Loosely based on the career of New York City criminal lawyer William J. Fallon, the great "mouthpiece" of the 1920s, this strange drama was the product of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, with Claude Rains as the suave, ever-confident legal wizard. The film opens with Rains successfully
defending a killer by snatching up and drinking "Exhibit A," a vial containing poison, and then having his stomach pumped during a recess. Rains attempts to dump Margo, a jealous honky-tonk singer, for hot blonde Whitney Bourne, but Margo inveigles him into shooting her. Thinking her dead, he
prepares an elaborate alibi which involves the killing of another man. Margo survives to ha...
Released:
1934
Rated:
NR
Length:
70 mins