In only his second year at Warner Bros., Warren William shot to stardom playing an unscrupulous lawyer in this adaptation of Frank J. Collins’ play, inspired by the career of mob lawyer Bill “The Great Mouthpiece” Fallon. He’s a district attorney whose faith in the system is shattered when he discovers he’s sent an innocent man to the chair. In an about face, he becomes a notorious mob lawyer, using dirty tricks to win cases. Then he falls for a young innocent (Sidney Fox) whose fiancé has been framed for murder, setting him on a collision course with his usual clients. Roles like these and the womanizing businessmen in Skyscraper Souls (1932) and Employees’ Entrance (1933) earned William—who was staid and quiet in his private life—the title “King of Pre-Code.”

35mm print courtesy Warner Bros. Discovery and Park Circus.