Black Legion (1937)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

Robert Lord (story)
Abem Finkel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 January 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

When a hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he is seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.

Plot Keywords:

Foreman | Machinist | Chicken Farm | Machine Shop | Fear

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Frank Taylor
Dick Foran	...	Ed Jackson
Erin O'Brien-Moore	...	Ruth Taylor
Ann Sheridan	...	Betty Grogan
Helen Flint	...	Pearl Davis (Credits) / Pearl Danvers
Joe Sawyer	...	Cliff Moore (Credits) / Cliff Summers (as Joseph Sawyer)
Clifford Soubier	...	Mike Grogan
Alonzo Price	...	Alf Hargrave
Paul Harvey	...	Billings
Dickie Jones	...	Buddy Taylor
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Judge (as Samuel Hinds)
Addison Richards	...	Prosecuting Attorney
Eddie Acuff	...	Metcalf
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Mrs. Grogan
John Litel	...	Tommy Smith

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1937) | Finland:(Banned) (1937) | USA:Approved (PCA #2507)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When Frank lights a cigarette outside the pharmacy after his wife and child leave, an advertisement for Pabst Beer is visible behind him, only the P and the T have clearly been covered with white-out.

Goofs:

Continuity: A newspaper clipping names Clifford Soubier's character as Michael F. Grogan. However the letter earlier refers to him as Michael P. Grogan.

Quotes:

Cliff Moore: Read!
Frank Taylor: [reading the Black Legion oath] In the name of God and the Devil, one to reward and the other to punish, and by the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, here under the black arch of Heaven's avenging symbol, I pledge and consecrate my heart, my brain, my body, and my limbs and swear by all the powers of Heaven and Hell to devote my life to the obedience of my superiors and that no danger or peril shall deter me from executin' dere orders...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Warner at War (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Lady in Red

A good film, strong for Bogart

The Black Legion is not a fictitious name dreamed up by the screen writer of this film. It does not represent the Ku Klux Klan, but an different hate group, The Black Legion, that was very strong in the 30's in Midwest America. Their grip reached all the way up to chiefs of police and fire, district attorneys, and high profile names in big business. Henry Ford was a staunch, though private, supporter of the Black Legion. Warner saw a parallel between the Black Legion and the rise of the Third Reich. For more information about the Black Legion, see the movie

Enjoy!