I Am the Law

I Am the Law (1938)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing crime/drama from Columbia has Edward G. Robinson playing a law professor who is hired by civic leaders to try and bring down gangsters as a special prosecutor. The prosecutor thinks this will be an easy job but soon he realizes that no one wants to testify and if anyone agrees to then they end up dead. I had high hopes going into this film but the end results were pretty disappointing as we've seen this story countless times before and this one doesn't offer up anything new. I'm really not sure why Robinson would leave Warner to do this film as this one has a lot to do in common with the various crime pictures he was doing already. Considering Columbia wasn't known for their crime pictures it goes without saying that this one comes off rather bland and watered down as the screenplay doesn't have any real gut to it. The screenplay goes from one cliché moment to the next and I honestly didn't see one surprise throughout the entire thing. Robinson is pretty good in his role but it's certainly far from one of his best performances. The highlight of the film is a scene where we get Robinson on the dance floor, which has to be seen to be believed. The supporting players are pretty rich with John Beal, Otto Kruger, Wendy Barrie and Barbara O'Neil offering up nice work.