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6.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Trial of Mary Dugan remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do and you actually like seeing how movies used to work when sound was brand new, The Trial of Mary Dugan is worth a look. People who want explosions or fast cutting will absolutely hate this thing. It's basically a filmed play. If you like courtroom dramas where someone yells "I object!" every five minutes, you'll be fine.
Norma Shearer is Mary. She's a showgirl accused of killing her sugar daddy. She spends most of the movie looking like she’s about to have a total breakdown. It’s very 1929. Everyone talks like they are trying to be heard in the back row of a theater because they probably were.
The whole thing takes place in the courtroom. Every. Single. Second. It makes the movie feel very small, like you are stuck in there with them. I found myself looking at the background actors more than the main ones after a while. There is one guy in the jury who looks like he’s genuinely falling asleep.
Then Jimmy shows up. Jimmy is Mary's brother and he's played by Raymond Hackett. He’s a brand new lawyer and he just decides to take over the case because the other guy is doing a bad job. Is that even legal? Probably not, but it makes the movie move faster.
Jimmy’s style is... well, it's a lot. He walks around and waves his hands and acts like he's in a different movie than everyone else. He has this energy that’s almost annoying but you kind of need it because the first half is so slow. It's way more theatrical than The Great Divide which came out around the same time.
There is this one scene where they bring out the mannequin to show where the stab wounds were. It is super creepy looking. The way the camera just stares at it for a beat too long made me feel uncomfortable. 🫨
Norma Shearer does this thing with her eyes where she looks up at the ceiling whenever she’s sad. It happens like ten times. You can tell she was still figuring out how to act for a microphone instead of just a silent camera. It’s not bad, just very dramatic.
I noticed the sound is really hiss-y too. That's expected for 1929 I guess. Sometimes you can hear the actors footsteps and it’s louder than their voices. It reminds me of those weird audio gaps in The Silent Flyer.
The prosecutor is played by Lewis Stone and he is actually pretty good. He’s much more restrained than the brother. He just sits there looking smug while Mary cries. He has this very sharp mustache that looks like it could poke an eye out.
There’s a testimony toward the end that changes everything. It feels a bit like a cheat? Like the movie just decided it was time to wrap things up. But the way the witness reacts is actually pretty chilling. It’s the one moment where the movie feels like a real thriller and not just a stage production.
I wonder if people in 1929 thought this was the peak of realism. To us now, it looks like a bunch of people in a box. But there's something about the way Norma Shearer delivers her lines. She really believes it. Even when the script is a bit clunky, she's giving it 110%.
If you've seen Fools and Their Money, you know how these early MGM films love their high-society drama. This is just the legal version of that. It’s all about reputations and who was sleeping with who.
The ending is very abrupt. One person gets blamed, everyone cheers, and then it’s just... over. No wrap up. No scene of them going home. Just a big "The End" over a silent screen. 🎥
It's not a masterpiece. But it’s a good time capsule. You get to see a huge star like Shearer at the very start of the sound era. Just don't expect it to be Law & Order. It's much messier than that.
The trial itself feels very unfair too. If I was on trial for murder, I definitely wouldn't want my kid brother who just graduated to be my lawyer. But hey, it works for the movies.
One more thing—the way they talk about the "showgirl life" is so scandalous for the time. They keep mentioning her "apartments" and "jewelry" like it's the most shocking thing ever. It’s funny how much things have changed. Or maybe they haven't. 🤷♂️
IMDb 6.5
1928
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