Secretary walks by...
It's booty appreciation time!
John Barrymore is a lawyer who, having arrived in New York "by steerage" many years before, has a soft heart for penniless immigrant clients but charges the Mayflower sons and daughters a little more to get them out of their scrapes. Counsellor-at-Law is a fascinating film that makes explicit statements about the clash between the well-heeled WASPS and those still climbing the ladder to prosperity. Issues like ethnicity and money are pretty much laid on the table as is, there's more than a little sexual innuendo. Barrymore even slams a door to muffle a cuss word. How fun! True or not, these less censored films make us feel closer to the time and place they came from. Sure, I know it's all scripted (and based on a successful stage play) but it's just refreshing to witness an honest reaction (and to wonder if the receptionist is knocked up)! A contemporary review of the screen version pointed out that some bits were cut in order to be suitable for moviegoers, but that "where this occurs, Mr [Elmer] Rice [the screenwriter and original playwright] and the director, William Wyler, leave nothing in doubt." Guess I'll have to dig the script up to verify all my hunches!
Barrymore is enjoyable and surprisingly restrained as the man whose life becomes unravelled when he is threatened with being disbarred from legal practice. Retaining a stage-like feel, all the action is limited to the glittering Art Deco waiting room and offices of the Simon and Tedesco firm, which is filled with a handful of delightful female characters. Bebe Daniels is Barrymore's saintly secretary who quietly pines for him while gritting her teeth at the sight of his obnoxious wife (Dora Kenyon). Isabel Jewell is the squawking receptionist who eats tongue sandwich for lunch. Paul Muni had played the lead role successful on stage and later reprised the role for radio in 1935. I'm still waiting for the delivery of the Muni biography I just ordered, so I don't know yet why he didn't also appear in the movie.
Bebe Daniels the ever devoted secretary "Rexy", patiently waits for Mrs Simon (played by Dora Kenyon) to finish her telephone conversation before she can begin typing again.
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