Criminal Lawyer is a hackneyed romance mystery featuring Lee Tracy doing his Jimmy Walker act and the forgettable Margot Grahame showing why she is just that.
Barry Brandon (Tracy) is one hot shot confident lawyer when he runs afoul of mobster Denny Larkin. Looking to even the score Larkin backs Brandon into a corner by involving his girl Madge (Grahame). With the courtroom as backdrop the absurd climax commences.
Tracy's cocksure charm and elegance wear thin after awhile, his staccato barking turning to hot air that makes the film lose steam and ultimately derail with a cloying , tremulous Tracy yapping on mawkishly to the denouement. Grahame remains comatose most of the way, Ed Cianelli threatening and for some odd reason Erik Rhodes shows up as Top Hat refugee Rudolpho Tonetti (Bandini here) to mainline some man crush humor into the pic. Criminal is an apt description of this one.
Barry Brandon (Tracy) is one hot shot confident lawyer when he runs afoul of mobster Denny Larkin. Looking to even the score Larkin backs Brandon into a corner by involving his girl Madge (Grahame). With the courtroom as backdrop the absurd climax commences.
Tracy's cocksure charm and elegance wear thin after awhile, his staccato barking turning to hot air that makes the film lose steam and ultimately derail with a cloying , tremulous Tracy yapping on mawkishly to the denouement. Grahame remains comatose most of the way, Ed Cianelli threatening and for some odd reason Erik Rhodes shows up as Top Hat refugee Rudolpho Tonetti (Bandini here) to mainline some man crush humor into the pic. Criminal is an apt description of this one.