It's easy to see why this anti-corruption drama had the working title "Mr. Justice Goes Hunting": When a Supreme Court justice John Grant (Frank Morgan, famous as the title character in The Wizard Of Oz (1939)) takes a much needed vacation hunting duck in the hinterlands of Crownport, he tumbles into a hotbed of small town law corruption: the crooked game inspector who angles for a bribe before turning him in to the town's heartless judge, the sticky-fingered mayor who's happy to have business continue as usual, and even the town barber who chisels extra quarters out of unsuspecting newcomers looking for a shave. It seems like the only honest man in town is idealistic young lawyer Bill Adams (Richard Carlson), who's fighting a Sisyphusian campaign to become the new mayor. Judge Grant takes him under his tutelage, and they fight to bring some honor to the town. In real life, screenwriter Isobel Lennart was less principled than the characters she created for the screen - a member of the Communist party in the 1930s, she later turned "friendly witness" for HUAC and pointed fingers at 21 other screenwriters, thus securing her own career in Hollywood during the Blacklist era.

By Violet LeVoit