Movies
State’s Attorney (RKO 1931, John Barrymore, Jill Esmond)
In State’s Attorney John Barrymore plays a D.A. who rose from reform school to law school. After first representing crime boss William Boyd, he turns over a new leaf and wins Twelvetrees’s affections. But his new position as D.A. leads to a run-in with his old boss.
State’s Attorney is based on the story of real life New York criminal attorney William J. Fallon, whose nickname was ‘Broadway’s Cicero.’ Fallon defended 126 homicides without a single conviction and saved more than 50 people from execution.
production details
USA | RKO | 79 minutes | 1932
Director: George Archainbaud
Script: Rowland Brown, Gene Fowler, Louis Stevens,
cast
John Barrymore as Tom Cardigan
Ralph Ince as Second Trial Defense Attorney
Jill Esmond as Lillian Ulrich
Oscar Apfel as Mr. Ulrich
Paul Hurst as Police Captain Morgan
Helen Twelvetrees as June Perry
William ‘Stage’ Boyd as Valentine ‘Vanny’ Powers (as William Boyd)
Mary Duncan as Nora Dean
Albert Conti as Mario
Frederick Burton as Second Trial Judge
C. Henry Gordon as Attorney Graves
Blanche Friderici as Night Court Judge (uncredited)