THE CHASER (1938)

The Bar Association is meeting to discuss what to do about the problem of "ambulance chasing" lawyers, those who follow police radio transmissions to accident sites in the hopes of getting a client to exaggerate their injuries so they can sue for large amounts of money. Lawyer Tom Brandon (Dennis O'Keefe) is, on the surface, gung-ho about passing such a resolution, but he is actually one of those ambulance chasers and we see him duck out of the meeting to go to the site of a minor accident where he tries to get a woman to pretend that she's hurt more than she is. His 'muscle' is Floppy Phil (Nat Pendleton), and his medical associate is the elderly and alcoholic Dr. Prescott (Lewis Stone)—years ago, Brandon got him out of a manslaughter charge for operating while drunk. Brandon has loose legal ethics in other areas as well, as we learn when we see him cheat in court to get a man off of a charge of stealing 450 nickels. At the site of a streetcar wreck, Brandon finds Dorothy (Ann Morriss) nursing a minor foot injury and, with the help of Dr. Prescott, talks her into faking some injuries to get more money out of the train company. What Brandon doesn't know is that Dorothy is a plant, working for the streetcar company's lawyer to entrap Brandon. Of course, knowing Hollywood movies like we do, we know that the two will become romantically involved, making it harder for Dorothy to do her job, and maybe harder for Brandon to continue his cheating ways. This is a fairly brisk B-romantic comedy with serious overtones (two deaths, one trial) that you will like in proportion to how much you like leading man O'Keefe. I like him so I didn't mind sticking with this through some shaky plot developments. The supporting cast is also strong—in addition to the reliable Nat Pendleton and Lewis Stone (Andy hardy's dad), there's Henry O'Neill as Brandon's nemesis, and in a side plot, Ruth Gillette as a (theoretically) grieving Swedish widow and John Qualen as the man she is now free to marry. Though not much about the movie is realistic, the ending is particularly unbelievable, but most everyone gets what is coming to them. Good for a Saturday matinee. Pictured are O'Keefe and Pendleton. [TCM]