Despite the outstanding cast, including the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck, this is a definite step or two below mediocre. The suspense is destroyed - especially in one very early telephone scene - leaving a bare courtroom drama where the law is nothing more than the handmaiden of the film's plot.
The conspiracy is clear throughout the film. Two of the 3 conspirators are disappointingly obvious, ruining the suspense. The exact involvement of the "puppet" is not completely foreseeable, but results in a very poorly contrived chain of events. His story to tie up all the loose ends at the end is just hokey.
In consistent, glaring lapses of judgment the attorney general (Warren William) deems that the interests of justice would be served best by not only hiding his marriage to the embattled governor's daughter (Stanwyck), but also by concealing evidence! As is typical of poor courtroom drama, police procedure is completely ignored by police officers who contaminate a crime scene and haul evidence back to police headquarters in their pockets. Legal procedure is similarly ignored in court scenes. But the most laughable scene depicts an impeachment hearing conducted around a conference table! Unsubstantiated oral testimony is the basis on which all the legal proceedings are resolved, bringing this unsatisfying fictional mess to an equally unsatisfying fictional end.
Pure cinematic contrivance, this melodrama is so remote from actual human behavior and actual events, and the end is so predictable that I recommend you skip it.
The conspiracy is clear throughout the film. Two of the 3 conspirators are disappointingly obvious, ruining the suspense. The exact involvement of the "puppet" is not completely foreseeable, but results in a very poorly contrived chain of events. His story to tie up all the loose ends at the end is just hokey.
In consistent, glaring lapses of judgment the attorney general (Warren William) deems that the interests of justice would be served best by not only hiding his marriage to the embattled governor's daughter (Stanwyck), but also by concealing evidence! As is typical of poor courtroom drama, police procedure is completely ignored by police officers who contaminate a crime scene and haul evidence back to police headquarters in their pockets. Legal procedure is similarly ignored in court scenes. But the most laughable scene depicts an impeachment hearing conducted around a conference table! Unsubstantiated oral testimony is the basis on which all the legal proceedings are resolved, bringing this unsatisfying fictional mess to an equally unsatisfying fictional end.
Pure cinematic contrivance, this melodrama is so remote from actual human behavior and actual events, and the end is so predictable that I recommend you skip it.