If there was one thing that most early movies suffered from, it is being too elementary. It wasn't that they followed a basic formula, because we have that today, it was that they made things too obvious: the lessons learned, what a person was feeling, if a person was lying or not, who was good, who was bad, who would be reformed, who would be punished, etc. Sure, there were some movies that did follow that pattern, but they were rare. For the most part things were didactically spelled out.
And the women they created. I've seen cardboard cutouts with more dimensions and individuality.
"The Defense Rests" stars Jack Holt as Matthew Mitchell, a lawyer for the guilty who never lost. He could get anyone and everyone off, and he did. He didn't even like his clients, but they paid well and they got him more publicity.
If Matthew was to be the hero though, he'd have to have a change of heart about the way he did business. As it was he was unethical, and an unethical lawyer couldn't be the protagonist.
In steps Joan Hayes, played by the weak-voiced Jean Arthur. She would be Matthew's moral compass.
Joan began her relationship with Mitchell as a sycophant. She practically worshiped Mitchell. She became a lawyer because of him and she wouldn't work for any lawyer but him. Mitchell wasn't in the market for new employees, but she was pretty and she gassed him up with enough flowery speech that he couldn't help but hire her.
Joan would find that the emperor had no clothes. The man she revered resorted to lies and cheap tricks to win his cases.
Say it ain't so.
She stuck with him out of some strange sense of loyalty, or maybe even love. She drew the line, though, when he agreed to represent Cooney (John Wray), a suspected kidnapper and child-killer. She tendered her resignation which Mitchell rejected. His rejection of her resignation was odd being that having someone so principled in his office could easily be his undoing.
The move would come back to haunt him. Joan went on a side quest to unravel a case Mitchell had recently won. Once she had enough evidence to bury her boss, she presented it to him. She stated that she would go to the DA with what she had and get him disbarred and/or arrested. Mitchell's response was pretty much, "bring it on!" He was cocky enough and good enough to withstand whatever some little rookie came at him with.
Joan's response was pitiful. She was so enamored with her idol that she broke down crying and stated that she'd have to go to jail with him if she turned him in. She was in such awe of him she surmised that she couldn't leave his side, even if she sent him to prison. Her behavior was nauseating.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Evans (Sarah Padden)--the mother of the boy who was killed--killed herself in Mitchell's office. She couldn't stand the thought of him getting her son's killer off, so she shot and killed herself in his office to either change his mind, or bring negative publicity down on him.
Mission accomplished.
Mitchell had a change of heart and figured out a way to have Cooney convicted without him throwing the case or stepping down. It was too blissful, especially for Joan Hayes. Her idol had turned out to be praiseworthy after all.
But there still remained that matter of the evidence she had regarding another case that could get him sent to prison.
No worries. Only two people could testify on that evidence: Gentry (Robert Gleckler) and Joan. As for Gentry, he'd been killed. As for Joan, she proposed to marry her celebrity crush which meant she couldn't testify against him. Everyone wins except the viewer.
Free on YouTube.
And the women they created. I've seen cardboard cutouts with more dimensions and individuality.
"The Defense Rests" stars Jack Holt as Matthew Mitchell, a lawyer for the guilty who never lost. He could get anyone and everyone off, and he did. He didn't even like his clients, but they paid well and they got him more publicity.
If Matthew was to be the hero though, he'd have to have a change of heart about the way he did business. As it was he was unethical, and an unethical lawyer couldn't be the protagonist.
In steps Joan Hayes, played by the weak-voiced Jean Arthur. She would be Matthew's moral compass.
Joan began her relationship with Mitchell as a sycophant. She practically worshiped Mitchell. She became a lawyer because of him and she wouldn't work for any lawyer but him. Mitchell wasn't in the market for new employees, but she was pretty and she gassed him up with enough flowery speech that he couldn't help but hire her.
Joan would find that the emperor had no clothes. The man she revered resorted to lies and cheap tricks to win his cases.
Say it ain't so.
She stuck with him out of some strange sense of loyalty, or maybe even love. She drew the line, though, when he agreed to represent Cooney (John Wray), a suspected kidnapper and child-killer. She tendered her resignation which Mitchell rejected. His rejection of her resignation was odd being that having someone so principled in his office could easily be his undoing.
The move would come back to haunt him. Joan went on a side quest to unravel a case Mitchell had recently won. Once she had enough evidence to bury her boss, she presented it to him. She stated that she would go to the DA with what she had and get him disbarred and/or arrested. Mitchell's response was pretty much, "bring it on!" He was cocky enough and good enough to withstand whatever some little rookie came at him with.
Joan's response was pitiful. She was so enamored with her idol that she broke down crying and stated that she'd have to go to jail with him if she turned him in. She was in such awe of him she surmised that she couldn't leave his side, even if she sent him to prison. Her behavior was nauseating.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Evans (Sarah Padden)--the mother of the boy who was killed--killed herself in Mitchell's office. She couldn't stand the thought of him getting her son's killer off, so she shot and killed herself in his office to either change his mind, or bring negative publicity down on him.
Mission accomplished.
Mitchell had a change of heart and figured out a way to have Cooney convicted without him throwing the case or stepping down. It was too blissful, especially for Joan Hayes. Her idol had turned out to be praiseworthy after all.
But there still remained that matter of the evidence she had regarding another case that could get him sent to prison.
No worries. Only two people could testify on that evidence: Gentry (Robert Gleckler) and Joan. As for Gentry, he'd been killed. As for Joan, she proposed to marry her celebrity crush which meant she couldn't testify against him. Everyone wins except the viewer.
Free on YouTube.