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Illegal

  • 1955
  • Approved
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
Edward G. Robinson and Jayne Mansfield in Illegal (1955)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer2:39
1 Video
18 Photos
Film NoirCrimeDramaThriller

After an overly aggressive district attorney unknowingly sends an innocent man to the chair, he resigns, turns to drinking, and acquires a criminal clientèle.After an overly aggressive district attorney unknowingly sends an innocent man to the chair, he resigns, turns to drinking, and acquires a criminal clientèle.After an overly aggressive district attorney unknowingly sends an innocent man to the chair, he resigns, turns to drinking, and acquires a criminal clientèle.

  • Director
    • Lewis Allen
  • Writers
    • W.R. Burnett
    • James R. Webb
    • Frank J. Collins
  • Stars
    • Edward G. Robinson
    • Nina Foch
    • Hugh Marlowe
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    2.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Lewis Allen
    • Writers
      • W.R. Burnett
      • James R. Webb
      • Frank J. Collins
    • Stars
      • Edward G. Robinson
      • Nina Foch
      • Hugh Marlowe
    • 63User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:39
    Official Trailer

    Photos18

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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Edward G. Robinson
    Edward G. Robinson
    • Victor Scott
    Nina Foch
    Nina Foch
    • Ellen Miles
    Hugh Marlowe
    Hugh Marlowe
    • Ray Borden
    Jayne Mansfield
    Jayne Mansfield
    • Angel O'Hara
    Albert Dekker
    Albert Dekker
    • Frank Garland
    Howard St. John
    Howard St. John
    • E.A. Smith
    Ellen Corby
    Ellen Corby
    • Miss Hinkel
    Edward Platt
    Edward Platt
    • Ralph Ford
    Jan Merlin
    Jan Merlin
    • Andy Garth
    Robert Ellenstein
    Robert Ellenstein
    • Joe Knight
    Jay Adler
    Jay Adler
    • Joseph Carter
    Henry Kulky
    Henry Kulky
    • Taylor
    James McCallion
    James McCallion
    • Allen Parker
    Addison Richards
    Addison Richards
    • Steve Harper
    Lawrence Dobkin
    Lawrence Dobkin
    • Al Carol
    DeForest Kelley
    DeForest Kelley
    • Edward Clary
    • (as DeForest Kelly)
    Clark Howat
    Clark Howat
    • George Graves
    Stuart Nedd
    • Phillips
    • Director
      • Lewis Allen
    • Writers
      • W.R. Burnett
      • James R. Webb
      • Frank J. Collins
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews63

    7.02.6K
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    Featured reviews

    6jpdoherty

    Almost Forgotten Noir

    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"!
    7AlsExGal

    Solid crime drama

    Edward G. Robinson stars as District Attorney Victor Scott, a legendary legal mind with an unblemished conviction record. His confidence is shaken when a man that he had convicted and sentenced to death turns out to have been innocent, information obtained only after the innocent man was executed. After a lengthy wallow in drunken self-pity, Scott finds renewed purpose as a defense attorney, only to find himself involved with the sorts of shady characters that he used to put behind bars.

    I enjoyed this minor yet entertaining crime/courtroom drama. It was great seeing Robinson in a substantial role in this phase of his career when he was "greylisted". Nina Foch shows more warmth than usual as a former colleague, and Ellen Corby gets more to do than usual as Robinson's later secretary. Mansfield isn't bad as the chief crook's kept woman. This gets handed the "noir" label in some sources, but I don't really see it in that light.
    7Bunuel1976

    ILLEGAL (Lewis Allen, 1955) ***

    Due to his brush with HUAC, Edward G. Robinson's career suffered throughout the 1950s; I hadn't watched that much of his work from this period myself – but have now managed to catch two (coincidentally, both semi-noirs made for the same director) in one day.

    Though actually the second one, this was the superior effort: in fact, I found it to be quite an underrated genre outing – whose courtroom milieu supplies an added treat; for the record, it was the third screen version of a popular play of the 1920s (the others were THE MOUTHPIECE [1932], the best-regarded one, and THE MAN WHO TALKED TOO MUCH [1940]). Robinson is perfectly in his element here as a crusading D.A. who hits the skids after he sends an innocent man (STAR TREK's DeForrest Kelley!) to the electric chair – trying to pick up the pieces as a common civil lawyer, he falls in with a powerful gangster but is ultimately redeemed (in both senses of the word). At this point, the actor must have relished such a meaty part – particularly one that so vividly recalled some of his earlier vintage work (but most of all BULLETS OR BALLOTS [1936], a Robinson vehicle I watched for the first time only recently and greatly enjoyed, and which also sees him playing on either side of the law).

    The play was here adapted for the screen by two notable scriptwriters, W.R. Burnett (author of LITTLE CAESAR [1930], which had made the star's name in the first place) and James R. Webb. The supporting cast is also well chosen: Nina Foch as Robinson's diligent assistant and surrogate daughter, who stays on with the D.A.'s office once the hero is disgraced; Hugh Marlowe as another Robinson aide who loves and subsequently marries Foch; Ellen Corby, one more member of Robinson's staff but who devotedly sticks with her boss; Albert Dekker as the gangster figure; and a debuting Jayne Mansfield as Dekker's 'talented' moll (her role reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's celebrated bit in THE ASPHALT JUNGLE [1950], coincidentally drawn from another popular W.R. Burnett novel).

    Eventually, the mole in the D.A.'s office – suspected to be Foch due to her ties with Robinson – is discovered to be Marlowe who, when confronted by Foch, she ends up killing him in self-defense; Robinson defies his boss by taking up her case (protecting himself by secreting evidence that would point the finger at Dekker in the event that something happens to him). Though the film is an atypical noir and contains just one action sequence, Robinson's unconventional courtroom tactics are at least as entertaining and arresting: knocking out a burly witness to a brawl so as to prove his unreliability; drinking a dose of slow-acting poison himself in order to smash the new D.A.'s case against his client (an associate of Dekker's); at the end turning up in court mortally wounded to acquit Foch. By the way, a handful of paintings from Robinson's personal renowned art collection are passed off as Dekker's in the film!

    Warners' exemplary DVD – issued as a double-feature, as part of their "Film Noir Collection Vol. 4", with Don Siegel's even better THE BIG STEAL (1949) featuring the great team of Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer – contains the trailer, an Audio Commentary (an extra I used to lap up in the past but haven't listened to one in a long time – chiefly due to time constraints and a huge backlog of films!) as well as two featurettes. One discusses the film proper (all-too briefly) and the other a vintage TV piece in black-and-white, hosted by the ubiquitous Gig Young, about courtroomers produced by Warners (with clips from the Oscar-winning THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA [1937] and two 'brand-new' efforts – Otto Preminger's THE COURT-MARTIAL OF BILLY MITCHELL [1955], which I haven't watched, and, of course, ILLEGAL itself with even a brief contribution from Edward G. Robinson).
    8ccthemovieman-1

    "I Don't Blame People; I Bury Them!"

    This movie may not look like a film noir, but there are some great film noir-type lines here, like the one I used in the subject head. I heard at least a dozen that I almost laughed out loud at because they were so good and/or clever. This is a not a "B" film with its dialog and terrific cast.

    I agree it's not one that is terribly exciting, either, but it has more than its share of good points. One good starting point is the star: Edward G. Robinson. It's tough to knock a film with him in the lead. It's a little talky but there are some dramatic, surprising moments, too, with Robinson's "Victor Scott," doing some things you have to see to believe.

    Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe and Albert Dekker are all good in key roles, but I found it more interesting at times to see familiar faces in the supporting characters. Actors such as Ellen Corby ("Miss Hinkel"), DeForest Kelley ("Edward Clary"), Edward Platt ("Ralph Ford"), Jayne Mansfield ("Angel O'Hara"), Henry Kulky ("Taylor), Jan Merlin ("Andrew Garth") and a few others, were all fascinating. I liked Corby, in particular. You may not know all their names, but you know their faces. Kelley starred for years on "Star Trek" and Platt was the boss in "Get Smart." In Mansfield's case, you know more than just her face!

    This is the first half of a film noir twin-bill recently offered on DVD. The other film is "The Big Steal," so you get two pretty good movies for the price of one.
    7secondtake

    Some legal two-step, and a potboiler plot, with Robinson shining...

    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.

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    Related interests

    Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946)
    Film Noir
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
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    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Frank Garland's impressive collection of Impressionist art actually was loaned to the film by collector Edward G. Robinson. Included are works by Gaugin, Degas, Duran, and Robinson's wife, Gladys Lloyd. The collective value of the paintings at the time was estimated to be $213,000 ($2.44M in 2023) for insurance purposes.
    • Goofs
      When Victor Scott addresses the jury he refers to the 45 revolver used to kill Gloria Benson in the opening scene. The gun in fact is a semi-automatic pistol, not a revolver.
    • Quotes

      Victor Scott: [answering the phone] Mr. Scott's office.

      [pause]

      Victor Scott: No, this is not the Safeway Cleaners and Dryers!

      [hanging up]

      Victor Scott: Some idiot wants his pants pressed.

      Miss Hinkel: Maybe we oughta get a new number.

      Victor Scott: No, not so fast. We may be pressing pants yet!

    • Connections
      Featured in Illegal: Marked for Life (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Too Marvelous for Words
      (uncredited)

      Music by Richard A. Whiting

      Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

      Performed by Jayne Mansfield (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 15, 1955 (Italy)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Nevino osudjen
    • Filming locations
      • 217 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, USA(old California State Building used for the Criminal Courts Building - demolished c.1976 after earthquake damage)
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 28m(88 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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