I don’t usually issue disclaimers in my movie posts, but one is in order for This Side Of The Law. The plot involves an imposter hired to impersonate someone on the verge of being declared legally dead. That plot device requires a suspension of disbelief. I’m not usually big on suspending disbelief, but if the movie is good enough I’m willing to do so. This Side Of The Law is good enough to buy into that part of the story. Why? There’s a great villain in the movie. Great villains are a terrible thing to waste.

The movie stars Kent Smith as a man arrested for vagrancy. Robert Douglas plays a lawyer who sees Smith in court. He bails him out because he’s a dead ringer for one of Douglas’ clients, Malcolm Taylor, who has been missing for 7 years. That’s why we’re suspending disbelief, so put your suspenders on, give them a snap, and let’s discuss This Side Of The Law.

Smith’s task is to fool the missing man’s wife, brother, and femme fatale sister-in-law who is played by Janis Paige. The role is a stretch for Paige as she usually did musicals. She pulls it off with great aplomb.

Her character’s name is Nadine, so I sang a Chuck Berry song every time she came onscreen:

Nadine is a double dealing harpy. She’s in league with the Robert Douglas’ villainous lawyer character but is ready to throw him over if she can convince Smith to side with her.

Kent Smith is a stellar imposter. The missing man’s wife played by Viveca Lindfors doesn’t recognize him as a phony until the end of the movie. The script explains that away by saying that the couple disliked each other and rarely interacted after a few years of marriage. What time is it? Time to suspend disbelief.

The real star of the movie is Robert Douglas as the shyster lawyer. He comes off as a decent bloke but he’s scheming to have his way. The last thing he wants is for the real Malcolm Taylor to be declared dead: That would cut Douglas out of the lucrative estate the missing man left behind. Douglas is not about to be left out.

Douglas performs a series of dastardly deeds that I won’t describe because this feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers. Suffice it to say that every time he appeared in the last act, I changed killer to lawyer as I sang along with this tune:

Qu’est-ce que c’est.

In classic film noir fashion, the movie begins and ends with Kent Smith in a pit on the property. What’s a film noir without flashbacks? The good news is that the movie isn’t the pits. The cast rises above the low budget.

The film is directed by Richard Bare, who is best known for his TV work, including 166 episodes of Green Acres. Does that make him a Hooterville auteur? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Veteran cinematographer Carl Guthrie makes the mansion in which the film is set look properly noirish. Shooting spooky houses was his jam. He later shot House On Haunted Hill.

Grading Time: I give This Side Of The Law 3 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B. It can be seen on the TCM Now app and on the YouTube.

This Side Of The Law was such a low budget film that most of the posters and lobby cards for this black and white movie are in black and white, not color.

We begin with side-by-side American and Dutch long sheets:

It’s time to pretend to be someone else and go to the lobby to see who’s willing to suspend disbelief.

In the lobby, we discovered that the lobby cards are in black and white. Oops, I already said that. Never mind.

Let’s exit the lobby and board the trailer:

I like the movie more than Eddie Muller as you’ll see in a second.

The last word goes to Elvis Costello and the Attractions: