Take the Stand
Cast & Crew
Phil Rosen
Jack La Rue
Thelma Todd
Gail Patrick
Russell Hopton
Berton Churchill
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Because of his highly personal, insinuating columns and radio broadcasts, scandal monger George Gaylord is feared and hated by many prominent New Yorkers, including Jerome Burbank, a millionaire financier; Burbank's daughter Cornelia; Joe Reynolds, a well-known actor; Ernie Paddock, a gangster kingpin; and Percy Dale, a radio "crooner." Infuriated by Gaylord's gossipy reports, Cornelia, Paddock and Dale plead unsuccessfully with him to stop, and Paddock even tries to scare Gaylord into silence by threatening him with kidnapping. On Christmas Eve, all of Gaylord's recent targets gather at the radio station where the columnist is about to deliver a particularly damning broadcast. Ignoring the continued pleadings of his victims, Gaylord locks himself in the radio booth and begins his program. Soon after, the group hears Gaylord scream, "Don't shoot," which is followed by a gunshot. When the police arrive, they question the group and discover that while every person is carrying a gun, only Burbank's has been fired. Although detective Bill Hamilton is convinced that Gaylord was stabbed, not shot, Burbank is arrested. Disgusted by the police commissioner's determination to convict Burbank, Bill resigns from the force and agrees to help Cornelia exonerate her father, whose guilt is argued fervently in court by the district attorney. As the jury deliberates Burbank's fate, Bill suddenly declares that he has solved the mystery and leaves to gather his evidence. When he returns, he reveals to the court that Halliburton, Gaylord's journalistic rival who is in love with Sally Oxford, Gaylord's secretary, killed Gaylord. With Sally's aid, Bill reveals that Halliburton snuck into the broadcast booth, stabbed Gaylord through the neck with an icicle and then used a phonographic recording of a gunshot and an imitation of Gaylord's voice to set up Burbank. After their fingerprints are found on the recording, Sally and Halliburton confess to the murder, and Cornelia, finally free from worry, embraces Bill.
Director
Phil Rosen
Cast
Jack La Rue
Thelma Todd
Gail Patrick
Russell Hopton
Berton Churchill
Vince Barnett
Leslie Fenton
Sheila Terry
Paul Hurst
Dewitt Jennings
Bradley Page
Oscar Apfel
Richard Tucker
Arnold Gray
Edward Kane
Lew Kelly
Al Hill
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Liberty Pictures borrowed Jack La Rue and Gail Patrick from Paramount for this production. According to a Hollywood Reporter production chart, Edward Le Saint was in the cast, but his participation in the final film has not been confirmed. The Motion Picture Daily reviewer speculated that George Gaylord's character was modeled after columnist and radio celebrity Walter Winchell. Walter Winchell's real-life secretary was named Ruth Cambridge, which suggests that the film's character "Sally Oxford" was intended as a reference to Winchell.
