Slightly Honorable ~ 1940 -BW

QUICKIE: Slightly comprehensible as various people try and frame a lawyer for murder. Lots of quick funny bits if you can keep up.

PLOT: An honest lawyer becomes the target of a corrupt politician who decides to frame the attorney for the murder of a young woman. Desperate to clear his name, the attorney sets out to track down the real culprit with the help of his assistant and some unexpected help from a nightclub dancer. The trail to the real killer ends up leading our attorney to someone connected to him a lot closer than he ever imagined.

SUMMARY: Wow. I've seen this movie twice and still didn't follow all of it. There's about 10 guys who are hard to tell apart on a small screen such as I have. There's some plot about trying to win a contract to build highways, and a big courtroom demonstration to go with it. A toughened socialite (Claire Dodd) gets murdered, which starts local politicians trying to get the lawyer arrested for the murder.

The real gems in this movie are the women. The too young dancer (Ruth Terry) who forces herself onto the lawyer steals every scene with her over zealous stupidity. Eve Arden is fabulous as the bitingly witty secretary, a role she seems typcast in, but still a joy to watch.

The one liners are fast and furious. The movie ends with the lawyer driving to a graveyard in Texas to discover clues to the murder and his tag-a-long partner tries to kill him. Once back home the next morning, the lawyer confronts his partner and they fight to the death. The nightclub singer witnesses the whole thing and notifies the police, clearing the lawyer. Somehow the truth about the corrupt politicians who were trying to frame the lawyer gets all straightened out too. I couldn't follow the plot too well as I was trying to keep everyone straight and keep up with the flying one liners. Not an Earth shattering melodrama, so I didn't worry about losing the plot, I just enjoyed the humor.