Wives Under Suspicion

Warren William stars in this 1938 drama from Universal about a hard driving law and order District Attorney who gets a chance to reflect on his own attitudes and display the quality of mercy as the Bard put it. It's not an easy thing for him to do by any means.

His chance comes when he prosecutes shy and retiring political science professor Ralph Morgan who in a fit of jealous rage shot his unfaithful wife. William gets a confession out of him and goes full blast to give him the electric chair even with high priced defense attorney Samuel S. Hinds working for Morgan.

What brings him to a reassessment of the case and his attitudes is an Othello like episode in his own life. There's no Iago in the film egging William on, but he develops an almost insane jealousy about his wife Gail Patrick and a young neighbor William Lundigan. And unlike Morgan it's all in his own mind.

Some good attention should be paid for Cecil Cunningham as William's girl Friday assistant in his office who lives up to her character name of 'Sharpy' with some very devastating lines. But stealing the film whenever he's on screen is Ralph Morgan. Such a pitiable creature he is you can't conceive of someone like him going to the chair.

The film takes some interesting attitudes, not popular at this time about the death penalty. Wives Under Suspicion is a fine drama and comes highly recommended.

Walter Huston famously said that he wasn't paid to sell good lines, but to put across bad ones. He often did. So did Warren William. For both of them, putting across bad lines frequently involved overacting. It's a bit difficult to believe WW being overcome by passion of any sort, and especially any aroused by his boring (though gracious) clothes-horse of a wife (Gail Patrick) in "Wives Under Suspicion," the tame and uninspired 1939 remake by James Whale of his more visually striking "Kiss Before the Mirror" made only five years earlier, but, presumably, too risqué to be rereleased after the Motion Picture Production Code began to be enforced.

Frank Morgan switched roles from defense attorney in the first to defendant in this one, and, unfortunately, Gloria Stuart and Walter Pidgeon did not return. The story is mechanical and has coincidences that strain credulity, but Warren William gave it his all. The only interesting touch was the courtroom set with the judge raised to an exaggerated height.

I tuned in to catch that great patrician actor from the early 30's, Warren William. A commanding presence in every respect, too bad he's become so obscure. I expect his early death, 1948, has something to do with it. Then too, his best films-- Employees Entrance (1933), Skyscaper Souls (1932), Three On A Match (1932) -- were all pre-Code and as a result never turned up on censored TV for decades. Now, thanks to cable, they're run on outlets like TCM. So be sure to catch them if you haven't already.

Anyway, this programmer from Universal has a good premise, the humanizing of an egotistical DA (William), who counts his capital-case wins on an abacus that uses miniature skulls as a counter. Worse, he's sorely neglecting his patient wife (Jackson) who's slowly running out of patience, but he's too self-absorbed to care. But then the McAllen case comes across his desk and the ironies with his own life begin to intrude. Will his self-enclosed bubble now be enough.

Overall, the results are rather tepid despite the promising elements. Ten years later and the film would likely have gotten a noir treatment. Here, mood is largely missing, while suspense is slow to build, but does have one good unpredictable showdown scene that had me guessing wrong. Truth be told, I'm afraid many lesser performers could have handled the DA role, it not being one of William's showcases. In short, the DA is one of the typically conventional roles he was reduced to during the Code era. Also, the ethnic humor from the Butterfly McQueen-type maid reminds us that it's only a movie, after all.

Overall, there are gripping moments; however, the 70-minutes fails to come together in strong fashion despite the many promising elements. Too bad.

(In passing-- old time TV fans may recognize Milburn Stone as Doc from the classic western series Gunsmoke, along with Gail Patrick (Jackson) who successfully produced the prodigiously demanding Perry Mason series with Raymond Burr.)

"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.

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.