Man of the People
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Edwin L. Marin
Joseph Calleia
Florence Rice
Thomas Mitchell
Ted Healy
Catharine Doucet
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the day that Jack Moreno sets up his law practice in New York's Little Italy, society girl Abbey Reid accidentally hits a neighborhood child with her car. Though the child is not hurt, Abbey feels faint after the incident, and Jack invites her to a party in his honor. As the weeks pass, Jack's practice languishes and he soon is visited by Joe "The Glut" Dwire, an underling of district ward boss William J. Grady. When Joe tells Jack that he can't survive without Grady's help, Jack refuses and says that he is his own man. When Joe later tells this to Grady, Grady decides to pressure Jack by seeing to it that he loses all of his cases. Finally realizing that he cannot survive alone, Jack decides to accept Grady's "help," and his practice soon prospers. Meanwhile, Abbey and a society admirer, Edward Spetner, attend a dinner party at which Edward's father Carter offers stock in a company called La Paz that is marketing a device that purportedly can find gold. When she becomes bored with Edward's talk on the machine, Abbey sneaks away and invites Jack out. When they meet at a Russian restaurant he likes, they begin to fall in love. The next day, unknown to Abbey or Jack, Carter Spetner goes to visit Grady, an old business acquaintance, who promises to help Spetner sell stock in La Paz. Soon, when people in the neighborhood begin buying shares, Jack becomes suspicious. When he assumes a position as assistant district attorney, which he has gotten through Grady's political help, Jack is angry that his boss, Stringer, refuses to allow him to investigate phony securities cases. A short time later, when Ice Wagon, a known criminal, is tried for first degree murder, Jack refuses to reduce the charge, thus angering Grady, who secretly decides to get rid of him. At the ward picnic, Abbey comes with Jack, who anticipates that Grady will announce that Jack is his candidate for District attorney in the next election. Instead of announcing Jack, however, Grady endorces his crony, Joseph B. Murphy. Jack then jumps up on the podium, resigns his job and announces himself as an independent ticket candidate who will expose local corruption. The crowd is against Jack, however, and only Joe and Abbey stay by him. During the campaign, hecklers and agitators disrupt all of Jack's speeches. On election day, Grady follows a "bearded man" strategy, whereby he bribes beared men to vote three times: once with full beard, once with a moustache and once clean-shaven, and Murphy wins. Abbey goes to see Jack that night and they realize they are in love, but he is despondent because he is ruined and an honest man has lost to criminals. Just then, Jack gets a telegram from the governor congratulating him on his defeat and asking him to head a unit to investigate phony securities. "The Moreno Commission" is successful, then, when Abbey learns that Jack will be investigating La Paz, she asks him to get off the case because her mother is on the board. He refuses, and she angrily leaves. At the hearings, Jack successfully uses magnets to prove that the La Paz gold machine is a scam, then leaves the commission, certain that he has lost Abbey forever. He then returns to his old neighborhood to practice law and enthusiastically goes to the Russian Restaurant when Abbey calls him to meet her there.
Director
Edwin L. Marin
Cast
Joseph Calleia
Florence Rice
Thomas Mitchell
Ted Healy
Catharine Doucet
Paul Stanton
Jonathan Hale
Robert Emmett Keane
Jane Barnes
William Ricciardi
Noel Madison
Soledad Jiminez
Edward Nugent
Donald Briggs
Clarence Wilson
Heinie Conklin
Frank Reicher
Selmer Jackson
Charles Trowbridge
Russ Powell
Eddie Dunn
Claire Dubrey
Jack Baxley
Genaro Spagnoli
Hector Sarno
Agostino Borgato
Walter Soderling
Marty Faust
Frank Bruno
Nina Campana
Ines Palange
Belle Mitchell
Eddie Shubert
Earl Seaman
Hal Cooke
Al Herman
Edward Lesaint
William Worthington
Frank H. Larue
Charles King
Harry Lash
Louis Natheaux
Don Brody
Dick Kipling
Clark Marshall
Sherry Hall
Alonzo Price
Mary Loos
Lee Phelps
Claudia Coleman
Wilson Benge
Harry B. Stafford
Phillips Smalley
Hank Mann
John Ardizoni
Polly Bailey
General Savitsky
Constantine Romanoff
Budd Fine
Paul Newland
Edwin J. Brady
Pat Moriarity
Jimmy O'gatty
Richard Cramer
Drew Demorest
Ivar Mcfadden
Ernest Morrelli
Frank Marlowe
Lauretta Parillo
Ray Cooke
James Quinn
Elsie Wicks
Mimi Lawler
Nick Copeland
Ernie Adams
Crew
Tom Andre
Charles [g.] Clarke
Frank Dolan
Cedric Gibbons
William S. Gray
Lucien Hubbard
Eddie Imazu
Douglas Shearer
Edward Ward
Edwin B. Willis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some reviews noted a preview running time of either 85 or 86 minutes for the film. The working title of the picture was To the Victor. The Motion Picture Herald review and the Call Bureau Cast Service incorrectly refer to Joseph Calleia's character as "Joe" rather than "Jack." According to news items in Hollywood Reporter and Motion Picture Herald, a plagiarism suit was filed against M-G-M and screenwriter Frank Dolan by Henry Rose. Rose's suit claimed that the film plagiarized his play Burrow, Burrow. The suit was settled in January 1939. Although no details on the amount of the settlement have been located, an additional news item in April 1939 noted that Henry M. Schiffer, an agent for Rose and his attorney, George E. Carmody, had filed suit against them for ten percent of the settlement. The outcome of that suit has not been determined.
