Counsellor-at-Law

#16 in my ranking of William Wyler’s filmography.

Operating on, essentially, a single set which gave William Wyler the kind of freedom he had been accustomed to in the silent era, Counsellor-at-Law is an adapted play originally written by Elmer Rice (who also wrote the adaptation), but Wyler brings his full force of command to the production, elevating what could have felt merely claustrophobic and placid while making it come alive with visuals that never get boring and performances that always engage.

George Simon (John Barrymore) is a prominent New York lawyer who worked and scrabbled his way to the top of the defense law food chain through his own grit and determination. The opening half-hour of the film is a nearly chaotic look at the goings and comings of his high-rise office. He’s just won a murder case for his client Lillian La Rue (Thelma Todd) for killing her husband, and she wants to thank him. George has connections in Washington about a Supreme Court case not yet released that he wants to take advantage of through a smidge of insider trading to his stockbroker. His secretary Rexy (Bebe Daniels) is a hard-working girl who is smitten with George in some, small way while also fighting off the advances of a young attorney in the office. There’s also Bessie (Isabel Jewell) as a switchboard operator who’s always directing traffic in the office, as well as George’s mother (Clara Langsner) and wife Cora (Doris Kenyon), and even the son of an old neighbor of George’s, Harry (Vincent Sherman) who got beaten and arrested making communist speeches.

It’s a busy day in the life of George Simon, respected attorney.

However, the story isn’t just a portrait of a man with a shadowy background who rose to the top of the pile. It’s the story of how it pretty much all collapses. One of George’s early cases involved getting a man off of a burglary charge, and when word gets to him that his whole career is going to unravel because of that case, he goes into something of a panic. John Qualen (Johan Breitstein) and his alibi end up not adding up several years later when his witness recants while in prison. This shows that Simon pulled false testimony, proof that could get him disbarred, an effort led by the district attorney who’s been beaten by Simon more than once.

On top of this, it becomes obvious that Simon’s marriage to Cora is already in tatters. Aside from treating George’s mother like a stranger, Cora is completely undeterred about continuing with her planned family vacation across the Atlantic at the news of George’s troubles. George is so caught up in his work in general and his particular problem specifically that he never deigns to notice that his wife and his friend, Roy (Melvyn Douglas), are obviously having an affair. She seems to be as much an ornament to George as he was some kind of rock in the social circles of the elite. He works too much, leaving her with time to get bored of him and nurse a wandering eye. It doesn’t help that the children seem to have no love for their step-father either.

Where this film really succeeds is in the portrait of a man who built his life on the American dream watch it all collapse around him. His high-profile successes started with a professional misdeed. His marriage is essentially a sham that his wife is willing to discard. It gets contrasted rather interestingly with the small subplot of Harry. Harry is in only one scene where George tries to set him straight about how America is better than the old country they both fled from (George actually remembers the old country, though, while Harry has no memory of it), and Harry spits at him with communist jargon about the lies of George’s life. Well, I don’t think George is moved from his position that working his butt off for years got him the life he wanted in America (the film’s final moments cement that pretty well), but his precarious state in this high strata of society obviously comes to him and hits him hard. He came from a Jewish ghetto, the same as Harry, and he could end up right back there in a few days if things continued to go wrong.

The clear-eyed portrait of George is what carries the film. Played by John Barrymore with energy and verve (despite his, apparently, deteriorating health), and he gets these high moments of anxiety that he gets to also contrast with low moments of extreme despair that Wyler shoots expertly. Using complex framing to capture all of the chaotic action in the office without losing sight of any of the participants, lighting to help highlight emotional states, and allowing space for the actors to perform fully, Wyler largely keeps the attention off of himself as he shoots, choosing to simply highlight what is happening in the most effect ways he knew how. The rest of the cast is solidly good as well, with a particular nod to Isabel Jewel who always entertains as she answers the phones and directs the traffic of the office.

Counsellor-at-Law is Wyler reaching above his station to find his first place among the rising directing stars of Universal Studios. Adapting a respected stage play with skill and tact, he made his best film to date. Outside of Shakespeare on the stage and the manic joys of Howard Hawks‘ Twentieth Century, it’s probably John Barrymore’s most engrossing performance as well.

Rating: 3.5/4