Borrowed Hero

Borrowed Hero is a basic concept unsuccessfully stretched out to feature length. Because of that it spends far too much time padding the length with sequences that try to add awkward and unfunny humor while trying to build up some character relationships. This can work in the right hands but director Lewis D. Collins is not that person. Collins was more well known for his westerns beginning in the mid-1920s as well as schlock like His Private Secretary, an early John Wayne film before he became The Duke. The problems with Borrowed Hero are numerous, not just the poor use of humor, but that is perhaps the most egregious and obvious one. 

The basic premise is lawyer Roger Andrews (Alan Baxter) happens to be in the right place at the right time, tripping up gangster Dixie Nelson (Richard Terry), while he is fleeing the police. When his story is over-sensationalized by the newspapers, including one that employs Ann Thompson (Florence Rice), Roger is offered a position as prosecutor against Dixie. But there is a spy in the prosecutor’s office and damning evidence that disappears right out from underneath Roger’s nose. With Ann’s help, Roger will have to try something desperate to keep Dixie from getting back out on the streets. 

Nothing in this film really gels together well. Alan and Florence make for a fine couple but the script undercuts their relationship at nearly every junction. It also plays both of them as dullards, falling for pranks that are just plain silly and juvenile. While there is some humor to be mined in all of that, it never feels right for this film. Instead, it distracts from an already threadbare plot. Worse, when the film gets to the finale, it is mind-numbingly stupid. Roger should be disbarred and jailed for the actions he takes to eliminate the threat Dixie poses. He even strikes him openly in court, an act that got another attorney disbarred in the 1935 film Bordertown. That there was no consequence for this assault is just ridiculous. In fact, there is precious little of this film that isn’t ridiculous. 1941 - 65 minutes