Lawyer Man is a 1932 film directed by William Dieterle.
Anton Adam (William Powell) is a New York lawyer. He's a man of the people, taking as clients poor folks and immigrants from Manhattan's Lower East Side. He runs a solo practice, helped only by his loyal secretary, Olga (Joan Blondell). Olga is in love with Anton but, since this is the movies, he hasn't noticed.
Anton wins a big case against a fancy white shoe law firm. The lawyer he beat, one Granville Bentley, is impressed enough to take Anton on as a partner. Just like that, Anton and Olga are moving up in the world. Bentley's sister, Barbara, starts making romantic gestures towards Anton, but Anton starts dating Broadway actress Virginia St. Johns. Olga does not like this, not at all.
Meanwhile, the idealistic Anton starts butting heads with corrupt political boss John Gilmurry. Gilmurry tries to recruit Anton into his machine but Anton refuses. As it turns out, Anton has made enemies, and those enemies have laid a trap.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Law: Just how is Anton, a defense lawyer, going up against "corporation lawyer" Granville Bentley in court? Why is Anton, a defense lawyer, fighting against Gilmurry's political machine?
- Book Ends: Anton is walking around the overcrowded streets of his neighborhood at the beginning, and he's right back there at the end, having left government work to return to private practice.
- Breach of Promise of Marriage: Virginia hires Anton to sue her old boyfriend/sugar daddy, Dr. Frank Gresham, for breaching a promise of marriage. Gresham, a doctor who works for the city, just happens to be a member of Gilmurry's machine.
- The Bus Came Back: Levine, the client that Anton saves from jail in an early scene, comes to Anton's home near the end, working as a hit man for the mob.
- Clear My Name: Anton feels strongly about this and is upset when his fraud trial ends in a hung jury and not the acquittal he deserves.
- Double Take: Anton sees the ice man on his rounds and asks "How's the ice business?" The ice man says "Not so hot!" Anton nods absently and then does a double take as he wonders if that was a joke.
- Establishing Character Moment: The opening scenes show Anton as a real salt-of-the-earth type, a guy who runs his practice in a seedy tenement district and who is friends with all the various creeds and ethnicities of New York.
- Exploding Calendar: Shows the passage of time during Anton's fraud trial.
- Face–Heel Turn:
- Not only does Anton's girlfriend Virginia get back with Frank Gresham, they connive together to destroy Anton's career.
- Seemingly played straight when Anton, whose honesty and incorruptibility nearly got him thrown in jail, decides to be as sleazy and crooked as people like Gresham or Gilmurry, so he can rise back to the top. It turns out that it's all a long con on Anton's part to bring down Gresham once and for all.
- Gave Up Too Soon: Gilmurry, facing a lawsuit from Anton and his client and fearing a $50,000 judgment, settles the case with Anton for $30K. Gilmurry gets upset when a juror filing out of the courtroom tells him that they would have voted for his acquittal.
- Leg Focus: Anton gawks at the shapely calves of a woman getting her shoes shined. It turns out to be Olga.
- Meet Cute: When Anton first meets Barbara, he thinks she's Mrs. Cooley, a client of the firm's who shot her husband.
- Oblivious to Love: Anton takes way, way too long to figure out that Olga is desperately in love with him.
- Running Gag: Anton's inordinate fondness for looking at women's butts. He's distracted by the rear ends of some attractive ladies walking by on the street, he stares at the rear ends of some completely different women in the bar, and he positions the statue of Justice on his desk so that the statue is always facing away from him.
- Stealing from the Till: It turns out that Anton's arch enemy Dr. Gresham, who works for the city, has been embezzling funds by making up fake patients and submitting fake bills. Anton sends him to jail.
- Title Drop: A small boy says to Powell, "Someday Mr. Lawyer Man, I'm going to be a big shot and go uptown."
- Video Credits: All the players shown in video credits over the opening titles, as was Warner Brothers house style at the time.
- Visual Innuendo: As Anton is leaving with the attractive Virginia, he sees Olga making shearing gestures with some large scissors, as if she's going to chop off part of Anton. Presumably a sensitive part.
