William J. Fallon, Arnold Rothstein's personal attorney and popularly known in the tabloids as "Attorney to the Damned", was portrayed in a thinly disguised way, twice within months in 1932. Warren William in "The Mouthpiece" and John Barrymore in "State's Attorney" - in both films the law was viewed as a profession with flexible rules rather than having a rigid moral code. In both Fallon was depicted (rather like Perry Mason) as someone who could bend the law to the limit with his brilliant oration and shock tactics. No one was worried - except Fallon's son who bought a suit against Warners, charging that "The Mouthpiece" libeled his late father. Warners settled out of court and actually remade "The Mouthpiece" twice - "The Man Who Talked Too Much" (1940) and "Illegal" (1955) by which time Fallon was just a curious footnote in history.
When Vince Day (Warren William, in a perfect piece of casting), flamboyant attorney, realises his grand standing speech has sent an innocent man to his death, quits his job as a lowly paid Assistant District Attorney. His philosophizing bar tender (Guy Kibbee) thinks he's a mug - instead of always trying to defend innocent people, the ones who really pay are the guilty!!! After trying a case where an unexpected blow to the jaw gives him front page headlines, he realises that what the public really wants is sensationalism, Barnum and Bailey and a three ring circus. Now 2 years later he is a criminal lawyer deluxe - beautiful Noel Francis makes an appearance as his after hours "consulting work".
Along the way he gets involved with 2 women, efficient Miss Hickey, his on the ball secretary and with Aline MacMahon in the part, almost a carbon copy of her "Five Star Final" part, you just know she would be perfect for him, hey she would be perfect for any bloke!! The other woman is his new typist, Celia Faraday (delectable Sidney Fox) who is described by Hickey as "jail bait - young and dumb". She is from Kentucky and as Southern as they come but she is not interested in Vince's shenanigans - even when, to prove a point to a jury, he drinks a bottle of supposedly poison to prove it isn't, hangs around the court, then races to his office where a doctor is at the ready to pump his stomach!!!
She is in love with bank messenger, Johnny (insipid William Janney) but before they can be married Johnny is charged with stealing some cash he was delivering and they now find they need a lawyer more urgently than a parson!!! Vince does everything he can to get the youngster off, even incuring the wrath of the mob!!
Sidney Fox showed, in this movie, that while adorable, she just didn't have what it took to be a star. Here her acting was pretty wishy washy. By 1932 her once bright star had almost set. She had been bought to Universal as a protégé of Junior Laemmle's and big things were expected of her but her messy love life got in the way (apparently she romanced both father and son) and she ended her career in ingenue parts, like this one. Believe it or not, that is Paulette Goddard (as a bottled blonde) drapped all over Warren William at a celebratory party.
When Vince Day (Warren William, in a perfect piece of casting), flamboyant attorney, realises his grand standing speech has sent an innocent man to his death, quits his job as a lowly paid Assistant District Attorney. His philosophizing bar tender (Guy Kibbee) thinks he's a mug - instead of always trying to defend innocent people, the ones who really pay are the guilty!!! After trying a case where an unexpected blow to the jaw gives him front page headlines, he realises that what the public really wants is sensationalism, Barnum and Bailey and a three ring circus. Now 2 years later he is a criminal lawyer deluxe - beautiful Noel Francis makes an appearance as his after hours "consulting work".
Along the way he gets involved with 2 women, efficient Miss Hickey, his on the ball secretary and with Aline MacMahon in the part, almost a carbon copy of her "Five Star Final" part, you just know she would be perfect for him, hey she would be perfect for any bloke!! The other woman is his new typist, Celia Faraday (delectable Sidney Fox) who is described by Hickey as "jail bait - young and dumb". She is from Kentucky and as Southern as they come but she is not interested in Vince's shenanigans - even when, to prove a point to a jury, he drinks a bottle of supposedly poison to prove it isn't, hangs around the court, then races to his office where a doctor is at the ready to pump his stomach!!!
She is in love with bank messenger, Johnny (insipid William Janney) but before they can be married Johnny is charged with stealing some cash he was delivering and they now find they need a lawyer more urgently than a parson!!! Vince does everything he can to get the youngster off, even incuring the wrath of the mob!!
Sidney Fox showed, in this movie, that while adorable, she just didn't have what it took to be a star. Here her acting was pretty wishy washy. By 1932 her once bright star had almost set. She had been bought to Universal as a protégé of Junior Laemmle's and big things were expected of her but her messy love life got in the way (apparently she romanced both father and son) and she ended her career in ingenue parts, like this one. Believe it or not, that is Paulette Goddard (as a bottled blonde) drapped all over Warren William at a celebratory party.