El beso revelador

Most, (but not all) prosecutors only care about convictions, not justice.

The junior prosecutor wants to be the senior prosecutor. The senior prosecutor wants to be the assistant district attorney. The assistant district attorney, wants to be the district attorney, and the district attorney would like to be the mayor.

They climb this ladder by getting convictions. This movie is the story of an aggressive DA with no compassion. However, circumstances in his own life changes him so he becomes more interested in fairness and appropriate punishment, not maximum punishment.

Very well acted by Warren William and Gail Patrick.

Pretty interesting programmer which tells its predictable story in under an hour. Good job turned in by all concerned. Warren William is the man-eating prosecutor with great many scalps under his belt and has sent many murderers to the electric chair, until he finds himself in circumstances similar to a case before him. Gail Patrick is his stalwart, neglected wife and Ralph Morgan is a sympathetic suspect.

This was directed by James Whale, made famous as the director of "Frankenstein", and turns in a workman like job here. Milburn Stone is Williams' right hand man and there are several other familiar faces in the cast. It is better than the non-descript title would suggest and is worth your time on a rainy day, which is when I saw it.

6/10 - Website no longer prints my star ratings.

This is a truly original story. Granted, it was done in 1938, but I haven't seen anything quite like it since. That's unusual for Hollywood.

Warren Williams is an obsessed District Attorney who is incapable of any human feeling toward the people he prosecutes. And then a case comes along. A refined, educated, teacher kills his wife in a moment of mad jealousy. Warren has no mercy for him. Coaxes him into a confession with the ultimate goal of executing him.

The gimmick in this story is that, during the trial, he realizes that he is living a parallel life. He has neglected his own wife and come to believe that she is having an affair. After following her to a friends house, he finds himself with a pistol in his hand - a perfect parallel to the case he is trying. It changes his life.

Warren Williams has a tendency to overact, but to hear him bellow in the courtroom, and cackle with glee when he pulls one over on his adversaries, is not to be missed. There is one caution. Is it possible to be too sophisticated? All the other actors are unremarkable, with the exception of Lillian Yarbo who plays the maid. Her lines and expressions are priceless.

If, like me, you long for the days when Hollywood took the time to actually write a coherent script. A time when dialogue really meant something. A time when you second guessed the story and paid attention to the actors - instead of the special effects, take time out for this one. If you can find it.

Wives Under Suspicion (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A tough as nails D.A. (William Warren) is seeking the death penalty on a man charged with killing his wife after catching her cheating. The D.A. refuses to see any other side of the story under he begins to think his own wife is cheating. This is the first non-horror film from director James Whale that I've seen and while it isn't too bad I'm certainly thankful he stayed in the horror genre. Warren gives a good performance but the story is rather flat and way too overly dramatic to be too interesting. This was a remake of the 1933 film THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR, also directed by Whale.

"District Attorney Stowell" (Warren William) is a man who prides himself on the number of cases he has prosecuted that has resulted in the death penalty. But this notoriety comes with a price because, in order to attain these convictions, he has had to spend a great amount of time at the office--which puts a definite strain on his marriage. Needless to say, when he cancels a vacation at the last minute for a very important case, his wife "Lucy Stowell" (Gail Patrick) doesn't take it too well. Knowing this, he tries to make amends but in doing so he begins to suspect that she has found someone else, and this infuriates him beyond anything he has ever experienced. Even more ironic is that the case he is working on parallels his current situation. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an interesting film which had a decent plot but suffered from a mediocre script and a lack of suspense or passion. That's not to say it was a bad film by any means, but it certainly could have been better and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.