Black Legion (1937)

Best movie ever!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Today when the issue of immigration is brought up you will likely be shouted down as a racist by many factions. Since there are people who believe white supremacists (an increasingly meaningless buzzword) have actual influence today in the age of Trump, what does 1937's Black Legion say on the issue of immigration and people who are without a doubt real white supremacists. Black Legion was inspired from true events from an organisation of the same name despite the film's false opening disclaimer. In Black Legion Humphrey Bogart plays the role of Frank Taylor, a family man who is a far cry from the likes of Rick Blaine or Phillip Marlowe. However Bogart being one of the most adaptable actors he never feels out of place in the part not to mention he actually had a boyish look to him in his early films before he became more rugged over the next few years. Bogart isn't a tough guy here but rather someone who tries to act like a tough guy. This is exemplified in one of the film's most memorable scenes in which Frank stands in front of a mirror while alone in the living room of his house with a gun in his hand and admiring the way he looks with it. He feels empowered by it and develops a false sense of security as he plays it tough to bolster his lack of confidence as rarely does Frank ever look totally comfortable within in the Black Legion itself.Frank Taylor is drawn to racial hatred and later to joining the Black Legion after he loses a job promotion of factory foreman to Joe Dombrowski, a foreign born worker. Dombrowski is an interesting character. When the position of foreman opens up Joe states that he believes Frank will make a great foreman as he has been employed longer than any of the other employees. However it is Dombrowski who gets the job as he goes to night school, reads many books and is even studying how to design a lathe such as those used in the factory. Although his nationality or ethnicity is never mentioned, the name Dombrowski is Polish and Jewish in origin while the movie also subtly hints at the character being Jewish when his nose is referred to as "a plenty big one at that". Likewise the comments later given by Ann Sheridan's character in relation to the idea of the Dombrowski's setting their own house aflame for an insurance payment in that they are "honourable people" and that "they wouldn't do a thing like that" gives the impression that they are pillars of the community and that the locals do not look on at them as foreigners.Essentially the factory in the film operated as a meritocracy and employed the best person for the job ("They will fill it the way they always have, move the best man up"); the essence of the American Dream - study hard and you will be rewarded. Frank however is a sore loser and instead of reflecting on himself and seeing where he went wrong he takes the weak minded route out. How would Frank have reacted if the job had been given to one of his American born co-workers? He would not have been able to put the blame on "immigrants taking our jobs" so would he have come up with another lie in order to feel better about himself? After Frank loses out on the promotion he comes across a charismatic radio presenter complaining about foreigners stealing American jobs and taking bread from American homes. Like this would have a hope in hell of appearing on any mainstream media today in what would now be referred to as "hate speech". Likewise the scene in which Frank first attends a secret meeting held by the Black Legion in which a Hitler-esque speaker who overtly finger points gives a riveting yet at the same time ridiculous speech in which he speaks of ethnic nationalism and delves in conspiratorial nonsense on how foreigners "Now enriched with the jobs they have chiselled away from Americans and drunk with the power of their stolen prosperity, they are plotting to seize and control our government".With movies such as Black Legion and others from the mid to late 30's you can't help but ask would it be better if it were made before the code? Possibly the topic at hand would be presented in a less watered down manner. Look at a pre-code film such as Warner's Five Star Final which had no problem with using a range of racial slurs whereas the only instance of this in Black Legion is the use of the word honyock. Likewise Black Legion does distinguish itself as an interesting beast of a film in that it feels like it is in between being a B picture and an A picture.Interspersed between the main story is a love triangle subplot between Ann Sheridan, Helen Flint and Dick Foran. It's largely a distraction from the main plot until it finally finds its relevance later on and is ultimately the lesser interesting portion of the film. Regardless Ann Sheridan provides some entertaining wise cracks plus Helen Flint plays a character called Mrs Danvers (no relation to the Rebecca character).Does Black Legion hold much relevance for today? - To an extent yes. While much has changed since the 1930's in today's world of uncontrolled immigration, quotas and political correctness, there will always be groups of various political persuasions to pray on the weak minded.

Very unusual movie for Humphrey Bogart, made a few years before he would become a headline star for WB. He plays a machine shop worker who takes for granted that he will become his shop's new foreman because of his seniority. But when they give it to an educated young Polish-American instead, Bogie becomes resentful and angry. This leads him to joining up with a hate group known as the Black Legion, which is basically the KKK. The Black Legion has a pledge that has to be heard to be believed, so make sure you pay attention to it. Strong performance from Bogie, as well as a great supporting cast that includes Ann Sheridan, Dick Foran, Joe Sawyer, John Litel, Samuel S. Hinds, and more. A lot of people seem to pick on the movie for not being strong enough in its message, despite the fact that they can't point to any other movies from the period that were even brave enough to try this much. They did what they could do. It's a powerful movie, even if it seems watered down by today's standards. But today we aren't exactly living in the age of subtlety, are we?

Oddball curio made more oddball by the fact Humphrey Bogart is in this. Well, OK, it was early in Bogie's career, but still, mighty strange. A regular schmo is passed over for a foreman position he wants, he makes some talk about how all the American jobs are being given to foreigners. Schmo is then talked into joining a secret society to eradicate the foreigners from town! They're wearing flowing robes with hooded masks with skulls on them! But wait! They're not the Klan! They're the BLACK LEGION! Once more, it's being run by the underworld to take advantage of dumb schmos! So yeah, this one is pretty strange. Humphrey Bogart as Joe Schmoe adds to the strangeness (and makes this a bit of a guilty pleasure). See it if you can!

Fine Warners muckraking, with Bogie in an atypical good-average-Joe-gone-wrong role, as an assembly line worker in a typical middle American town who is passed over for a promotion and grows quickly to resent the smart Polish guy who got the job. This sends him into a downward spiral of despising the foreign-born, developing a narrow ideology of what constitutes a true American, and joining a frightening, Klan-like hate group to harass and scare off the immigrants. (No black people in this 1930s Anytown, but you can bet if there were, he'd be after them, too.) Bogie has to play a wide range of emotions, even breaking down and sobbing and clinging to his wife's apron strings, and while it takes a while to get used to him in this regular-guy persona, he's very good. It's a plausible story, still relevant in these days of teabaggers and Palinistas, and Bogie is ably supported by Dick Foran (as his more conscientious best friend), Erin O'Brien Moore (as his sad, increasingly desperate wife), and a young Ann Sheridan (whose character seems a bit too calm and forgiving in the final reels, considering what's been done to her loved ones). Daringly, it doesn't have a happy ending, and while there's a hokey fadeout with a judge intoning the moral of the story in one long take (as if we didn't get it already), it's a genuinely scary it-can-happen-here movie.