Black Legion (1937) - a dark tale about today

I was asked by a friend to check out “Black Legion” (1937) because he seemed to appreciate my movie reviews. That led me through a rabbit warren of two movies, two radio shows, one 50 page “pamphlet” written by a 1936 American communist published by The University of Texas in Austin, and lots of other people’s internet research. All of the ‘entertainment’ media was produced in that ‘36~’38 window. I appreciate being asked, but you have to be careful about fan-service folks - it can get you a second job while you aren’t looking.

1937 shows young Bogart - well before he met Baccal and before it was obvious he was going to die soon. Most consider “High Sierra” to be his star-making role, but you can see it coming here. This year also gives us a spot in the fat of the Hays Code. PCA compliant “Code” movies tend to feel either like a children’s Sunday School lesson or very simple drama / action stories. This is neither and yet both. I came in to watch unprepped thinking I was getting a noir film - I came through it with a lesson that history repeats itself, and humans are dangerous when they become mob-making scaredy cats.

I would call it “editorial” cinema. Both this and “Legion of Terror” (1936), the 1937 radio episodes of “True Detective” and ‘38 “The Shadow” were like that. They represent a point of view that says “fascists” are bad for humanity (*snort). Fascists begin because we are afraid of change and our lack of control in life. Our plans are set and the world we live in is not - and that scares us. Frightened people do desperate and scary things. They huddle together with other people who are afraid. They are nurtured and their desperate efforts flourish because morally bankrupt people in positions of power use fascism for profit as well as to remain in power. Fear sells. People even pay to be inside the fear machine - it is better to be part of a scary thing than out there getting through the fear you can’t control.

In this specific story, fascism came in the form of a real life organization called “The Black Legion” which was a splinter of the Ku Klux Klan. It was organized into jingoistic military-like structures, it had a hierarchical bureaucracy that you paid dues into, swore your allegiance to, and took your orders from. Those orders were to intimidate, assault, and destroy whoever “they” were that “are ruining your lives”. For the Black Legion, THEY were Jews, Catholics, people of color (what constituted non-white was pretty broad), people with ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ ideas, and just about anyone who for whatever reason bothered  someone in the Black Legion. The Black Legion had squads that carried out the evil jobs and squads that followed up on the evil doers to make sure they did their jobs. Their downfall came because after one of the many murders they committed someone got caught and confessed.  That is the ripped from real life plot of all of these shows.

This is not much of a movie review. As a film it was exciting and entertaining. “Black Legion” was about 83 minutes, “Legion of Terror” was just over 60, and the radio shows were under 30 minutes each. Each of them is easy to get into and they keep you with their narrative & characters. The radio program commercials were interesting - especially the part where Agnes Moorehead (“Bewitched”) tells you to call into the Blue Coal Corporation tomorrow and tell them you heard about Blue Coal from “The Shadow”. They sold the finest anthracite available.

Unfortunately, I could not stop thinking that if you shot this again in the 2020s, it could be a week in the life of whoever ‘One America News Network’ or ‘Breitbart’ says are the real patriots. If you want links to the media or the pamphlet I uncovered, let me know. If you are a reader rather than a watcher or listener - just do the pamphlet. It starts drama and morphs into a news-like research piece then goes op-ed. It is really well written.