As if to counterpoint the darker drama to follow, the initial scene of "Black Legion" opens to a factory setting with it's workers all dressed in bright white uniforms, with names neatly embroidered over each man's left pocket. Contrast that with the black anonymity of hooded members of the titled organization, and you have Warner Brothers take on another facet of injustice in pre-war America.
Humphrey Bogart portrays Frank Taylor, a disaffected employee passed over for a promotion to a book reading, intelligent Polish worker. While his work suffers his ego simmers, ripe for the pseudo intellectual babble of a disembodied voice on the radio clamoring for the rights of native white American workers. When the time is right, fellow employee Cliff Summers (Joe Sawyer) introduces Frank to an organization known as the Black Legion, championing the rights of workers, while engaging in night time raids on those they wish to eliminate. Taylor's induction into the Legion is conveyed with the utmost symbolism, vowing an oath to the death to protect it's secrets, while a gun points to his head to insure his allegiance.
Taylor's involvement with the group comes at the expense of his family, wife Ruth (Erin O'Brien Moore) and son Buddy (Dickie Jones). They attempt to keep him honest, as does friend Ed Jackson (Dick Foran), but before long, Taylor is in so deep he no longer recognizes himself. As Jackson learns of his friend's involvement in the group's local hostilities, the situation reaches a boiling point for Frank, and the legion kidnaps Ed for a traditional whipping. It's Taylor's own handgun that cuts Ed down as he attempts to break free, putting Frank over the edge and setting him up for capture by the authorities. As newspaper headlines proclaim "Jackson Killing Bares Black Legion", Taylor faces threats of harm to his family if he testifies against them while in jail.
In a scene reminiscent of James Cagney's breakdown at the end of "Angels With Dirty Faces", Bogey's character erupts a confession while on trial, bringing down the participants in his crime and exposing the Legion's secrets. In a follow up scene, the entire leadership of the organization involved in Jackson's murder stand trial and are sentenced to life in prison. The textbook speech by the judge (Samuel S. Hinds) to the defendants is a resounding affirmation of the American right to freedom and opportunity.
The Warner Brothers films of the era did a good, if sometimes melodramatic job of presenting the ills of society in an unfavorable light. More noted for their crime and gangster dramas, they also keyed in on the effects of poverty (1937's "Dead End") and wildcat truckers (1940's "They Drive by Night"); it seems there wasn't a subject they wouldn't touch. This film still resonates nearly seventy years following it's original release, presenting it's condemnation of a hate group characteristic of a "new Ku Klux Klan".
Humphrey Bogart portrays Frank Taylor, a disaffected employee passed over for a promotion to a book reading, intelligent Polish worker. While his work suffers his ego simmers, ripe for the pseudo intellectual babble of a disembodied voice on the radio clamoring for the rights of native white American workers. When the time is right, fellow employee Cliff Summers (Joe Sawyer) introduces Frank to an organization known as the Black Legion, championing the rights of workers, while engaging in night time raids on those they wish to eliminate. Taylor's induction into the Legion is conveyed with the utmost symbolism, vowing an oath to the death to protect it's secrets, while a gun points to his head to insure his allegiance.
Taylor's involvement with the group comes at the expense of his family, wife Ruth (Erin O'Brien Moore) and son Buddy (Dickie Jones). They attempt to keep him honest, as does friend Ed Jackson (Dick Foran), but before long, Taylor is in so deep he no longer recognizes himself. As Jackson learns of his friend's involvement in the group's local hostilities, the situation reaches a boiling point for Frank, and the legion kidnaps Ed for a traditional whipping. It's Taylor's own handgun that cuts Ed down as he attempts to break free, putting Frank over the edge and setting him up for capture by the authorities. As newspaper headlines proclaim "Jackson Killing Bares Black Legion", Taylor faces threats of harm to his family if he testifies against them while in jail.
In a scene reminiscent of James Cagney's breakdown at the end of "Angels With Dirty Faces", Bogey's character erupts a confession while on trial, bringing down the participants in his crime and exposing the Legion's secrets. In a follow up scene, the entire leadership of the organization involved in Jackson's murder stand trial and are sentenced to life in prison. The textbook speech by the judge (Samuel S. Hinds) to the defendants is a resounding affirmation of the American right to freedom and opportunity.
The Warner Brothers films of the era did a good, if sometimes melodramatic job of presenting the ills of society in an unfavorable light. More noted for their crime and gangster dramas, they also keyed in on the effects of poverty (1937's "Dead End") and wildcat truckers (1940's "They Drive by Night"); it seems there wasn't a subject they wouldn't touch. This film still resonates nearly seventy years following it's original release, presenting it's condemnation of a hate group characteristic of a "new Ku Klux Klan".