The Lawyer's Secret (1931)
Directors:
Louis J. Gasnier, Max Marcin
Writers:
Lloyd Corrigan, James Hilary Finn (story)
Stars:
Clive Brook, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen
Sailor Joe Hart, who is spending his shore leave at a gambling joint, sells his gun to young Laurie Roberts after losing terribly. After Hart again loses his last dime, he leaves the joint and steals a car in order to return to his ship. Later that night, a tough gambler named "The Weasel" convinces Laurie, who also lost badly, that Baldy, the joint's owner, is crooked, and they both return to the joint to break open the safe. During the holdup, The Weasel kills Baldy with Joe's gun and, after being picked up for speeding, Joe is arrested for murder. When Laurie arrives home late, his sister Kay, who is engaged to attorney Drake Norris, asks Drake to warn Laurie against running with the wrong crowd. Under strict attorney's confidence, Laurie confesses his part in Baldy's murder to Drake, who warns him he that could go to jail. Joe's girl friend, Beatrice Stevens, then arrives to clear Joe's name, but Joe is tried and sentenced to hang. Beatrice asks Drake to represent Joe in the appeal trial, but Drake mysteriously declines the case. When Kay promises Beatrice to appeal to Drake, he is forced to reveal that he has been taken into a client's confidence regarding the Baldy murder. Laurie then enters and assumes Drake has told all to Kay, thus exposing himself as the client whom Drake is protecting. Kay refuses to expose her brother, and although Drake urges Laurie to step forward, he also refuses. Drake reveals all except his client's name to the district attorney, hoping for a governor's pardon for Joe. When Joe loses his appeal with another lawyer, his sailor friends, Al and Red, who were with him the night of the murder, kidnap the nightclub's doorman, Tom, and, after interrogating him, learn that The Weasel threatened his life the day after the murder. The governor, meanwhile, refuses to intercede on Joe's behalf, and he is transferred to a death cell to await execution at dawn the next day. That night, Drake, who has stayed away from the Roberts' home, visits and urges Laurie one last time to confess. Al and Red then trick The Weasel into entering the Roberts' house, where he runs into Laurie, who accuses him of the murder. Beatrice then enters with Tom, who identifies Laurie as the man who bought Joe's gun. At the trial, The Weasel is sentenced to hang and Laurie gets a few years in state prison. As Laurie exits the courtroom, Joe thanks him.
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