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Illegal (1955)

If a little creaky on the edges, the core of this minor movie is solid as it gets: Edward G. Robinson as a troubled lawyer. It starts fast, gets faster, has some spectacular twists (in the courtroom, apparently based on real legal cases), and ends up being redemptive.

The support cast is the biggest problem here (and probably the direction that is trying to get the most out of them). The story is slightly sensational, and has some clichéd parts (the bad mobster, the crooked D.A., the woman caught in the middle) but it's a lot of fun at the same time. Director Lewis Allen is obscure, and possibly over his head in a fairly complicated movie. The only big name behind the scenes is the impeccable Max Steiner, so the score is terrific.

And Robinson shows how much he can act, again. It's worth it just for him.

A bit of far-fetched legal melodrama is anchored by the performance of that old pro Edward G. Robinson.

Robinson plays a renowned attorney with a flair for the theatrical who turns crooked after he finds out a man he sent to the chair was truly innocent and his faith in the system of justice is shaken. He attracts the attention of a crime kingpin because of his skill in winning cases by any means necessary, but he suffers a crisis of conscience when his sort-of surrogate daughter/sort-of love interest (Nina Foch) ends up on trial for a murder she didn't commit that's tied to the activities of the crime boss.

Robinson is terrific as usual. He excelled at roles like this one -- the rogue anti-hero who doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own. You always root for him, even when he's the bad guy.

"Illegal" is packaged as a film noir, but it's not even close to being one, so you might be disappointed if that's what you're expecting. However, if you can get past that, it's a fun, snappy film that has a refreshingly off-kilter unpredictability to it. Three quarters of the way through the film I was still trying to guess where it was headed.

Grade: B+

Shades of the 1930's. It's Robinson and Warner Bros. in b&w, except Eddie's not a thug, instead he's an ex-DA turned gangland lawyer. Seems that as a prosecutor, he got the wrong man electrocuted. Now he's drinking and looking for the big money. Probably, there's an element of self-loathing, explaining why he goes over to the dark side. So, being a Code governed production, some final expiation is in order. On the whole, it's a good script by crime master WR Burnett, though I'm not sure I buy Ray and Ellen's showdown.

Even if he's a ripe 62, Robinson's lost none of his trademark self-assurance. He's as masterful here as a shady attorney as he was back in his gangster salad days. Then too, I'm really glad to see Ellen Corbett (Miss Hinkel) get a bigger role than her usual cleaning lady drudge, while underrated Jan Merlin does his icy bit as hit-man Andy. I'm just sorry we don't get close-ups of Merlin who could sneer with the best of them. Add the commanding Albert Dekker as boss Garland, and a warmer-than-usual Nina Foch as conflicted Ellen, and it's a superb lineup of cast principals. And, oh yes, mustn't overlook an exaggerated Mansfield. I guess her busty blonde was the movie's big concession to 50's fads.

The film may be a b&w throwback, at a time when the screen was turning wide and to color. Nonetheless, the movie succeeds in a way that I think movies are supposed to, namely, as engrossing entertainment, with a number of plot twists.

A remake of Warner's "The Mouthpiece" (1932) "Illegal" is a substantial half forgotten Noir! Directed for Warners in 1955 by Englishman Lewis Allen it stars Edward G. Robinson as a highly accomplished prosecuting attorney who becomes disillusioned when he learns that the man he was responsible for sending to the electric chair (a young DeForest Kelly) has finally been exonerated and found to be innocent after all. With his reputation now in tatters he hits the bottle ending up on skid row. But he slowly picks himself up from the gutter becomes a defence lawyer and a "fixer" for racketeer Albert Dekker. Robinson is terrific in it! His screen presence - with that soft spoken matter of fact acting style - is altogether appealing. This, after "Key Largo" (1948) was his first picture for the studio since his contract ended with them in 1942. And while not being an overly auspicious return it wasn't a bad one either. Others in the cast are Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe and making her debut , as Dekker's moll, the voluptuous Jayne Mansfield with the dubious moniker Angel O'Hara (Dekker auditioning her as she plays the piano glibly declares to Robinson "interesting girl - lives and breaths music!"). A fairly engaging movie, nicely written and sharply photographed in monochrome by Perverell Marley. The studio's legendary composer Max Steiner provides an attractive score which gives the movie an agreeable pace.

"Illegal" is the second feature on this excellent DVD that also features RKO's enjoyable Mitchum Noir "The Big Steal" (1949). A splendid package this fine double bill comes with trailers and commentaries for both movies plus a featurette. Interestingly the commentary on "Illegal" is spoken by the film's leading lady Nina Foch (she pronounces it Fash) who informs us that she now teaches film directing at USC. Not bad for an 84 year old! Also Robinson is interviewed on set by the ill-fated Gig Young where we learn that Robinson loaned some of his prized and valuable paintings from his famous art collection to the studio for use in the picture. They can readily be seen in the movie in Dekker's palatial apartment.

Classic line from "Illegal" - when Robinson warns Dekker not to blame him if the court case goes wrong - Dekker responds "I don't blame people - I bury 'em"!

Illegal puts Edward G. Robinson through more perils than Pauline ever suffered. A tenacious District Attorney on his way to the governor's mansion, he resigns when a man he had sent to the electric chair proves innocent. But the civil practice he hopes to undertake goes bust, and he takes to the bottle (a plot development which goes nowhere).

Down and out, he defends a fellow inmate he encounters in a holding cell, and decides to apply his legal acumen to becoming a sharp, high-priced criminal attorney. To get off a guilty client, he grandstands in court by downing a bottle of poison placed in evidence, only to rush off to have his stomach pumped. (This particular ploy was originated by George Brent in 1940's The Man Who Talked Too Much.) He's such a brilliant mouthpiece he comes to the attention of civic crime boss Albert Dekker, whose blandishments he tries to resist.

Meanwhile, back at the D.A.'s office, he's left behind his protégé Nina Foch (looking matronly), whom he had taken under his wing when her father, an old mentor of his, passed away. Though he harbors romantic feelings for her, he gives his blessing when she announces her marriage to a young, ambitious lawyer, Hugh Marlowe. But a series of leaks from the office concerning Dekker's activities brings suspicion on all three. Ultimately, Robinson finds himself defending Foch for murder, during which Jayne Mansfield, Dekker's mistress, sashays to the witness stand in a wasp-waisted black outfit, replete with picture hat.....

The fast and too complicated plot takes a few pointless and baffling turns. Though on the talky side, there's a high quotient of gunplay. Still, it's absorbing. Robinson, still in his early-50s string of B-pictures owing to his guilt-by-association in the wake of the anti-Communist crusade, holds everything together with his bag of old tricks. And credit must go also to director Lewis Allen, who somehow brought a distinctiveness to several of his films which otherwise might have passed unnoticed: Desert Fury, Chicago Deadline, Suddenly. It's hard to point out just how, but he brought some of it to Illegal, too.