COUNSELLOR AT LAW (1933)

I have never been terribly impressed by John Barrymore, but he is excellent here playing a Jewish lawyer who has worked his way to the top of his profession. Despite having a large office suite high up in the Empire State Building, he still keeps his door open to old friends and neighbors, and his sweet old mother frequently drops by to chat (Yiddish phrases like "goniff" pop up here and there in the script). Years ago, early in his career, Barrymore helped a friend (John Qualen) fake an alibi. Now a rival lawyer has discovered this and is threatening to expose him. As if this career crisis weren't bad enough, Barrymore also discovers that his wife (Doris Kenyon), who has two obnoxious children from a previous marriage, has been unfaithful. Distraught, Barrymore attempts suicide; can his faithful secretary (Bebe Daniels), who walks in just as he's about to leap from a window in his office, help him find the will to overcome his troubles? Despite his occasional lapses (including some rather egregious overcharging of his rich clients), Barrymore is meant to be seen as a basically good man, and it's no surprise that he does indeed set things right by the end, even though he has to resort to blackmail to do so--and since it's a pre-Code movie, he gets away with it. The film moves at a fast clip, almost like a screwball comedy, which it's not, even though it has its comic moments. The movie was based on a play and it shows, as almost all the action takes place in the offices, but the busy style is anything but stagey as the camera constantly bustles around and we observe several supporting characters with their own stories: Isabel Jewell is fun as a fast-talking, food-munching telephone operator; Marvin Kline is an office boy with a rather pathetic crush on Daniels; Onslow Stevens is Barrymore's office partner. Thelma Todd and Mayo Methot (Bogart's ex) also appear. Barrymore's performance is full blooded but not hammy, as he tended to be in other films. [DVD]