Black Legion (1937)

A product of 1930's Hollywood with a name like Black Legion sounds like it should be an adventure serial, not a "ripped from the headlines" Law & Order-esque social issues picture, but its actually the latter. Like many a Law & Order episode Black Legion is not so much based on a real case as it is inspired by one. There was a vigilante/hate group called the Black Legion, it was one of literally hundreds of Fascistic organizations that existed in Depression era America. The Black Legion was founded in Ohio but had chapters in Michigan and other surrounding states, the group advocated so called "100% Americanism" and were very anti-emigrant, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-Catholic ect. Local police in the Midwest largely turned a blind eye to the groups actions until they expanded there activities to representatives of "The New Deal" which they opposed as un-American. The 1936 kidnapping and murder of WPA worker Charles Poole brought a new level of pressure on local authorities and soon the Legion was on its way out, with members rounded up in connection with scores of successful and attempted murders.

Warner Brothers was the first American studio to really have it out for Fascism and was skilled at social issue picture,s so its not surprising that they would pick the Black Legion as the subject for one of their films. The studio had to overcome some opposition from the very squeamish, controversy averse Production Code Administration, but eventually they came up with a treatment of the subject matter that satisfied the censors. The movie features Humphrey Bogart in one of his first staring roles, several years before he really made it as a star with The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra. Bogart's Frank Taylor  an everyman, a worker at a Midwest machine shop with a  wife (Erin O'Brien) and a son (Dickie Jones). Franks is a nice guy, they make a point of this at the beginning, but when he gets past over for a promotion he thinks is his in favor of a go-getter son of (presumably Polish) immigrants (Henry Brandon) he becomes receptive to the sort of nativist appeals of  groups like the Black Legion. A co-worker (Joe Sawyer) brings Frank in to the organization, and at first he's very enthusiastic about it as the group helps him run his rival out of town and Frank gets that promotion he wanted. But eventually the demands of the group cost Frank his job and possibly his marriage; his friend, neighbor and co-work Ed Jackson (Dick Foran) tries to help Frank and expose the legion only to be murdered by him!

Unlike most Hollywood films of its era Black Legion does not have a happy ending, Frank goes to jail as he should, his only redemption coming from the fact that he turns state evidence and brings a lot of the Legion down with him. The film is competently directed by Archie Mayo, and the performances are mostly good but not outstanding, exceptions being Bogart who you can see developing as an actor in this, and Erin O'Brien whose got a few good, quite moments. Not an exceptional movie, but an admirable one, departing from formula and taking a few genuine risks. **1/2