The New Pictures

Counsellor at Law (Universal). George Simon (John Barrymore) is a talented criminal lawyer, happy in his profession but less fortunate in his home life. This set of circumstances provokes him, before the picture is over, to make a suicidal dash for the window of his deluxe office. A conservative rival has threatened to have him disbarred for framing an alibi for a petty thief ten years before. Simon has thwarted this move by discovering the rival's mistress and illegitimate child but his triumph is spoiled by the actions of Mrs. Simon (Doris Kenyon). Instead of staying with her husband in the crisis of his career, she has boarded a boat for Europe. Moreover, when Lawyer Simon, sitting alone in his dark office, telephones the pier to tell her his good news, he learns she is not traveling alone. As he throws open his window, Lawyer Simon hears a noise behind him. It is his faithful secretary (Bebe Daniels). A moment later the telephone rings with news of a new case. He does not jump.

A full-length portrait, done with all the emphasis on unity of time and place that is currently in fashion, Counsellor at Law shows its subject against a single background, the glittering onyx and aluminum offices of Simon & Tedesco (Onslow Stevens). Playwright Elmer Rice, who adapted his own successful play, surrounded his study of Lawyer Simon with sketches of his associates and friends. Old Mrs. Simon wobbles into her son's office at odd moments, chattering in dialect. Lawyer Simon's stepchildren are nasty urchins who despise him for an illbred Jew. His secretary worships him. Not so a fervent young Communist (Vincent Sherman) with a broken head who convincingly berates Lawyer Simon as a traitor to his class. The only flaw to be found in John Barrymore's gothically elaborate characterization of a dramatic personage in a forceful, facile story is the fact that he never for an instant seems to be the Jew he is supposed to be. Good shot: a plaintively self-conscious clerk inviting Lawyer Simon's secretary out to lunch.

The Women in His Life (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Like George Simon in Counsellor at Law, the hero of this picture, Ernest Barringer (Otto Kruger), is a criminal lawyer. However, if the two were arguing a case, the odds would be on Simon. Barringer has quick wits but he is a sentimentalist and a solitary drinker. These faults lead him into easily imagined predicaments. When a young girl (Irene Hervey) requests him to defend her father for killing her stepmother, Barringer glances at a photograph of the stepmother and utters a low neurotic moan. She is his onetime wife, whose portrait, for a decade, he has kept among the bottles in his desk. By the time he is ready to organize his defense, the girl's father has been twice tried and condemned to death. He is in the death house at Sing Sing and it is only by pointing a revolver at the real murderer, a gangster who first stole Mrs. Barringer's affections, that Barringer saves his client's life with only 20 seconds to spare.

In extra-legal matters also, Lawyer Barringer is no match for his cinema confrere. His office is less shiny, his secretary (Una Merkel) less mature, his scout and handy man (Raymond Hatton) less sly. For pleasure, Lawyer Simon likes a trip to Europe, but Lawyer Barringer goes to Miami, frequents greyhound races. Kruger acts as well as Barrymore but The Women in His Life lacks the cleverness and impact of Counsellor at Law. Good sound: Barringer's voice, hoarse with pneumonia and emotion, when he wakes up in a hospital after a drunken visit to the grave of his onetime wife.

If I Were Free (RKO). In the current revival of law in the cinema, Gordon Evers (Clive Brook) in If I Were Free, qualifies for a peculiar niche. He is not a daring semi-shyster like George Simon and Ernest Barringer. He is a London barrister in wig or silk hat. He has no office. But, like the others, he does have an unhappy love life and a thirst.

At the beginning of If I Were Free Barrister Evers is drowning himself in liquor in Paris. After his friend Hector Stribling (Henry Stephenson) introduces him to Sarah Casenove (Irene Dunne) his condition improves. Evers and Sarah go back to London where she opens an antique shop and he wins a case or two. Then more troubles set in. Sinister Tono Casenove (Nils Asther) appears to blackmail Sarah. Stingy Mrs. Evers (Lorraine MacLean) refuses to give Gordon a divorce. Gossip that threatens to undo Evers' legal practice makes Sarah Casenove think that she must desert him. To top it all, Evers, with a war-bullet in his chest, discovers that he has only six more months to live. The results of surgery in If I Were Free correspond with those of gun play in The Women in His Life, the final telephone call in Counsellor at Law. Good shot: Clive Brook's one gay moment, when he throws coins to a beggar and advises him to spend the afternoon begetting children.

Should Ladies Behave (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). When the fiance (William Janney) of cunning little Leone Merrick (Mary Carlisle) tells her that she lacks sophistication, the consequences of his naivete are fearful. Leone makes kittenish advances to Max Lawrence (Conway Tearle), the middle-aged lover of her Aunt Winkie (Katharine Alexander). When Aunt Winkie, Leone, Geoffrey and Max arrive at the Merrick's country house for a weekend, Leone's parents, Laura (Alice Brady) and grouchy old Augustus (Lionel Barrymore) are drawn into the picture. Laura mistakes Max Lawrence for a man with whom she spent a happy night before her marriage. A gay, trivial, skillfully situated matrimonial comedy derived from last season's play The Vinegar Tree, Should Ladies Behave is most amusing when it shows two of the best dramatic actors in the U. S. cinema spreading their talents thickly upon slapstick scenes. Samples: Lionel Barrymore eating a cold duck with indigestive grunts; Alice Brady fluttering in unjustified anticipation when Max Lawrence tells her he is planning to elope.

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