Lawyer Man

 

(1932)
Directed by William Dieterle
Written by Rian James, James Seymour, Wilson Mizner, from a novel by Max Trell
Starrring William Powell, Joan Blondell, Alan Dienhart, Claire Dodd, David Landau
IMDB Entry

Lawyer Man is a pre-code movie about an honest lawyer who gets in trouble and has to work his way back.

Anton Adam (William Powell) is the lawyer. With this secretary, Olga Michaels (Joan Blondell), he works to represent people in the Lower East Side of New York City. After getting an acquittal for his client,* he is asked by hot shot attorney Granville Bentley (Alan Dinehart). Adam has a wandering eye, much to the chagrin of Olga, who is secretly in love with him, of course. Adam is on the up-and-up and refuses to play ball with the political boss John Gilmurray (David Landau). Gilmurry sets him up with Virginia St. Johns, who tricks him into being sued. When the trial ends with a hung jury, Adam loses all respectability and goes back to working in the Lower East Side -- but becomes more ruthless and cruel, taking shady cases**, until he gets a chance for revenge.

Powell was his usual charming self and his obliviousness to Olga's obvious affection is unforced. Joan Blondell is one of the most underrated actresses of the 30s and always a delight.

This was an early Hollywood film by director William Dieterle. He started out in Germany but was called to the US about the time sound came in, and did such classics as A Midsummer Night's Dream with Max Reinhardt, several of the Warner Brothers biopics of  the 30s, and many others, working regularly until the 60s.

Of note is that Wilson Mizner, known as one of the greatest wits in Hollywood, worked on the screenplay (uncredited).

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*There's a strange portrayal of the legal system: Bentley is not a D.A. and shouldn't be prosecuting.

**One shows him getting the madam of a bordello acquited.