- There are courtroom antics, and then there is Victor Scott's (Edward G. Robinson) behavior in Lewis Allen's undeservedly obscure film noir, Illegal. We're talking punching a witness in the jaw, intentionally sipping poison, and stumbling into the courtroom with a bullet in the gut, to choose just a few examples. The word "theatrical" doesn't even begin to describe his style of practicing law. Believe it or not, Scott is the hero of the piece, too, if only by virtue of being slightly less corrupt than everyone around him.
- At the film's start, it seems like everything is going Scott's way. He's a successful and popular district attorney, and his most recent conviction (of Star Trek's DeForest Kelley!) has cleared him a path directly to the governor's office. That is, until a deathbed confession reveals that Scott has railroaded the wrong man to the electric chair. In no time at all, Scott is reduced to defending his fellow drunk and disorderlies while waiting in line to receive his own sentence. To make matters worse, his adopted ward and not-so-secret love interest, a young lawyer named Ellen (Nina Foch), is off to work for the new DA while planning her wedding to an up-and-comer named Borden (Hugh Marlowe). In the meantime, Scott alternates between drinking away his problems and thinking up new ways to pull the wool over jury members' eyes.
- Before long, his creative handling of an embezzlement case earns Scott the unwanted attention of a local kingpin named Garland (Albert Dekker). Garland belongs to that refined class of criminal that hangs valuable art on the walls to distract from the presence of gunsels (Howard St. John) and molls (Jayne Mansfield). Problem is, Garland isn't one to allow job offers to go unaccepted. Pretty soon, Scott is tangled up in one of Garland's sticky situations, and it's going to take some real finagling to get him and Ellen out of this mess alive. Fortunately, finagling is a big part of Scott's modus operandi.
- I know I've said this before, but the immensely talented Edward G. Robinson was one of those invaluable actors who automatically improved every film he appeared in. Not that Illegal necessarily would have been bad without him; in fact, the writing is clever and the direction occasionally impressive, especially that long tracking shot of Scott's hurried post-poison exit from the courthouse. Still, Robinson owns the film, whether he's portraying Scott as a publicly absurd showman or a privately wounded man who communicates a lot of feeling when he issues "father's orders." Scott may claim to have no scruples, and his behavior lends some support to that claim, but Robinson actually makes you feel sorry for the guy. That's an accomplishment.
