Edgar Allan Pooh . . . (or double Scotch, to be perfectly accurate) just because he learns that he's fried a totally innocent man, "Edward Clary." Without Scott's ludicrous over-reaction to his everyday American occurrence, and his subsequent life-altering decisions, ILLEGAL would lose its plot. But polls consistently have shown since the early 1800s that Death Penalty Blue State voters willingly accept a 10% margin of error on Capital Punishment (as long as the innocent victims are NOT immediate family members), with the Confederate State residents perfectly fine with up to 30% of Death Row being in actuality Not Guilty (relatives or not). The prevailing logic among all Death Staters is that nearly 100% of those fried are either mentally ill, or they sport I.Q.s under 100 (with many of those knocked off by the government falling into BOTH of these categories). So all those folks who gather at the Death Prison gates for their recurring thrill of seeing the lights going dim (which elicits their loud "Hurrahs!") could care less whether or not a random innocent has been railroaded into a coerced "confession," since another murder case has been "cleared" with "closure," and Society needs to get rid of as many of these patsy leeches as it can, anyway. That's why there's not a peep of protest against the Death Penalty nowadays, even as Project Innocence exonerated its 417th Death Row inmate yesterday. Squeamish Victor Scott must think he's living in Sweden or something.

gordonl56 ILLEGAL - 1955Illegal is the second remake of the 1932 film, THE MOUTHPIECE. Here, Warner's lets W.R. Burnett (The Asphalt Jungle)punch up the story and move it up to the 50's.Edward G. Robinson plays a slick D.A. who wins far more cases than he loses. He wins a big one and decides it is time to run for higher office. This idea goes south when the man he sent to the chair, turns out to be innocent. Robinson resigns and takes to the bottle in a big way.One day, after spending a night in the drunk tank, Robinson helps a man, Jay Adler, beat a murder beef. He decides to dry out and open up a civil practice. He is soon in demand with all the wrong people. Mobster, Albert Dekker hires him to get various mob types off.Nina Foch, a friend from his D.A. days is not amused with Robinson's working for the "dark side". The new D.A. Edward Platt, is sure that Robinson must have a source inside the D.A.s office. Platt is sure that the source is Miss Foch. Actually, it is Foch's husband, Hugh Marlowe. Marlowe got in deep with the mob over a large gambling debt. He is paying the debt off by feeding Dekker info on cases.This arrangement soon ends when wife Foch learns the truth. She ends up shooting hubby Marlowe when he tries to silence her. D.A. Platt, believes that Foch had murdered Marlowe to stop "him" from informing on Foch. She is charged with murder.Robinson quickly steps up and takes her case. Needless to say no one believes a word that Foch says. Robinson digs around and comes up with a witness to Dekker and Marlowe being in cahoots. Dekker is not the least bit amused with this, and sends a hit-man to deep six Robinson. Robinson survives the attack and presents his witness, Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield coughs up more than enough evidence to get Foch off and mobster Dekker in deep trouble.A quite watchable film noir with Robinson as usual, giving a reliable performance. Foch, Marlowe and Dekker are also good. The hourglass figured Mansfield, in her first billed role, seems to spend all her limited screen time leaning her upper-works into the camera.The director here, Lewis Allen is in good form as well. His other film noir include, SUDDENLY, DESERT FURY, A BULLET FOR JOEY, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER and CHICAGO DEADLINE. The sharp looking film was shot by veteran cinematographer, Pev Marley. The two time, Oscar nominated Marley's work, includes, THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS, LIFE WITH FATHER, PRIDE OF THE MARINES, DRUMBEAT and KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE.

zardoz-13 This innocuous black & white 1955 juristic crime melodrama is more entertaining than realistic. Edward G. Robinson plays a district attorney with political aspirations who sends the wrong man to the electric chair and never recovers from the experience. Clearly, the message here is that the death penalty is flawed. "Illegal" is the second remake of "The Mouthpiece" (1932) with Warren William originating the role of the aggressive district attorney that Robinson would play. The first remake was "The Man Who Talked Too Much" (1940) with George Brent and Brenda Marshall. Our ambitious protagonist, Victor Scott (Edward G. Robinson of "Little Caesar") turns into a lush and then recovers and goes to work for a crime syndicate boss. As it turns out, someone is acting as a pipeline out of the District Attorney's office, and D.A. Ralph Ford (Edward Platt of "Rebel Without a Cause") suspects that the guilty party may be none other than Ellen Miles (Nina Foch of "Prison Ship"), a woman who works in the office. It doesn't help matters that Ellen shot and killed her husband Ray Borden (Hugh Marlowe of "Birdman of Alcatraz") and accuses him of leaking information.Naturally, Ford believes that she is defaming the reputation of her murdered husband to keep herself from frying in the chair. Victor Scott (Edward G. Robinson of "Little Caesar") decides to defend Ellen because he put her through school and got her a job in the D.A.'s office. Scott is as shrewd as they come and doesn't mind stooping to pull a trick or two to keep his clients out of stir. The best scene involves a poisoning case that gets thrown out because Scott gulps some of the poison and survives. Of course, in a real situation, this desperate bid for victory would be challenged by somebody, but remember this is a movie. Our hero fends off too many questions and goes into hiding where a nurse and doctor are prepared to administer an antidote. Another good has Robinson confronting his successor in the D.A.'s Office and pointing out that every idea that Ford has is an idea that Scott has already had. Albert Dekker is satisfactory as a mobster chieftain and Jayne Mansfield makes her cinematic debut as one of the mobster's gals who answers the phone for him. Jan Merlin is terrific as a skull-faced gunsel who knocks off people for Dekker. The W.R. Burnett & James Webb screenplay contains several memorable lines of dialogue. "Desert Fury" director Lewis Allen keeps the action moving along rather nicely despite its formulaic plotting. "Waltons'" grandmother Ellen Corby plays Scott's secretary. Oh, yes, the poor schmuck who burns in the chair is none other than Deforest Kelly.

JLRMovieReviews Edward G. Robinson stars in this remake of "The Mouthpiece," with Warren William. Edward is a d.a. who has a way with his juries and is very showy in a courtroom and dramatic in his closing arguments, making him very effective in getting his point across and "getting his man" behind bars. But, he finds out he has sent an innocent man to the death penalty, a minute too late. When he discovers this, he quits, only to use his tactics in being a defense lawyer. He always seems to find a loophole in the system that would allow him to get his man off.Enter Albert Dekker, who needs his help, but Albert is a rich bad guy and Edward tries to convince him he's not for sale. Nina Foch is very good as an assistant in the d.a.'s office who has always loved Edward, but when he tells her it's no soap and tells her to marry good friend Hugh Marlowe, she does.All these plots come together in this tight, well-acted, engrossing crime drama and courtroom drama. Watch this and you'll see why Edward G. Robinson isn't just remembered for "Rico" in "Little Caesar," but as one of Hollywood's versatile actors. If you've never heard of Edward G. Robinson, you're in for a treat, see.