PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 135, 10 June 1933, Page 16

PLAZA THEATRE

“LAWYER MAN." The case of au honest young lawyer versus a big city’s politicians will be presented before Judge Public when William Powell’s latest picture lor Warner Bros., “Lawyer Man,” shows to-day and to-night for the first time, at the Plaza Theatre, with Joan Biondell playing the feminine iead. It is a new sort of story for Powell, fast-paced drama which runs a rapid gamut from ward cases on the East Side to big business cases wlwh jerk him out of his little corner of the world and deposit him in an elaborate suite of offices. But it’s drama relieved by plenty of comedy. For the first feme in the careers of either Powell or Joan Biondell, the two have been teamed in a picture, and if reports from the previewing press are to bo credited, the teaming was an inspiration. In his law practice among his own kind, Powell finds the peace and satisfaction, the drama and comedy of life, which are the natural rewards of the not overly ambitious lawyer. But when he steps out against some of the city’s biggest lawyers in cases involving more than he has ever heard of his success is too much for him. In the end. however, chiefly due to the practical and sane advice of his blonde secretary—Joan Biondell—who has stuck even when he soared into a societv that made her head swim, he is able to beat “the ring,” checkmate “the big boss,” and go back to work among his own kind, finding his satisfaction in helping the little fellow who, but for him would be at the mercy of every city wolf who wandered his way. Joan Biondell, as Powell’s leading lady, has the role of a snappy wise-cracking secretary, in which she does her best type of work. The supporting cast includes such wellknown players as Helen Vinson, who has recently made a success in pictures after a spectacular stage career; Alan Dinehart. noted on both stage and screen; Allen Jenkins. David Landau. Claire Dodd, Sheila Terry. Ann Brody and Rockcliffe Fellows. Powell plays the part of a brilliant East Side lawyer who battles his way through spectacular court trials to the front rank of his profession. The picture- carries a glowing romance and thrilling revelations of the inside workings of metropolitan political intrigues. The direction was in the capable hands of William Dieterle, the noted German actor and director, and contemporary in that country with Jannings and Lubitsch. The supporting programme is excellent.