Black Legion is a 1937 American crime drama film, directed by Archie Mayo, with a script by Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines based on an original story by producer Robert Lord.

The plot is based on the May 1935 kidnapping and murder in Detroit of Charles A. Poole, a Works Progress Administration organizer.

As his Black Legion activities and drinking increases, Taylor loses his job and begins a relationship with Pearl Danvers, a woman of ill repute.

[5] Many of the details about the Legion portrayed in the film, such as the initiation oath and the confessions in the trial scenes, were based on known facts about the historic organization.

Because United States libel laws had recently been broadened in scope by court rulings, Warner Bros. underplayed some aspects of the group's political activities to avoid legal repercussion.

Greene praises Bogart's acting and comments that the film's intelligence comes from the director's attention to the moments of horror.

[7] Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times praised the film's direction, writing, performances, and strong themes; calling it "editorial cinema at its best".

[8] Dennis Schwartz from Ozus' World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade B−, calling it "A gripping social drama based on the newspaper headlines of the day".

[12] It was one of a series of anti-fascist films in this period that addressed the dangers to society from groups that opposed immigrants (especially Catholics and Jews), Asians, and blacks, showing that fascism and racism resulted in similar "crimes against humanity.