The Trial of Mary Dugan

Laraine Day stars as the put-upon title character in this remake of a 1929 film. Robert Young is her love interest. Marsha Hunt is her friend who seems more at home in a Damon Runyon story. Tom Conway plays the most sympathetic role of his life as the nicest boss ever. It's a good cast for a fairly routine B movie.

Laraine Day is trying her best here in what was I believe her first starring vehicle. My biggest pet peeve is the repetition of scenes like this throughout the movie: someone will ask her a question and she will reply "No! That is...er...I...uh..." as she thinks of a lie. It's annoying and it happens quite a bit. But despite this nitpick I enjoyed the picture. Some will complain about how it sanitizes the original story but in my opinion grittier is not always better.

Veteran comedy director McLeod somehow landed up doing this serious legal melodrama and he adds a few nice touches to the proceedings which have been padded out by adding background to the original 1929 courtroom drama. Strangely though the film is about 10 minutes shorter than the earlier version it crams a lot more such as this background into it but that could be because by 1941 the average movie was moving more quickly than it would have in the early talkie era. And yet it still seems to move a bit slowly along. Another difference from 1929 is that by 1941 studio production values were more elaborate so this seems to be more of a polished effort. The story benefits considerably from the support offered by character actors Alma Kruger and Sarah Haden (presiding over the girls reformatory early on) Frieda Inescort, Marjorie Main (a swaggering landlady with hands on her hips) and Henry O'Neill (cross examining her in court).

The first noun in the title, namely "Trial," makes it clear. The film will focus on a legal confrontation. I, personally, am a sucker for a good courtroom story. I can't say why. I am not a lawyer. My daughter is a lawyer but she never sets foot in a courtroom. I have no expertise in the law. Yet I consider myself something of a connoisseur of courtroom drama. This one is much better than most. It's not at the exalted level of "Anatomy of a Murder" or "Witness for the Prosecution." But it is far, far above such abominable stuff as the courtroom scene in "Leave Her to Heaven." The duel between D.A. and defense attorney is quite sharp. No one breaks down on the stand Perry-Mason-style. It's not clear until the end how the defense, which we know will prevail (Mary Dugan is presented entirely as a virtuous person), will prevail.

The movie has a sharp divide. The trial itself occupies the second half. The first half develops the characters, establishes the circumstances and motivations that will lead to crime and judgment. One peculiarity - and I think a quite effective one - is that the camera does not witness the actual crime, even in a vague way (the figures being in shadow or otherwise obscured). We learn the details as the defense attorney does, from information gathered after the fact. I find that approach surprisingly effective. It allow us, the viewers, who have not viewed the crime, to imagine it, as the lawyers and jurors will have had to do. A nice touch

The acting is very good. Robert Young is his usual disarming self. Henry O'Neill is top-notch as the district attorney. One gets the feeling that he truly enjoyed his role. Laraine Day brings dignity to a title role that could have been just sappy. Two actors, and one particular touch, stand out. Frieda Inescourt - no one could do haughtiness better - is a joy to watch. She gets to give the unique touch - something I have seen in no other movie. Recalled to the stand, she repeats her testimony. The camera acts as the eyes of the defense attorney reading the previous transcript. We, the viewers, read the script of the play while we listen to an actress recite the lines of the play, perform her performance. It's quite remarkable.

The other stellar performance is that of Marsha Hunt, who steals the movie. I can only say that she was the essence of a character actress, possibly the finest that Hollywood produced, a character actress in the true sense of the term. That is, she could play any character, never the same, always with subtlety and finesse. To appreciate it you have to watch the series of her work, beginning as a frivolous ingenue at Paramount in the 1930s. MGM discovered her talent in the '40s. They gave her every sort of role, from light comedy ("Pride and Prejudice") to dramatic heroine ("None Shall Escape," Raw Deal") to conniving villain ("Smash-Up"), clever, ironic girlfriend ("Kid Glove Killer"). No one except Ida Lupino could do a desperate suicidal woman better ("These Glamour Girls." Blossoms in the Dust"). In "Mary Dugan" she plays a Joan Blondell-type loose woman. It's easy to overact in that part, to make it a caricature rather than a character. She does it lightly. She injects a note of sympathy into a standard semi-comic figure. Her witness-stand scene, her breezy repartee, winks at the judge and jurors, is the highlight of the film.

If you enjoy tales of the courtroom, check out this movie. It's worth it. It even works as a detective story. When the true culprit is revealed, one is inclined to groan: "Oh, rats! They pulled that one out of thin air." Then, thinking for a minute, one realizes that there was a clue provided, an obvious clue yet one that we of course, as intended, overlook, which rescues the integrity and the intelligence of the film.

When Laraine Day gets her release date from a women's correctional facility, she can't seem to hold her temper together for one more day. She throws an inkpot at one of her instructors, Sara Haden, and gets six more months tacked onto her sentence. Laraine thinks that's unfair, so she escapes and starts a new life with a new name. Miraculously, she gets away with it and manages to get a secretarial job in a classy office, under businessman Tom Conway.

Before long, she's fallen in love with her coworker Robert Young, and she thinks her past will never rear its ugly head. It does, of course, but to find out how, or why the movie is called The Trial of Mary Dugan, you'll have to rent it. I recommend watching this courtroom drama, because Laraine Day is one of the best B-actresses, and she's certainly given plenty to do. Robert Young also owns his place in the movie, not just as an adorable playboy as he usually plays, but as a serious boyfriend, competent businessman, and finally, outraged and highly intelligent lawyer. Laraine and Bob make a great couple, and this is one of four movies you can find them together!

This is an oddly constructed little movie with an abrupt switch from romantic melodrama into the courtroom drama promised by the title.It opens with Mary Dugan awaiting release from Reformatory ,when her sentence is extended as the result of her throwing ink over a particularly self-regarding and obnoxious teacher.She escapes and goes to Los Angeles to renew acquaintance with her ex con father ,who is killed in an automobile accident before they can link up.She takes a job with the company of the man who was driving the car and who is not at fault with the accident .She quickly rises in the firm and when she falls in love with company attorney George Blake (Robert Young)all looks set fair .Things go wrong when he gets a job in Chile and asks her to go with him as man and wife.She fears her true identity will be discovered when applying for a passport and ends their relationship.

There is then a break in the continuity of the action and we next see Blake returning from Chile to be greeted by a newspaper headline proclaiming that she is on trial for the murder of her boss.He takes over her defence and sets out to unmask the true murderer and thus secure her acquittal.

The acting is pallid and uninvolving ;the script is shallow and unconvincing and the courtroom scenes are especially badly written .Not recommendable on any level