Black Legion

I mentioned in my review of Terror in the City of Champions that even though I grew up in Michigan, I had never heard of the Black Legion, a Klan-like group that held sway for a few years during the '30s. It was a big deal back then, but no one remembers them now. Well, they made a movie about it, and it was also a big deal--it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay and won the National Board of Review's Best Film of 1937. But it too has faded from memory.

It is most notable for being the first starring role for Humphrey Bogart. He had made a splash the year before in a supporting role in The Petrified Forest as Duke Mantee, a brutish criminal. That film was directed by Archie Mayo, who also directs here. This time Bogart plays a family man who works in a machine shop. He is sure he's going to get a promotion, but it goes to a man named Dombrowski. Enraged, Bogart is inducted into the Black Legion, a secret society that wants America to be "One hundred percent Americans" only.

The Legion burns down Dombrowski's house and put him on a freight train out of town. They create mayhem everywhere, but do not kill anyone, unlike the real Black Legion. Also, "foreigners" in this film are white Catholics from Ireland or Eastern Europe--there is no mention or sight of blacks or Jews. I guess 1937 was too soon to bring up those issues.

Warner Brothers, who made the film, put out a lot of message films in those days, and it was one of many that were anti-fascist. Bogart ends up killing someone and while on the witness stand confesses, pointing out the other members in the courtroom, a dramatic moment. At the end, a wise judge instructs us on the meaning of the Constitution. We still need that judge.

Black Legion also, whether intentionally or not, points out how silly these societies are. When Bogart goes to his first meeting the man taking him in has a secret knock. Bogart chuckles at this. The men wear robes (they have to buy them, as well as buying a gun for $14.95). There's a scene in which the leaders go over the money they've made, and we can see that it's a financial opportunity for them as much as a political one. The robes remind me of Woody Allen's joke about meeting the Grand Wizard of the Klan: "You could tell he was the leader. He was wearing a contour sheet."

Bogart, as always, is terrific, as is Erin O'Brien-Moore as his wife, who sees the changes in him as he  becomes embittered by hate. It's a powerful film.