Having searched for this title for a very long time, I was ecstatic when I was finally able to acquire a copy, taken from an albeit truncated print (courtesy of Hollywood Television Service). When Dante created his cycles, he left one out--a special place for those executives at HTS (the television arm of Republic Pictures) who, in their infinite wisdom and, compounded by a great display of bad taste, determined that many of the Republic films had to be chopped up to fit into the local TV time slots in the 1950's. Now, we're not talking films with GONE WITH THE WIND running times. We're talking 70 minute films cut to the standard 53m. Do the math!! That's about 20% of the content of the movie!! OK, enough of the rant. I just happen to be a huge fan of Republic films and have seen so many nice little B movies hacked to bits that, after 35 years of serious collecting, I have to let out the frustration. Now to the movie. SPOILERS COMING Portia Merriman is a driven woman. Driven by an all consuming passion to help the downtrodden and poor, especially women. To this end, she's quite successful in her role as a defense attorney feared by the DA's office. But she has a dark side. Some 20 years earlier, she entered into an affair with the son of one of the wealthiest industrialists in the country. The result--a son. But with nothing in the way of resources and a less than stellar pedigree, she reluctantly signs all rights to the boy over to the old man and heads into the sunset. Now, 20 years later, the boy (always told his mother was dead) is returning from England. It's not long before he meets this very nice lady at a social gathering and a strong friendship ensues. But on the boat that brought the boy is a girl who entered the country illegally and is now supposedly marrying the boy's father, a real jellyfish. But when he turns up dead, the old man decides to swing into high gear one more time, report the girl on a moral's charge, then blame her for his son's death. Soon, the hapless young lady is sitting in court charged with murder. But the old man hasn't reckoned on Portia, who this time isn't going to back down. Taking up the legal cudgels, she decides to go after the old man with a vengeance.
Frieda Inescort stars as Portia Merriman and gives a nice performance. Neil Hamilton as her wimp of a lover, Clarence Kolb as the old man (a very nice role for him) and Walter Abel as the DA--a man who secretly loves Portia himself. A solid little B which holds up well even under the surgical knife of the HTS. One can only hope that the complete copy sitting in the UCLA archives will be released--hope does spring eternal. Bob Connors (yrkconnors@yahoo.com).
Frieda Inescort stars as Portia Merriman and gives a nice performance. Neil Hamilton as her wimp of a lover, Clarence Kolb as the old man (a very nice role for him) and Walter Abel as the DA--a man who secretly loves Portia himself. A solid little B which holds up well even under the surgical knife of the HTS. One can only hope that the complete copy sitting in the UCLA archives will be released--hope does spring eternal. Bob Connors (yrkconnors@yahoo.com).