A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.A hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.
- Directors
- Writers
- Stars
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 1 nomination total
- Cliff Moore
- (as Joseph Sawyer)
- Judge
- (as Samuel Hinds)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Archie Mayo's film is absorbing and Bogart is extraordinary: little by little,a good guy turning into a monster;but that's not all.Mayo also puts the blame on the wealthy educated people who work behind the scenes :the scene when they do their books (well how much for the revolvers?)makes your hair stand on end.
But what's fascinating in Mayo's movie is that it's still relevant today,and not only in America.In France ,in 2002,there was a man like THAT in the second ballot of the presidential election:a man who yelled "France only for the French!" and who is still yelling at my time of writing.
Strong performance from Bogie, as well as a great supporting cast that includes Ann Sheridan, Dick Foran, Joe Sawyer, John Litel, Samuel S. Hinds, and more. A lot of people seem to pick on the movie for not being strong enough in its message, despite the fact that they can't point to any other movies from the period that were even brave enough to try this much. They did what they could do. It's a powerful movie, even if it seems watered down by today's standards. But today we aren't exactly living in the age of subtlety, are we?
Bogart plays Frank Taylor, a husband and father who expects to get a promotion at the auto plant where he works. It goes instead to a young, hard-working man named Dombrowski. When Frank doesn't get the job, he's furious. That night on the radio he hears the head of the Black Legion railing against foreigners taking American jobs, and he decides to join them.
The Black Legion, of course, is the Ku Klux Klan, with the sheets and the whole deal. Their methods are brutal - fires, flogging, beatings, etc.
It appears all you needed was a foreign last name to qualify as a victim of this group. Back in the '20s and '30s, Italians, Irish, and other immigrant groups could only get menial jobs like sweeping floors, the prejudice against them was so great.
It was quite a forward step to make a film about this back in 1937, and it's a good one. Bogart at the time was about 37, and we're so used to seeing him older that he looks like a baby here. He's terrific as a loving father and husband who becomes a new, violent person under the influence of the Legion. He loses more than he gains. It's a great example of how easily people can find a scapegoat for their troubles.
Ann Sheridan has a supporting role -- she's very young but recognizable from her voice! Good movie.
Did you know
- TriviaThe location used for the machine shop is actually the real Warner Brothers machine shop, which still exists and can be seen today on tours.
- GoofsThe movie end credits list the name of the character played by Helen Flint as "Pearl Davis", but throughout the movie - particularly during her courtroom testimony - her character is referred to as "Pearl Danvers".
- Quotes
Cliff Moore: Read!
Frank Taylor: [reading the Black Legion oath] In the name of God and the Devil, one to reward and the other to punish, and by the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, here under the black arch of Heaven's avenging symbol, I pledge and consecrate my heart, my brain, my body, and my limbs and swear by all the powers of Heaven and Hell to devote my life to the obedience of my superiors and that no danger or peril shall deter me from executin' dere orders. That I will exert every possible means in my power for the extermination of the anarchist, the Roman hierar...
[He has difficulty in pronouncing it]
Frank Taylor: ... hierarchy and their abettors. I swear that I will die fighting those whose serpent trail has winnowed the fair fields of our allies and sympathizers. I will show no mercy but strike with an avengin' arm as long as breath remains. I further pledge my heart, my brain, my body, my limbs never to betray a comrade and that I will submit to all the tortures mankind can inflict and suffer the most horrible death rather than reveal a single word of this, my oath, before violatin' a single clause or implied pledge of this my obligation. I...
[He pauses]
Frank Taylor: Do I have to say dis?
Cliff Moore: Say it!
Frank Taylor: I will pray to an avengin' God and an umerciful Devil to tear my heart out and roast it over the flames of sulfur, and lastly may my soul be given into the torment that my body be submerged into molten metal... and stifled into the flames of Hell, and that this punishment may be meted out to me through all eternity. In the name of God, our creator, Amen.
All: Amen.
- Crazy creditsThe names of all characters -- the characters themselves-- the story-- all incidents and institutions portrayed in this production are fictitious-- and no identification with actual persons, living or deceased, is intended or should be inferred.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood and the Stars: The Angry Screen (1964)
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- La legión negra
- Filming locations
- Providencia Ranch, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(outdoor scenes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $235,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 23m(83 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1