For the Defense (1930)

For the Defense
Directed by James Cromwell
Written by Oliver H.P. Garrett and Charles Furthman
1930/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

William Foster: [Addressing the jury on summation] Gentlemen, I’m not going to give you the usual baloney.

Lackluster filmmaking. But with Kay Francis and William Powell it is irresistible.

Powell plays a famous defense attorney who has a reputation for getting his clients off by fair means or foul. Francis is his lover. He showers her with expensive diamonds.

Francis loves Powell but chooses for some bizarre reason to accept the marriage proposal of another.

Kay is driving her drunken fiancé when she crashes into another car and kills the driver. The rest of the film is a courtroom drama.

This is a 75 minute film with a lot going on so there is little character development. There is also that clunky staging and pacing common to early talkies. But the stars certainly do twinkle. Criterion Channel is currently featuring a Kay Francis collection and it contains several films I haven’t seen.