An ambitious lawyer uses circumstantial evidence to help convict an innocent man then tries to make amends with his family.An ambitious lawyer uses circumstantial evidence to help convict an innocent man then tries to make amends with his family.An ambitious lawyer uses circumstantial evidence to help convict an innocent man then tries to make amends with his family.
Don Dillaway
- Paul Wallace
- (as Donald Dillaway)
Oscar Apfel
- Managing Editor
- (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
- Telephone Operator
- (uncredited)
Eddie Foster
- Man Betting with Malone
- (uncredited)
Sherry Hall
- Reporter
- (uncredited)
Eddie Kane
- Abe Steiner
- (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley
- Dr. Strong
- (uncredited)
Lee Phelps
- Radio Test Man
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEdmund Lowe, looking out the window at an outside corridor of the court building, says he is looking at "the Bridge of Sighs," and says that he sent many men across it with "a one-way ticket to the Big House." The reference is to the Doge's Palace in Venice, where trials were held, and which was separated from the cells by such a corridor. In "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Byron says, "I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs,/A palace and a prison on each hand."
- GoofsEdmund Lowe's secretary has been in the job at least ten years, since Lowe was District Attorney, and says she is under 30. (When the film was made, she was 22, and looks it.) She therefore would not have been old enough to be secretary to the District Attorney ten years before.
- Quotes
Val Lorraine: Anyway, it'd ruin my chances to marry the man from Dubuque.
Burton: Grand Rapids.
Featured review
in the minority
Edmund Lowe is the "Attorney for the Defense" in this 1932 film also starring Evelyn Brent and Constance Cummings.
Lowe is Burton, a prosecutor who manages to put 17 men into the electric chair. The last one ends up being executed by mistake when there is a death bed confession. Lowe goes to the man's family and offers to help and support the mother and son in any way he can.
Burton then resigns as prosecutor and opens a law practice as a criminal defense attorney
Fast forward a few years, and Paul Wallace (Don Dillaway), the son of the dead man, is a football star at his school and has been given the best education. Burton wants him to work in his office.
Burton has a girlfriend Val (Brent), and he learns she's also having a relationship with a crook, Bradley Page (Nick Quinn). He drops her. Paul then takes up with her, surprisingly, and he and Burton fight about it. Burton knows she's no good and is using Paul.
Paul hears Val on the phone and realizes that indeed, he has been used. We don't know what happens after that, only that Burton arrives at the apartment and finds Paul unconscious and Evelyn dead. Burton takes the rap and decides to defend himself in court, and, knowing Paul innocent, reveal the true murderer.
The problem with this film for me is that there were so many of this type of film made in the '30s - William Powell, Warren William, so any actors played great attorneys. It's hard to keep them all straight.
I see raves here about Evelyn Brent. She was terrific, but I frankly couldn't see young Paul being taken with herl
The reason I watched this is because I'm a huge fan of Constance Cummings. She plays Burton's secretary. Here she's a beautiful ingenue. She had a huge theater career on both sides of the pond, and in her seventies played a stroke victim in a show, Wings. She doesn't have much to do here, but I still love her.
Clever courtroom antics by Burton, who is well played by Edmund Lowe.
Lowe is Burton, a prosecutor who manages to put 17 men into the electric chair. The last one ends up being executed by mistake when there is a death bed confession. Lowe goes to the man's family and offers to help and support the mother and son in any way he can.
Burton then resigns as prosecutor and opens a law practice as a criminal defense attorney
Fast forward a few years, and Paul Wallace (Don Dillaway), the son of the dead man, is a football star at his school and has been given the best education. Burton wants him to work in his office.
Burton has a girlfriend Val (Brent), and he learns she's also having a relationship with a crook, Bradley Page (Nick Quinn). He drops her. Paul then takes up with her, surprisingly, and he and Burton fight about it. Burton knows she's no good and is using Paul.
Paul hears Val on the phone and realizes that indeed, he has been used. We don't know what happens after that, only that Burton arrives at the apartment and finds Paul unconscious and Evelyn dead. Burton takes the rap and decides to defend himself in court, and, knowing Paul innocent, reveal the true murderer.
The problem with this film for me is that there were so many of this type of film made in the '30s - William Powell, Warren William, so any actors played great attorneys. It's hard to keep them all straight.
I see raves here about Evelyn Brent. She was terrific, but I frankly couldn't see young Paul being taken with herl
The reason I watched this is because I'm a huge fan of Constance Cummings. She plays Burton's secretary. Here she's a beautiful ingenue. She had a huge theater career on both sides of the pond, and in her seventies played a stroke victim in a show, Wings. She doesn't have much to do here, but I still love her.
Clever courtroom antics by Burton, who is well played by Edmund Lowe.
helpful•01
- blanche-2
- Jun 29, 2021
Details
- Runtime1 hour 10 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Attorney for the Defense (1932) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer