The Witness Chair

One of the problems with a lot of courtroom dramas of the 1930s -- and this one in particular -- is that they are mysteries. Now mysteries make good stories and good movies, since they have usually have a fast start -- someone is killed -- and a definite plot -- the detection of the guilty. But when they take place in the courtroom, as does this one, they are largely composed of showing that the accused person did not do it -- and what does that say about all the people involved in the investigation and the prosecution? It results in a certain amount of idiot plotting and I always find that annoying. Lawyers do not ask questions they do not know the answer to, and people do not pop up to confess that they shot the dead man, Perry Mason notwithstanding.

Nonetheless, this movie is not awful, and it is largely due to the work of the actors involved. Walter Abel, as the accused, and Ann Harding, as the secretary who loves him, are fine actors and manage to bring a semblance of emotional reality, if not verisimilitude to this piece of tripe. Not enough to make it worthwhile -- both actors have been much better served -- but enough to keep you watching to the hackneyed end.