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Lawyer Tom Conway (Steve) is on a campaign to become elected DA at the same time as battling court cases against the local criminal gang. He finds himself having to defend his girlfriend Martha O'Driscoll on a charge of murdering one of the top bad guys Robert Armstrong (Vic). O'Driscoll is innocent but things don't look good for her. Conway has one chance of saving her from being guilty - he has to find the one witness to the crime that can save her.

The cast are all good and Tom Conway is very easy to relate to with his relaxed approach. It's a standard crime story that's easy to follow and keeps you watching to see how lawyer Tom Conway is going to swing things in his favour. Nothing special going on but still entertaining.

Tom Conway stars in Criminal Court, a 1946 B movie also starring Martha O'Driscoll, and June Clayworth.

Conway plays Steve Barnes, a lawyer with a great reputation who is going to run for DA. When his girlfriend (O'Driscoll, who in real life married big money and got out of Dodge) is accused of the murder of the gangster whose club she worked in, he defends her.

It was an accidental shooting, and he actually did it. There is an eye witness, if only he can find out who it is -- and there is a lot of resistance to him finding out.

This is a very light noir without much suspense, mildly entertaining. I always enjoy Tom Conway, and I wasn't that familiar with O'Driscoll, so I found it enjoyable.

Director Robert Wise, near the beginning of his career, made a decent lawyer film with a good ending. There's not much suspense, and the plot device owes much to the play, "Hat, Coat and Glove"; and it is no surprise that Tom Conway was in a film re-make of that play when it was made into a movie a second time. While this might not be great noir, it is certainly a "B movie" that is easy to watch.

Criminal Court (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Robert Wise directed this RKO noir about lawyer Steve Barnes (Tom Conway) who accidentally kills a gangster (Robert Armstrong) but he's thrown for a loop when his girlfriend (Martha O'Driscoll) is accused of the crime because she worked at his nightclub. The lawyer, who just happens to be running for D.A., tries to confess to the crime but no one believes him so he must find another way to prove her innocence. CRIMINAL COURT is a "B" movie that is so far-fetched that at times you really have to laugh wondering if the screenwriter wasn't just making things up as the filming went along. I say that because there are so many twists and turns in this film yet every single one of them are ones that you'll see coming from a mile away. It certainly doesn't help that all of them perfectly fit in place not because they're smart but because they're just so obvious. As far as a mystery goes, this thing is about as simple as they come but none of this completely kills the film thanks in large part to some fine direction by Wise and some fun performances. Conway is completely believable in his role as the hot shot lawyer who will stop at nothing to win a case. Montgomery only appears in half the film but he was a lot of fun as well. Both O'Driscoll and June Clayworth are good in their parts even though both of their characters are probably the weakest in the film. CRIMINIAL COURT certainly isn't going to win any awards but at just 63-minutes the thing moves along well enough that fans of the genre should enjoy it.

This is a good noir-ish courtroom drama that is well acted and nicely paced, directed by Robert Wise. It is a b- movie but is very solidly made and it will hold your attention.

Tom Conway stars as a criminal defense lawyer with a flamboyant courtroom style. In one particularly long courtroom scene early in the film Conway delivers a stunning performance. Anyone who has any doubts about Conway's acting abilities should view that one scene and they will change their mind. Little known Martha O'Driscoll is very beautiful in this, her nightclub scenes are well staged and her overall performance is first rate. Many fine performers such as Robert Armstrong and the great Addison Richards round out the cast.

If you want to see courtroom dramatics and cunning legal maneuvers in a mid-1940's film-noir setting, "Criminal Court" is recommended for you.

Tom Conway is a defense attorney running for the office of District Attorney on a platform of cleaning up corruption. This puts him at odds with mobster Robert Armstrong, who tries to blackmail into dropping his crusade. They tussle and Conway accidentally kills Armstrong. With no witnesses, he opts to sneak away, but unluckily for him, his girlfriend Martha O'Driscoll, who works in Armstrong's nightclub, discovers the body and is blamed for the murder. Conway tries to confess, but nobody believes him leaving him to defend O'Driscoll in court for a murder he committed.

Robert Wise's first foray into film noir is an extremely tight little B film (it runs a couple of minutes over an hour) with a truly ludicrous plot, but a lot of really fun moments and a good lead performance from Conway to carry you through.

Steve (Tom Conway) tries to help his girlfriend Georgia (Martha O'Driscoll) when she gets in trouble. This was 1946, so many things were implied.... like when Georgia might have to do "extra" things to get a job. Of course, the film code was in full force, so it couldn't be spelled out. And there were no laws protecting women applying for jobs at the time, so things were extra complicated. O'Driscoll sings a song titled "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night"! Dirty, dirty! Even jury tampering. It was a rough time in our history. Steve is the big hero, determined to take on the big boss. But when things go wacky, he's in trouble too! Can he get out of it, and convince the cops he and his girl are innocent? It's pretty silly... Steve pulls some stunts in the court room that are completely over the top. Showing on Turner Classics. This was introduced by the Mankiewicz brothers, Ben and Josh. Story by Earl Felton, best known for 20,000 Leagues and the Lone Wolf films. Felton had a rough life, partly due to polio in both legs, and sadly, ended things by suicide at age 62. Directed by Robert Wise... he won FOUR oscars!

The upper-class actor Tom Conway is best remembered by his previously work in Val Lewton productions, his unmistakeable velvety voice improves a bewitching Lawyer on this early Noir directed by the upcoming star-director Robert Wise, the plot is far-fetched to say at least, even so is quite interesting besides it was too short, Conway plays a successful and expensive Lawyer Steve Barner that is nominee by community to running for District Attorney against the corrupt opponent sponsored by a mobster Vic Wright (Robert Armstrong).

The unexpected comes when his singer girlfriend Georgia Gale (Martha O'Driscoll) is hired to work at Vic's night-club, it's ends up in a tragic event taken place there where Vic came to die by accidental circumstance in a clash between he and Steve, in such dead the fault lies on the shoulders of the silly Giorgia that got the gun on the floor witnessed by Vic's brother and running away aftermaths, then came up another show at courthouse by the skilled Steve Barner, fine small Noir directed by the newbie director Robert Wise.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Steve Barnes (Tom Conway) is a dapper defense attorney campaigning for the office of district attorney against incumbent DA Gordon. He's running as a reformer, and there is apparently tons to reform, with lots of city officials on the take from the mob.

Barnes has a reputation as a showboat, and early in the film you get a taste of that. While cross examining a witness on the stand who claims - falsely as coached by the mob - that he saw Barnes's client commit the crime, Barnes pretends to get angry and produces a gun like he's going to shoot the witness, just to prove that the witness was a coward and did not just stand there with nerves of steel when Barnes's client allegedly drew a gun. Forget the fact that in reality Barnes would be disbarred for such a stunt, and just appreciate he did get his client acquitted.

Then one night, Barnes and mobster Vic Wright have a confrontation in Wright's office over the evidence Barnes has collected against him. A desperate Wright pulls a gun, there's a struggle, and the gun goes off and kills Wright. Barnes, normally a smart cookie, does a not smart thing and just leaves the scene. But then his girlfriend, who is working as a singer at the club, walks in on the aftermath, picks up the gun, is seen by the dead mobster's brother, and she also does a not smart thing and leaves the scene. She's picked up later and arrested for the crime. And even though Barnes does the right thing at this point and confesses his role, nobody believes him because of his showboat reputation! Complications ensue.

Now there's some stuff I'm not telling you, but just let it suffice there's lots of neat little twists, turns, and touches in this very short but effective little B. As for the direction, it always seemed to be true of Robert Wise that if you gave him a cast of not well-known actors and a small budget, he could produce some real gems. But give him a large budget and large cast and he could be a windy bore. This is the former case.

Note Tony Barrett as one of the reporters in an uncredited role. For some reason the reporters have a "reporter's table" in the courtroom, and at first I thought Barrett was one of the mobsters with his post-war jive talk and mannerisms. He also pops up as Lawrence Tierney's first victim in the classic "Born To Kill" of the following year, also directed by Robert Wise. And what is it with the old trope of criminals thinking it's a good idea to shoot a witness who is getting ready to blow a case wide open? Whatever damage the witness does do, it can't be as bad as being caught red handed committing murder in a courtroom full of witnesses and police officers.

Steve Barnes (Tom Conway) is a brilliant lawyer who is skilled at playing the court. He is running against corrupt District Attorney Gordon who is all too willing to use lies to win. He is concerned that his girlfriend Georgia Gale (Martha O'Driscoll) starts working for gangster nightclub owner Vic Wright. Steve's campaign uncovers Vic's brother Frankie doing payoffs. Vic confronts Steve. When Vic pulls out a gun, Steve fights back and kills Vic in self-defense. Steve decides to run away. Georgia finds the body and screams which brings Frankie. Immediately, Frankie accuses Georgia and she gets arrested. Steve tries telling the truth, but everybody thinks that it's one of his courtroom plays.

I love the premise. The best is when nobody believes him as he tells the truth. I do not like the ending. It is too clean and neat. It is too desperate for the Hollywood ending. It defeats the premise and the noir sensibilities of the movie. If they remake this, they definitely need to change the ending.

Over the years I have enjoyed all the films that Tom Conway has performed in, such as the "Falcon" Series, "Voodoo Woman",'57 and many other "B" films. Also the fact that he was the brother of famous actor, George Sanders. In this film Conway plays Steve Barnes, who is a lawyer and also running for political office and gets involved with Robert Armstrong (Vic Wright),"Mighty Joe Young",'49, who is the owner of CLUB CIRCLE and has gangster connections. Steve's girlfriend, Martha O'Driscoll,(Georgia Gale),"Carnegie Hall",'47 gets involved with a murder and Steve comes to her aid. The court room proceedings will make you laugh and you can clearly see that this is a very CLASSIC B FILM from the 1940's but very enjoyable and entertaining!

"Criminal Court" proves that just because a film is a B-movie (with a small budget and brief running time) that is can STILL be a heck of a good film. Due to really good writing and acting, it works and is worth your time.

The film begins with Steve Barnes running for District Attorney (Tom Conway) on a true platform to clean up the government. He and a group of his colleagues have done a lot to investigate graft--and they've finally got the evidence to make heads roll. However, a local mobster (Robert Armstrong) is not about to let his organization be brought down without a fight. And, during a confrontation between the two men, the hood draws a gun Steve and tries to kill him. Barnes is able to get the gun away from him and when it falls, it goes off--killing the gangster! This is a bit difficult to believe, I know but stick with the film. Where it all goes next kept surprising me. Time and again, little twists came that took the film in directions I hadn't anticipated--which is rare, as B-movies are often very predictable. I would say more but just don't to spoil the film.

Other reviews have mentioned this, but Conway was George Sanders' brother. Both were incredibly erudite and spoke with a glorious accent--and brought a nice sophistication to even the simplest of roles. Exciting and worth your time--this is yet another one of Conway's B performances that elevated the material to a slightly better level.