On Trial

A financier is dead, and John Litel seems to have killed him. Will vanished wife Margareret Lindsay reappear in time to save her husband, ON TRIAL for murder? Sometimes the Warner Brothers penchant for remaking its old movies as Bs can result in something interesting, but in this case, the plot itself is way too Victorian to be convincing in 1939 dress. As a result, some of the plot twists just seem weird. The violations of judicial procedure will not only appall any lawyer, but have any amateur enthusiast of Law and Order or even Perry Mason chuckling about the absurdities.

John Litel and Margaret Lindsay turn in average performances. One would like to sic W.C. Fields on the child actor, who, alas, gets a lot of scream, er, screen, time. The direction is efficient, but no more than that.

In other words, not a bad movie, but also not a movie anyone would need to see. The original 1928 movie, however, appears to be lost.