Bogart. He was actually a bigger name than Bogey at the time this was made, as he was starring in a bunch singing cowboy films for Warner Brothers. This was one of the few times he was show he could do more than he was usually given.
Films back then had a whole lot of stern father figures like Lionel Barrymore and Lewis Stone who could deliver lectures like no other. Capping this film is Samuel S. Hinds as a trial judge telling the Black Legion defendants what Americanism and the Bill of Rights is all about. Words to live by still.
- bkoganbing
- Oct 12, 2005
- Permalink
- How long is Black Legion?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Pod črno krinko
- Filming locations
- Providencia Ranch, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(outdoor scenes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $235,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1