The Trial of Mary Dugan

This is an oddly constructed little movie with an abrupt switch from romantic melodrama into the courtroom drama promised by the title.It opens with Mary Dugan awaiting release from Reformatory ,when her sentence is extended as the result of her throwing ink over a particularly self-regarding and obnoxious teacher.She escapes and goes to Los Angeles to renew acquaintance with her ex con father ,who is killed in an automobile accident before they can link up.She takes a job with the company of the man who was driving the car and who is not at fault with the accident .She quickly rises in the firm and when she falls in love with company attorney George Blake (Robert Young)all looks set fair .Things go wrong when he gets a job in Chile and asks her to go with him as man and wife.She fears her true identity will be discovered when applying for a passport and ends their relationship.

There is then a break in the continuity of the action and we next see Blake returning from Chile to be greeted by a newspaper headline proclaiming that she is on trial for the murder of her boss.He takes over her defence and sets out to unmask the true murderer and thus secure her acquittal.

The acting is pallid and uninvolving ;the script is shallow and unconvincing and the courtroom scenes are especially badly written .Not recommendable on any level