The Talk Of The Town - George Stevens
This unsuspectingly simple plot turns out to be very interesting. This is primarily due to the zippy and funny dialogue.
The whole opening of the story is told through quick flashes of scenes and newspaper articles. A factory burns down and a man called Leopold is blamed for it.
There is a casualty due to the fire and they are after the death penalty. So Leopold escapes jail – yet his trial hasn’t even begun yet.
During his flight he comes across a house, Nora Shelley’s. She takes pity on him and hides him in the attic.
Then another man arrives, a professor of law, who has rented the house for the summer. This quickly becomes a comedy – though modern audiences may not recognize it as such.
Leopold snores loudly and Nora has to take the blame for it to keep him hidden. Many similar things happen. She gets herself hired as a cook and secretary for the professor so she can stay at the house and keep Leopold hidden.
We quickly learn that the Professor is going to be appointed to the Supreme Court. This raises the stakes for all involved as he cannot be seen as a criminal.
Leopold pretends to be the gardener and he and the professor have many discussions about the case. The professor is on the side of the law until Nora gets him out to a baseball game.
At the game the professor meets the judge of the case – not a coincidence – Nora knew he would be there. The judge tells the professor of Leopold’s guild and the professor is shocked.
Many events tip off the locals to Leopold being at Nora’s house and this leads to the Professor having to lie to protect all three of them when he finds out Leopold’s true identity.
The professor gets involved with the case at this point and is convinced of Leopold’s innocence and refuses to see justice miscarried. He finds out that the man who supposedly died in the fire is alive.
He also learns that this man was in league with the owner of the factory to get the insurance money and this all comes and Leopold is freed.
These hilarious events are well-constructed and believable. The dialogue is great. I highly recommend it for an easy-to-follow film with some great performances.
