Mr. District Attorney (1947) On DVD

From Phillips H. Lord's popular NBC radio series comes an intriguing "legal film noir" filled with double-crosses and unusual twists--starting in the opening reel when a woman is slain in her apartment to an escaped killer, and the paper prints that the alive-and-well girlfriend (Marguerite Chapman) of a local crime boss was the victim.

Columbia's MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY was the second attempt to launch a film series based on the popular radio series of the same name. Adolphe Menjou plays the title role, DA Craig Warren, though top billing is bestowed upon Dennis O'Keefe as Warren's assistant Steve Bennett. Resenting his boss' constructive criticism and presumed interference, Bennett goes astray, ultimately getting mixed up with trouble-prone Marcia Manning (Marguerite Chapman). Warren quickly realizes that Marcia is a no-good, but Bennett refuses to listen. Eventually, two men meet their deaths at Marcia's manicured hands, and by the last reel it looks as though Bennett will be third on her list. A moneyspinner upon its first release, MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY did indeed spawn a brief series, as intended.