The Great Defender on AllMovie

Matheson Lang stars as a brilliant British barrister, about to retire due to ill health. He reluctantly agrees to take on the case of a young man (Arthur Margetson) accused of murdering his mistress (Jeanne Stuart). The young man's wife (Margaret Bannerman) does not condone her husband's peccadilloes, but she doesn't want him to go to the gallows. The actual culprit, is exposed approximately five minutes before fade-out time. Having won his case, the ailing Lang dies, postponing his journey into the Hereafter long enough to deliver a colorful curtain speech.