{"id":49037,"date":"2020-06-16T12:21:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T19:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49037"},"modified":"2020-11-27T12:22:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T19:22:49","slug":"black-legion-1937","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49037","title":{"rendered":"Black Legion (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;What this country needs is bigger and better patriots!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-49038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Poster.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA factory worker (Humphrey Bogart) upset that an anticipated promotion has gone to his bookish co-worker (Henry Brandon) is recruited by a colleague (Joe Sawyer) to join an undercover society called the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Legion_(political_movement)\">Black Legion<\/a>, and soon finds himself involved in increasingly violent hate crimes. When his wife (Erin O&#8217;Brien-Moore) and son (Dickie Jones) leave him, he is consoled by the former girlfriend (Helen Flint) of his friend Ed (Dick Foran), who is now engaged to the sympathetic daughter (Ann Sheridan) of an older colleague (Clifford Soubier).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ann Sheridan Films<\/li>\n<li>Humphrey Bogart Films<\/li>\n<li>Marital Problems<\/li>\n<li>Racism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis chilling social drama provides an invaluable if white-washed look at an Ohio-based, KKK-inspired hyper-&#8220;patriotic&#8221; secret organization which at one time may have had a membership as high as 135,000. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Legion_(political_movement)\">Wikipedia&#8217;s article<\/a>, the Black Legion was &#8220;largely made up of native-born, working-class, Protestant white men in the Midwest [who] feared the rapid social changes underway and resented competition with immigrants such as Italians and Jews and migrants in the industrial economy of major cities such as Detroit.&#8221; (Their enemies list &#8220;included all immigrants, Catholics, Jews and blacks, nontraditional Protestant faiths, labor unions, farm cooperatives and various fraternal groups&#8221;.) As in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1092\"><em>Storm Warning<\/em> (1951)<\/a> &#8212; based on a Broadway play about the KKK &#8212; no specific mention is made about anti-black racism; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2529gang.html\">DVD Savant adds that<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The avoidance of the race issue puts the movie in the same category as the late-40s social protest movie <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=39687\"><em>Crossfire<\/em><\/a>, which was compelled to substitute a Jew for its homosexual victim. Standing up for the rights of blacks was something that movies just didn&#8217;t do in the middle of the 1930s. Yet both movies were successful in that they opened the door to public discussion about civil rights and civil liberties.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s highly disconcerting to see a would-be protagonist like Bogart so easily caught up in murderous, cowardly behavior &#8212; which I suppose is exactly the point. We&#8217;re meant to be shocked and horrified by what we see carried out here, and we are. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Humphrey Bogart as Frank Taylor<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-1024x660.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"413\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-49041\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-1024x660.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-128x83.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-768x495.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart-1536x991.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Bogart.png 1611w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some powerfully disturbing imagery and themes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-1024x631.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"394\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-49040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-1024x631.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-300x185.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-128x79.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-768x473.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2-1536x946.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Black-Legion-Still2.png 1693w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a one-time look. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0027367\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/68894\/black-legion#articles-reviews?articleId=31528\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=11330&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2529gang.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll down)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1937\/01\/18\/archives\/the-screen-the-strands-black-legion-is-an-eloquent-editorial-on.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What this country needs is bigger and better patriots!&#8221; Synopsis: A factory worker (Humphrey Bogart) upset that an anticipated promotion has gone to his bookish co-worker (Henry Brandon) is recruited by a colleague (Joe Sawyer) to join an undercover society called the Black Legion, and soon finds himself involved in increasingly violent hate crimes. When his wife (Erin O&#8217;Brien-Moore) and son (Dickie Jones) leave him, he is consoled by the former girlfriend (Helen Flint) of his friend Ed (Dick Foran),&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49037\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49037"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55309,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037\/revisions\/55309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}