Legion of Terror has all the trademarks of the "B" film it was, although with an unusual plot. The film was produced at the cost-conscious Columbia studio, and shot in three weeks. The 63 minute Legion of Terror employed talent of considerable lesser quality than benefited Outcast, individuals who were assigned more for the fact that they were under contract (such as director C.C. Coleman) than for the particular talent for the task at hand. Legion of Terror portrays a town where a "Hooded Legion" has taken full control, including the local newspaper. Government investigators, led by Bruce Cabot, go undercover as factory workers and are able to join the group to discover the men who run it. After one man who tried to protest is killed, the National Guard is brought in to arrest the legion members, and the group's leaders are burned to death when their car overturns. The movie includes a warning that Americans are such "joiners" that they are easily liable to be exploited by such organizations as the legion--or the KKK. Legion of Terror (scripted by Bert Granet) was based on the same incident, the unmasking of the Detroit Black Legion, that formed the basis for Warner's better-remembered Black Legion although Columbia's Legion of Terror was actually made a year earlier.
3 Reviews
Meet the hoodlum gang.
mark.waltz21 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Ok, so they call themselves the hooded legion but it is obvious that they are a bunch of thugs hiding under black and white robes and creating character through their bullying antics. Bruce Cabot and Crawford Weaver are government agents to infiltrate the legion and expose their threatening ways even though the film doesn't go past the set-up of Ward Bond in being a drunken driver when he refuses to join them. Bond's sister (Marguerite Churchill) believes that Cabot and Weaver are members of the gang and refuses to accept help from them, but they set out to reveal key players in this organized ring of terror without exposing their identities.
Even though Warner Brothers was known for their string of social dramas, Columbia made their share of them as well. They are not as well known because the Columbia film library hasn't had the exposure. In the case of this film, it's no different than the dozens of other serious dramas, and there just isn't enough time allotted to get into the real evils of the hooded legion even though their tactics here are pretty hideous. It is decent in its way of presenting a serious subject, no nonsense and a warning to society of the dangers of societies like this. Well filmed and decently acted, it makes its point in a short period of time but is missing that one outstanding element to prevent it from being anything more than just average.
Even though Warner Brothers was known for their string of social dramas, Columbia made their share of them as well. They are not as well known because the Columbia film library hasn't had the exposure. In the case of this film, it's no different than the dozens of other serious dramas, and there just isn't enough time allotted to get into the real evils of the hooded legion even though their tactics here are pretty hideous. It is decent in its way of presenting a serious subject, no nonsense and a warning to society of the dangers of societies like this. Well filmed and decently acted, it makes its point in a short period of time but is missing that one outstanding element to prevent it from being anything more than just average.
****** Hackneyed Hyperbole
GManfred17 August 2019
That may sound like a harsh judgment, especially since I thought the film was likable and had some appeal. It's just that the theme has been done thousands of times in thousands of movies; good guys vs bad guys, forces of evil working against a naive subject, government to the rescue, etc.. But I think when you're watching the situation for the first time the movie goes down easier. Now it's 80 years later and you can almost write the script for yourself, complete with odd coincidences and facilitated circumstances that are harder in real life.
That said, there are good acting turns here for Bruce Cabot and Ward Bond, who may have had his only starring role, and a host of movie supporting actors, including John Hamilton, who gets to preachify against subversive groups "wherever they may be found". The KKK threat may have subsided but it was more of a current topic to audiences in 1936. And it's only 65 minutes long, just enough for easy viewing. Shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/19.
****** 6/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.
That said, there are good acting turns here for Bruce Cabot and Ward Bond, who may have had his only starring role, and a host of movie supporting actors, including John Hamilton, who gets to preachify against subversive groups "wherever they may be found". The KKK threat may have subsided but it was more of a current topic to audiences in 1936. And it's only 65 minutes long, just enough for easy viewing. Shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/19.
****** 6/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.
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