L'uomo che parlò troppo

The Man Who Talked Too Much is the second of three versions that Warner Brothers did of the same film. I've not seen The Mouthpiecewhich was the prototype, but the film Illegal which starred Edward G. Robinson that came out in 1955 was far superior to this one. Possibly audiences were more sophisticated then and wouldn't buy what was being sold in this film.

George Brent plays our protagonist and he's a hard driving Assistant District Attorney who mistakenly convicts an innocent man and the real culprit does not confess until it is too late. Feeling a lot of remorse he leaves the DA's office and goes into private practice with faithful secretary Virginia Bruce. But he's not getting any good paying clients until he gets off Henry Armetta for assaulting one of Richard Barthelmess's hoods. Impressed with his work Barthelmess puts Brent on permanent retainer.

With that a change comes over Brent that his idealistic younger brother William Lundigan doesn't like. After that Lundigan who is a newly minted attorney himself does something that in real life would get him disbarred.

What it is I won't reveal, but instead of disbarment he gets framed for murder and it's up to Brent to save him by whatever means necessary.

What Lundigan does in fact is what turned me off to this film which is a sincere effort by the cast and director. Lundigan's legal dilemma as shown in the film has been dealt with before on the big screen and small. In fact Tom Cruise in The Firm had the same situation and he handled much better than Lundigan.

Check Robinson's film also it's far better done.