Midnight Court

Warner Brothers (WB) as a 'Factory Studio' had on hand a stock company of professionals too fill in any acting need. Sometimes they were career supporting actors, others may have been former 'Stars' but no longer a top tier attraction.

MIDNIGHT COURT (1937) welds two (2) of these for the leads in this picture, Ann Dvorak and John Litel. The rest of the cast filled out by the current 'Dependables'. The story is one of redemption, through deeds and love. District Attorney Victor Shanley (Litel) is framed, disgraced and falls from the public grace, turning to Mr. Booze and self pity losing the love of Carey O'Neill (Dvorak). Attorney Shanley tries to get back what he lost by throwing his skills toward the benefit of getting Gangsters off the legal hook. Garnering both their praise and material benefits. Later the murder of his protégé changes his views. The Gangsters are brought too justice and he wins the hand of Carey. A solid, entertaining Studio System 'B' Film.

I have never seen John Litel phone in a role. He shows the same discipline as a actor, that he did in his service in WWI earning him two (2) decorations. His career was long and distinguished, showing his mettle also on Stage and later T.V.

Ann Dvorak, attractive, slim, sexy, whose career did not last as long. Starting out as a 'Star' her relations with the Studio Heads did not endear her too them, so by the late 1930s' she had drifted down to 'B' Pictures. Finally retiring in 1951 to private life. Dieing relatively young at the age of 68 (1911>1979).

One-time district attorney John Litel has fallen on hard times. He's down and out, drinking in a dive bar. The cops raid the joint and take everybody to night court. Charged with drunkenness, Litel makes a passionate speech to the judge about how wrong he was to try and protect a thankless public when he was the DA. Suddenly court clerk Ann Dvorak calls out his name. He passes out on the courtroom floor.

It's not too believable but John Litel and Ann Dvorak give sincere performances in this modest crime melodrama.

We soon learn that Litel and Dvorak were formerly married, before he got all broken down and bitter. Having taken him to her apartment for breakfast, Dvorak challenges Litel to pull himself together...at which point he announces that he has decided to go to work for a local mob boss and become "the greatest criminal attorney this town has ever known."

Litel succeeds in starting up a new career getting crooks acquitted. The bad guys love him, including boss William B. Davidson. Their car stealing racket is going great. Litel is certainly getting rich...but Dvorak holds out hope for his redemption. What will it take to turn him back around?

Plenty of dramatics but not a lot of careful character development in this standard fast-moving B picture.

John Litel and Ann Dvorak star in "Midnight Court," a 1937 B movie from Warners.

Litel plays Victor Shanley, an ex-DA who turned to drink, was removed from office and divorced by his wife Carol (Dvorak). He basically becomes a bum. One night, gangster Al Kruger, the head of a hot-car ring, spots Shanley in a bar. Seeing that he's down and out, he's able to hire Shanley to represent the crooks he hires.

Soon Shanley is riding high defending criminals and socking it to the law and order who had gotten rid of him. A young friend of Shanley's, Bob Terrell, was involved in the mob, and to get him out, Shanley gets him a job with an aircraft factory in another state. A situation arises and Shanley knows he has to turn the tables and bring down Kruger.

This is a fast-moving film with nice performances all around. I always remember that John Litel played Nancy Drew's father. He was a solid character actor (and a war hero) who enjoyed a long career, dating back to the 1920s. He was rarely a lead, but here he does a fine job. Ann Dvorak is a delight as his ex-wife, who is still there for him.

***SPOILER*** Disbarred disgraced and long forgotten former District Attorney Victor Shanley, John Litel, ends up in a skid row ginmill, Joe's Place, that just happens to the the headquarters of big time gangster Al Kruger, William B. Davidson, who by twisting arms in the justice department put him there. Despertely needing cash to support his drinking habit Shanley take the job of being Kruger's mouthpiece, shyster lawyer, in order to get back at the justice system that destroyed his professional life.

It's when Shanley's ex-wife Carol O'Neill, Ann Dvorak, a court clerk spotted her drunk and barley conscious former husband at Judge Fredrick J. Thompson's, Joseph Crehan, courtroom where he was on trial for vagrancy that she took him home to get himself something to eat and a place to seep it off. All cleaned up and with a new set of clothes Shanley goes on a six month winning streak in the city courts getting Kruger's hoods off from being convicted with his skillful manipulating of the city court system. It's later when one of Kuger's men working in his car theft department the young and innocent Bob Terrill, Carlyle Moore Jr, decided to call it quits,in Shanley paying for his collage tuition in becoming an aeronautical engineer, that Kruger has him set up to be knocked off because he knows too much about his criminal operations. With Kruger's right-hand man Slim Jacobs, Stanley Fields, offering Terrill a lift to the train station he murders him and drives his car, with Terrill in it, down a 200 foot embankment to make Terrill's murder look like an accident!

****SPOILERS*** Finally realizing what he got himself into Shanley follows his ex-wife Carol's advice by quitting the Kruger crime syndicate but even goes one step farther in setting a trap for Kruger & Co. in getting them convicted for Terrill's murder! The big showdown comes in Judge Thompson's courtroom with Shanley, now working for the D.A's Office, tricking Slim Jacobs into admitting under cross examination that he was the person who gave Bob Terrill, after he murdered him, the last ride of his life! Wild and crazy final where pandemonium breaks out in the courtroom as Kruger's hoods together with a gun toting Slim Jacobs try to hijack the proceeding, by making their escape, only to be out-gunned and outnumbered by the police who got there just in the nick of time to put the cuffs on them!

John Litel lends his strong presence to this Warners B as a lawyer who decides to go into defending criminals in order to make a lot of money and win back ex-wife Ann Dvorak and save a bunch of teenagers he met at night court being sentenced for a bender -- thus the title.

Litel is excellent, as you might expect, but this attempt to squash together a bunch of Warners' socially aware crime pictures leaves far too much ground to be covered in 63 minutes, especially when director MacDonald doesn't have everyone talk fast. DP Warren Lynch does some very nice film shooting, particularly the outdoors night scenes, but that doesn't serve to make this more than an average picture.