Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore, Ann Sheridan, Robert H. Barrat
Release Year: 1937
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
This hard-hitting, socially conscious drama, the sort of story that Warner Bros. made their hallmark in the 1930s, concerns a factory worker named Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), who is convinced that a big promotion is right around the corner for him. However, the promotion goes to a harder-working Polish immigrant named Joe Dombrowski (Henry Brandon). Angry and upset, Frank is approached by members of a secret organization called the Black Legion, who believe in "America for Americans" and want to drive away immigrants and racial minorities through violent means. Wearing black robes, Frank and the other members of the Legion go on a torchlight raid, driving Dombrowski and his family from their home. With Dombrowski gone from the plant, Frank gets the job, which means more money and a higher standard of living for him and his family. But his outlaw activities with the Legion begin taking up more of his time (and his money, as they make a healthy profit selling robes, weapons, and racist geegaws to their membership), which drives a wedge between Frank and his wife Ruth (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Frank begins drinking and starts slapping Ruth around; she leaves him, and Frank takes up with a floozie named Pearl (Helen Flint). Ed (Dick Foran), a good friend of Frank's, sees that his buddy is drinking too much and ruining his life, so he tries to step in and express his concern. His tongue loosened by alcohol, Frank tells Ed about his secret life with the violent Legion; the next morning, Frank is afraid that Ed might inform on him to the police, so he tells the Legion leadership what has happened. They subsequently order Ed to be captured and executed. While Warner Bros. attempted to avoid the wrath of Black Legion and Ku Klux Klan members by stating that all characters and institutions were entirely fictional, Black Legion was still a brave attack on hate groups, given that lynchings were not uncommon in parts of the United States in the mid-1930s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Archie Mayo's Depression-era melodrama, like the earlier Black Terror (1936), was based on the murder of a WPA worker in Michigan by the designated executioner of a hate group known as the Black Legion. Like many of the groups which fed on the racism and xenophobia that grew with the period's desperate conditions, the Legion combined mob-like extortion tactics with those of Multi-Level Marketing, profiting from the sales of Legion paraphernalia to its membership. Aside from focusing on a subject which was daring at the time, the film is basically a stock melodrama, similar to the gangster pictures Warner was churning out by the dozen. Still, Humphrey Bogart gives the film some electricity, his vaguely aggrieved persona well-suited to the part of the disgruntled blue-collar worker; when he's passed over for a promotion, one sees shades of the paranoia of Fred C. Dobbs. While the film's treatment of this subject may now be somewhat dated, its basic take on the way in which these groups play on the self-hatred of its members remains accurate. After the film was released, Warner Bros. was sued by the Ku Kux Klan for patent infringement, claiming the film had stolen their insignia for that of its "fictional" group. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Robert M. Haas - Art Director, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Jack Sullivan - First Assistant Director, Archie Mayo - Director, Owen Marks - Editor, Bernhard Kaun - Composer (Music Score), George Barnes - Cinematographer, Robert Lord - Producer, Fred Jackson, Jr. - Special Effects, H.F. Koenekamp - Special Effects, Fred Jackman, Sr. - Special Effects, Robert Lord - Screen Story, Abem Finkel - Screenwriter, William Wister Haines - Screenwriter, Robert Lord - Screenwriter
Many of the details about the Legion protrayed in Black Legion, such as the initiation oath and the confessions in the trial scenes, were based on known facts about the actual organization, but because American libel laws had recently been broadened in scope by court rulings, Warner Bros. was forced to underplay some aspects of the group's political activities to avoid legal repercussion.[2] Nevertheless, the Ku Klux Klan sued Warner Bros. for patent infringement for the film's use of a patented Klan insignia, a white cross on a red background with a black square.[1] Fortunately for Warners, a judge threw out the case.[2]
Black Legion drew praise from critics for its dramatization of a dark social phenomenon, and a number of reviewers commented that Bogart's performance should lead to his becoming a major star. Warners, however, did not give the film any special treatment, promoting it, and Bogart, in their standard fashion. Bogart's breakthrough would have to wait for High Sierra in 1941.[2]
When he is passed over for promotion in favor of a foreign-born friend, Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), a midwestern factory worker, joins the anti-immigrant Black Legion, a secret white supremecist organization[2] portrayed as a northern chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Dressed in black robes, Taylor and the Legion mount a torchlight raid and burn down the friend's chicken farm, driving him out of town, so that Taylor can take the job he believed was his. Soon, however, Taylor's recruiting activities with the Legion get in the way of his work, and he is demoted in favor of Mike Grogan (Clifford Soubier), Taylor's neighbor. Once again, the Legion takes action, attacking Grogan.
Under the continued influence of the Legion, Taylor becomes a brutal racist, [2] and alienates his wife (Erin O'Brien-Moore). He starts drinking heavily and takes up with a loose woman (Helen Flint). Taylor's friend, Ed Jackson (Dick Foran), tries to counsel him, and a drunken Taylor winds up confessing about his Legion activities. When he reports this to the leadership of the Legion, they order that Jackson be kidnapped. The Legion plans to flog Jackson but he tries to escape by punching one of the men restraining him and causing a ruckus. As he is running away he is shot by Taylor. Taylor breaks down and exclaims "I didn't mean to shoot!".[3]
Taylor is arrested for the murder, and the Legion threatens his wife and son to stop him from implicating the Legion in the crime, but, ultimately, Frank breaks down and tells the truth, resulting in the entire Black Legion being convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.[4]
Before he turned to acting, Clifford Soubier was a broadcaster for NBC in Chicago.[1]Black Legion was his film debut, and he went on to appear in five others.[5]
Production
Black Legion went into production in late August 1936,[6] and location shooting took place in private homes in the Hollywood area, the Providencia Ranch in the Hollywood Hills and the Warner Ranch in Calabasas.[7] Executive producer Hal B. Wallis had wanted Edward G. Robinson to play the lead role, but producer Robert Lord thought Robinson was too foreign looking, and wanted a "distinctly American looking actor to play [the] part."[1]
