The World Gone Mad (1933) User Reviews

Our Interest Comes And Goes

[ReelCheese · 5/10 · 18 August 2006]

An obscure dramatic thriller that captures and loses the viewers interest like a seesaw. Pat O'Brien is a hard-nosed reporter who gets a little too close for comfort to the story of a lifetime, a massive corporate scandal. With a District Attorney already killed for knowing too much, O'Brien rightfully fears the new D.A (Neil Hamilton) also has a bullet with his name on it. Can our reporter hero piece it all together for the hapless law enforcement authorities before it's too late?

While there are many moments of interest in "The World Gone Mad," it seems there are almost as many pointless scenes with no purpose other than to ruin the flow. It's also overly complex at times. Still, even if one doesn't cut this one the slack it deserves for being made in 1933, it's not all that awful. The performances are good, particularly from O'Brien and Hamilton. But a little further editing would have helped. By the way, I nominate this one for the "Title That Bears Little Resemblance To The On screen Product" Award.

No Horror Movie

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 20 March 2006]

I got this as part of a collection of horror movies. I can't for the life of me figure out how it even remotely fits in the package. This is a pretty good drama about the results of corruption, much like the Enron scandal, where a group of businessmen steal from the company, and invest in stocks, hoping ot raise even more. It backfires, of course, and a series of people need to be shut up for them to stay anonymous. The first district attorney is killed and then implicated in a scandal. The new, young attorney, swears to get to the bottom of it, putting himself and others in danger. It all plays out quite nicely. It's a nicely done film with pretty strong performances, especially for its time.

Oh the (lack of) horror!...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 16 July 2019]

... and that seems to be what lots of people complain about with this film, all because Mill Creek inappropriately included it in a public domain pack of 50 horror films when this is actually a crime/newspaper caper film. But don't take it out on Pat O'Brien, Neil Hamilton, Louis Calhern and company, because that was a decision made 75 years after this film was made!

The title is probably what got it included, and the title itself is a bit of a mystery for there is nothing of cosmos or craziness in this film. Instead it is about the murder and set up for disgrace of an honest DA (Wallis Clark) by gangsters, and how his newspaper columnist friend (Pat O'Brien) tries to solve the crime and redeem the name of his deceased pal, if for nothing else than for the sake of his widow and son.

The acting of the well known names here is very good. Little Majestic Pictures must have shot the works as far as budget to get so many relatively big names. But the screenplay is another matter. Sure, the plot as a whole makes sense, but there are holes in the plot that make no sense! Pat O'Brien's character seems to be psychic as far as figuring out almost immediately who the trigger man is. How? This is never explained. When the DA's good name is smeared the janitor at the rooming house where his body is found has a whole story about how the DA came there regularly for months to shack up with a lady not his wife and drink heavily. OK, so the janitor is lying. But if he is lying, why not lie completely? Instead he gives a totally accurate description of the girl who was one of the co-conspirators in the DA's murder. Why? You never see this janitor again, so maybe for doing such a bad job of lying for them, the mobsters fit him for a cement overcoat. We'll never know. There are lots of other plot holes too, but these are two big examples.

There is lots of precode naughtiness here, including language and sexual inuendos, and one almost graphic sex scene for the day of two unwed people in bed together. However, the total darkness and the fact that the scene is almost too prolonged takes away from its punch.

Overall, not a bad way to spend 70 minutes.

A 30's action drama depicting corporate wrongdoings that holds up after 70 years.

[Wheatridge · 8 March 2004]

A fast paced action drama featuring Pat O'Brian as a hard drinking, woman chasing reporter who is on a first name basis with everyone from the District Attorney to mob chiefs and down to hit men on the street. The story opens with a corporate bigwig contracting with the local mob chief (Louis Calhern) to have the District Attorney killed. The newly appointed District Attorney, who happens to be engaged to one of the corporate bigwigs' daughter, and, is, of course a friend of Pat O'Brian. From here it is a race to expose the wicked corporation, in a sort of 1933 Enron scandal, and to keep the new District Attorney alive.

Remembering that this is a 1933 film, it is years ahead of itself in technology, film noir effects, and settings. Everyone dresses for dinner. Even our fearless reporter has a manservant to whom he gives the night off to allow the plot to thicken unfettered at his Art Deco apartment. One scene has bullet identification, which I thought didn't come into being for another 50 years; however here, performed by our reporter hero, rather than the police.

This dated movie holds up to today's standards, and could have even been a basis for the film Chinatown. The corporate leaders get their rewards, the new District Attorney gets the girl, and Pat O'Brian gets another phone number or two for his private file.

I would rate this movie 5 ½ on a scale of 10.

Paltry but clever 30's thriller

[Coventry · 3/10 · 22 May 2006]

Most of these 30's thrillers/murder mysteries have been forgotten by now because, let's face it, they haven't got much to offer apart from – occasionally – a good story. This little film has a very decent story, fluently written dialogues and some really adequate acting performances, yet it simple can't be called memorable because of the shabbiness of the production. Pat O'Brien ("Hell's House") stars as an obtrusive reporter investigating the vicious assassination of a befriended District Attorney and unravels almost single-handedly an entire network of corruption, blackmail and political scandals. His performance is very good and he gets to say some very slick lines, yet the movie lacks a lot of action and continuity. There's one sequence near the beginning that I found particularly smart, showing how the assignment for murder is passed on to several involved parties and thus creating a complex structure that sadly never gets properly clarified. There are some more ingenious and dared ideas in the plot, but it all looks too poor for you to care. Feel free to avoid this one.

Good General Idea, but Slap-Dash Execution

[Athanatos · 4/10 · 9 November 2008]

The general idea of this film is a good one: In the run-up to the Great Depression and stock market crash, and then in their throes and wake, high-level executives have been cutting corners and cooking the books at a financial firm, first trying to get rich and then trying to hide their titanic losses. A city district attorney gets wind of the fraud, and is murdered to halt his investigation. The murder is made to look like the work of a jealous mistress, bringing scandal upon his name. But the new district attorney and a journalist who is his close friend don't believe the conclusions of the police, and set-out to uncover the truth.

But the execution is very poor. This story is full of holes, of pieces that don't really fit, of loose ends.

The story hangs upon people being even less communicative than the typical lack-wits of real-life. For example, this district attorney has basically told no one, in his office or amongst his confidantes, which firm he has been investigating. Eventually a scrap of paper turns-up amongst his effects; but beyond that he seems to have kept no records beyond whatever he might have carried on his person when he was killed.

An initial scene shows a process of repeatedly subcontracting a crime through a series of middle-men, each passing on the job for half of what he receives, so that the immediate perpetrator receives on 5% of the initial payment. Yet it is a sudden and completely unexplained short-circuiting of that intermediation which allows the journalist to develop an idea of who would be the immediate perpetrator. Since the fellow who originally took the assignment gets few of the benefits of intermediation, he might as well have pocketted its cost.

The journalist, in any case, collects sufficient evidence to establish the identity of the immediate perpetrator. But he doesn't give the evidence or information to his friend the new district attorney. (Perhaps by way of an explanation, the journalist does make the insulting insinuation that the new district attorney might participate in the cover-up for personal profit, but the journalist could have talked to the police as well.) Instead, the journalist kidnaps the perpetrator. It's not clear where and how the journalist keeps the fellow.

With the perpetrator removed, the journalist then continues his investigation, and basically learns nothing more. The story is just spinning its wheels as far as he is concerned. The district attorney, in the mean-time, gets a couple of notes-ex-machina, without which his investigation is utterly inert.

Finally, we learn that the some of the killers have been stringing the journalist along, to find out what he knows. Amongst them are the fellow whom he kidnapped, who has escaped as mysteriously as he was being held. Under threat of death, the journalist is persuaded to summon the district attorney, so that the killers can dispatch them both. But the district attorney becomes conveniently suspicious of behavior for which an innocent explanation could easily be produced, and the day is saved.

Meanwhile, the highest official of the financial firm has learned of the fraud, and commits a murder-suicide so that insurance can repay the missing funds. Too bad for the investors in the insurance firm, but apparently: policies for many millions of dollars were written on the lives of just two executives; the insurer didn't grasp the problem of moral hazard, and write the policies to exclude payment in the event of suicide; and the insurer is sufficiently solvent to make a huge payment, even while the rest of the financial structure seems to be in crisis.

The wife of the previous, murdered district attorney is ecstatic that her husbands name has been cleared. Perhaps she looks forward to telling him about it when he gets home.

BTW: This movie is amongst those that perpetrate the notion that "blanks can't hurt you", which notion killed Jon-Erik Hexum. And what Vanderbilt said in full was "The public be damned! I'm working for my stockholders."

Slow!

[Vampenguin · 3/10 · 17 April 2006]

Not really sure what to say about this one, aside from I didn't like it much. The actors were all fine, there were a few laughs here and there. The ending wasn't too bad, but I suppose after the mess of a plot that came before it, that's not a huge feat. Half the time you have no idea what's going on, and by the time you might have a clue, you don't care anymore. This plods along at a pace most snails would be ashamed of, and I found myself fighting to stay awake the whole time. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a slow-paced movie, so long as it keeps your attention. This doesn't. Overall, is this a good movie? No, not really. Could it cure insomnia? I wouldn't be surprised.

3.5/10

Slightly more intelligent fodder

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 8 May 2004]

Apart from some occasionally stiff acting by the leads, plus the usual enthusiastic reporter portrayal, this time by Pat O'Brien, this is a pretty terse and believable tale of Your Wrongs Will Eventually Find You Out. The overall technology was poor of course, but ignorable. Some cogent scripting was going off here, much too detailed to go into - take my word for it! However, Neil Hamilton as the D.A. says that if he could he would line up against a wall all crooked businessmen and shoot them ... if caught a fair trial was obviously guaranteed then.

Best bit: The two minute scene in the dark where Pat O'Brien and Evelyn Brent are lying on a bed both pretending to be drunk and playful for their own reasons. Your mind can run riot listening to them goofing around as shadows!

Out of dozens of similar early 30's films in this vein I've seen, TWGM must come near the top.

A Slow Crime-Drama

[Rainey-Dawn · 2/10 · 9 June 2015]

This is a s-l-o-w crime drama. Not much of a mystery and it's definitely NOT a thriller nor a horror film. It's not the worst film in the world but there are much better crime-dramas from the 1930s. This one is not memorable.

The Internet Archives says this film's genre is drama/horror and the movie is also found in the 50 horror film collection. This film is far away from being a horror film.

Wikipedia has this film as a crime-thriller listed at the bottom of the page. Crime - yes. A thriller? - Debatable. I would argue NO this movie is not even a thriller film.

I think the genre tags on IMDb are correct for this film: crime, drama, mystery. That sums the film right up.

The movie is watchable but I have seen much more interesting crime-dramas from the 1930s than this particular film.

2/10

"I can't get it out of my mind Gaines, we're crooks."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 3 December 2005]

Just about sixty years before the Enron scandal, "The World Gone Mad" appears to be a strangely prophetic film of personal scandal and corporate greed. When a District Attorney is murdered and discovered in a "love nest", the front page headlines leave all those close to him bewildered and doubtful of the circumstances surrounding his death. In short order, a new D.A. is assigned, and Lionel Houston (Neil Hamilton) is determined to get to the bottom of a tangled financial scheme. Unfortunately, the investigation involves the father of his fiancée, the head of the Cromwell Investment Corporation (John St. Polis).

Pat O'Brien heads the bill here, as a less than scrupulous newspaper reporter, who's not above a bit of gambling, drinking and womanizing himself. In a darkened scene meant to be highly suggestive, his character Andy Terrell finds himself in a very compromising position with the mob connected Carlotta Lamont (Evelyn Brent). It's done very much tongue in cheek, but for 1933, let's say it was risqué beyond belief.

How about crass commercialism. There's a great scene at a newspaper stand, in the background is a poster for the same year's film, "The Vampire Bat" starring Lionell Atwill and Fay Wray.

At a run time of about eighty minutes, there are moments that seem to drag, but overall, the film brings it's victims to justice admirably. It will help to keep a scorecard though, there are a lot of characters introduced in a short time, and it would be easy to lose track of things otherwise. And was it just me, or did the widow of D.A. Henderson (Geneva Mitchell) look the spitting image of Seinfeld gal pal Julia Louis Dreyfus?

Houston, We Have a Problem

[wes-connors · 1/10 · 26 July 2008]

According to the DVD sleeve's synopsis, "An investigative reporter uncovers a plot against the District Attorney. The D.A. is about to present a case of white-collar crime against some well-respected Wall Street investors who wish to eliminate the D.A. before it can happen. The reporter races to prevent the murder before it can occur, and also help the D.A. in bringing those responsible to justice." But, nothing about this inappropriately titled film "races". The story proceeds in the dullest possible manner. Mediocrity runs a frightening level (and, this is crime drama, not a horror film). A couple of the kissing scenes are funny. Pat O'Brien (as Andy) sings a little. Please set your "so bad it's good" expectations on very low.

* The World Gone Mad (4/15/33) Christy Cabanne ~ Pat O'Brien, Neil Hamilton, Evelyn Brent

"the public be damned"!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 4 April 2013]

Only in an obscure poverty rower (Majestic Pictures, who are not above promoting possibly their most famous production with "The Vampire Bat" posters outside a cinema where two of the stars just happen to be talking), could you find a wealth of names to warm the cockles of a pre-code lovers heart. There is beautiful Geneva Mitchell, a Follies beauty who made a career of walk through parts in early talkies, slinky Evelyn Brent (who looks absolutely stunning in this movie), sweet Mary Brian who had been a star but was now falling on leaner times, matinée idol Neil Hamilton who had been a silent star for D.W. Griffith, had co-starred with Norma Shearer and was soon to settle into character parts and cute little Buster Phelps who had played the little boy in "Three on a Match". Even annoying Inez Courtney who seemed to be in every other early talkie musical had an unbilled part as, what else? - an annoying telephonist!!!

But wait - there's more!!! Louis Calhern (wrongly spelled in the credits) is the first to appear as Christopher Bruno, President of Continental Importers/Exporters, but really a racketeer who is in the middle of planning the demise of pesky D.A. Henderson, who is on the brink of exposing a giant stock market fraud. Henderson leaves behind a beautiful wife (Mitchell), a cute kid (Phelps) and a crime fighting buddy, Andy (Pat O'Brien), determined to clear Henderson's name. In the great tradition of pre-code political exposes Henderson has been shown as leading a double life but of course it's not true. Another person wanting to clear things up is new D.A. Lionel Houston (Hamilton) but unfortunately his fiancée is Diane Cromwell (Mary Brian looking far more fetching as a brunette than as a blonde) and her father, unknowingly, is in it up to his neck thanks to his greedy partners.

With phrases like "the public be damned" this was a film "plucked from the headlines" and the stock market crash of 1929 was still vivid in the memories of the movie going public. This was a movie worthy of the fast paced, topical Warners studios. Meanwhile Andy is looking up assorted cronies including Salvatore (J. Carroll Naish) who was in the apartment where Henderson was killed but claims he wasn't the killer. Andy is then led to Carlotta Lamont (sultry Brent) where he starts to weave his charm (?) even though she is Salvatore's girl, Bruno's girl - actually anybody's girl!!!

With all these top stars giving their all, especially Calhern with a very natural performance, this definitely doesn't have the look of a cheap movie. Majestic had a short life, finishing up in 1935 and also being responsible for 1933's ahead of it's time "stream of consciousness movie "The Sin of Norah Moran". Definitely worth a look regardless whether you find it in the "Horror Classics" pack.

Highly Recommended.

A little timely gem. This needs to be rediscovered

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 4 June 2009]

Decidedly precode film concerns the manipulation of stock by the members of the board of directors of a large company. When the DA gets the good on them they resort to murder. Its up to an assistant DA played by Neil Hamilton and a reporter played by Pat O'Brien to avenge the death of their friend which was made to look like a crime of passion. Clearly somethings never change and in these times of bank failures, market manipulation, and general corporate bad behavior this film seems as fresh as if it was made yesterday. Certainly its not as telling as a modern retelling might have been, but at the same time this is powerful stuff with everyone, almost everyone out to make money no matter what the cost. Well acted this is a shining little tale that is ripe for rediscovery, partly because it shows that the bad guys in the boardrooms have always been jerks, but also because its a good little thriller. Worth a look.

boring

[kairingler · 2/10 · 4 July 2013]

slightly better than the amazing mr x.. but not much,, this one moves at a snails pace. hardly any action, I got the point of the movie or this would have been a 1. for me I guess just following it to where I understand what the movie was about gave it a 2 for me,, the best part of the movie for me believe it or not was the scene where the kid is trying to play with his new train for Christmas,, well the grown ups are playing with it and you hear the kid say dad when am I gonna get to play with MY TRAIN, I thought that it was so hilarious when the kid said that.. yeah there was some mystery to the movie, which kinda kept me interested for a little while,, but this movie , doesn't really have any action,, and is kinda slow paced for me,, which just made me wish the movie would end,,

Despite having some seriously Pre-Code sensibilities, it's actually a pretty dull film.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 July 2010]

Although this movie was made by a so-called Poverty Row studio', Majestic Pictures, it stars Pat O'Brien, Neil Hamilton, J. Carrol Naish and Louis Calhern. How this small production company got the services of these screen veterans is anyone's guess, though all of the actors had either seen better days (with Hamilton and Calhern being big stars a few years earlier) or would go on to much bigger stardom (O'Brien). Because of these actors, the film didn't look like a low=budget production but where it really shows is the script--which was pretty dull and convoluted.

"The World Gone Mad" features one of the most annoying child actors in history, with a cloying and whiny performance by the little brat. IMDb doesn't seem to list the 'actor' playing this role--I just hope never to see the kid again in other films. Every moment he was on camera (which were fortunately few), he whined. This also contributed to me giving the film such a low score.

So what IS worth seeing about the film? Well, if you really, really want to hear lots and lots of cursing, this $@*! film has more than can recall having seen in any other Pre-code film. I call it 'Pre-code' because the newer and tougher Production Code of 1934 would eliminate cursing and many other raunchy things that were actually pretty common in Hollywood films of the era. In addition to the cursing, liberal doses of sexual innuendo are included. Yes, it is a novelty today to hear this from the stars of old...but a novelty you can enjoy in many better films of the early 1930s.

Blue Chip Wall Street Crooks

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 14 August 2014]

Before signing with Warner Brothers and after getting his big break with his screen debut in The Front Page, Pat O'Brien appeared in a variety of films of varying quality for different studios. This one is for poverty row Majestic Pictures and for a poverty row film it boasts an impressive cast. But I can safely say that everyone here has done better work in their career. Mind you this is a cast that includes Evelyn Brent, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton, Louis Calhern and J. Carrol Naish.

District Attorney Wallis Clark who is investigating a crooked stock scheme is set up in a love nest by Evelyn Brent and murdered by trigger man Naish. O'Brien is a crime reporter with all kinds of friends in low places and Hamilton is Clark's upright assistant who succeeds him. But both had a high regard for Clark and both want justice for his daughter Mary Brian and both kind of like her.

Turns out some of O'Brien's low place friends are indeed responsible. But they work for some blue chip Wall Street crooks. In 1933 blue chip Wall Street crooks were very popular villains.

The World Gone Mad should have been a better film. Except for the end which has a great climax where the blue chip crooks get their's, this is a sluggish film. Again at a major studio this would have been a better film.

Tedious political drama may bore you into changing your vote.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 17 May 2014]

In what seems like something that Warner Brothers may have filmed, viewed then sold to a poverty row studio just to get their names off of it comes this mystery with a long-winded screenplay and stereotypical characters that did its starry cast no good. When the most memorable scene is a competition over a toy train set between a D.A. father and his young son (Buster Phelps), you know you've got troubles. The D.A. is murdered for threatening to expose fraud and it is up to good guys Pat O'Brien and Neil Hamilton to uncover the killer and the mastermind behind the crime ring.

J. Carroll Naish is a stereotypical Spanish villain with Louis Calhern also pretty bad here, typecast all throughout the 1930's in similar roles. He would do much better years later in lively grandfather roles where his only crime was looking too much at the pretty girls. But here, the one dimensional villains makes for a predictable and boring script, and even if the movie covers up its cheapness with an expensive looking set, it can't escape the fact that it creaks loudly in its efforts to tell its pedestrian story. O'Brien's fast-talking performance is the major highlight of the adult actors, but the majority of the film is insipid and deadly dull.

A corrupt business? Who'd have thought it

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 29 August 2013]

The District Attonrey has uncovered some wrong doings at a corporation and is about to blow the lid on the lot when he's whacked by a hit-man. His replacement (and friend) takes over, and much to the dismay of the bigwigs at the corporation he's determined to blow the lid on all the shenanigans too. What's an evil, greedy person to do? Well, whack the new DA too, obviously! Problem is, the new DA's friend is a reporter who seems to know everyone in the world, and he's also uncovering more and more evidence.

Although billed as a horror film on Mill Creek's 50 Horror Classics box set, A World Gone Mad is more of a crime thriller (although at one point some characters walk past an ad for the film The Vampire Bat!) with a lot of twists and turns thrown in. It's not majorly exciting, but it's not boring either, with plenty of that fast talking thirties mannerism ("Are you on the level?" ) and such like. It's also strangely relevant today, and just seems to show that nothing ever changes. They even mention pyramid schemes at one point.

It's no forgotten classic, but not as bad as other folks have made out.

Unlikeable Protagonist Hurts Movie

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 5 January 2024]

"The World Gone Mad" was a so-so murder mystery that would've been a lot better if it weren't for the hero, Andy Terrell (Pat O'Brien). I'm not saying he was a racist, but he certainly didn't mind using a racial pejorative to refer to an Italian man. It's not like Andy Terrell was an enjoyable character even before that, the racially insensitive language just made him worse.

The core of the movie is about the Suburban Utilities company being looted of its assets by some of its execs. When the D. A., Avery Henderson (Wallis Clark), began closing in on them Graham Gaines (Richard Tucker), one of the execs, had him killed. While the police couldn't amass any evidence, a savvy (and perhaps racist) reporter--that would be Andy Terrell--was able to get a lot further. He fed information to the new D. A., Lionel Houston (Neil Hamilton), who had just as much integrity as the D. A. he replaced.

"The World Gone Mad" was a rather elementary mystery. It was only a mystery to the characters, the viewers knew exactly who did what. Gaines met with Chris Bruno (Louis Calhern) who called a guy, who called a guy, who called a guy, who did the deed. It was just a matter of if the authorities could figure it out.

Even if I liked the main character I can't say that I would've been terribly intrigued by the movie. It was an average murder mystery at best.

Free on YouTube.

As appropriate today as it was then

[catfish-er · 7/10 · 20 September 2010]

The greed and corruption of the 2000's Wall Street could just as easily have been the subject for THE WORLD GONE MAD. To update it, you only need Bernie Madoff sitting on top of the Ponzi scheme, instead of our two antagonists.

Both of whom, by the way, could make excellent stand-ins for the Duke brothers in TRADING PLACES.

The acting was first rate, with solid performances all around, albeit with no "big name" stars -- at least none of whom I recognized.

I found the plot compelling, first from a historical perspective (the Wall Street Crash of 1929). But, also from a contemporary perspective (the Great Recession of 2007).

An interesting side note is the marquee in front of the movie theater, which featured THE VAMPIRE BAT, by the same production company. Great art deco scenes; and, good cinematography in both!

Risque pre-coder

[hentzau-00351 · 3/10 · 10 September 2020]

Unusual even for a pre-code movie, the dialogue contains "hells" and "damns" and risque dialog. Pat O'Brien is shown seemingly in bed with Evelyn Brent

Poverty Row's Most Expensive Fling?

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 17 September 2008]

A newshound investigates the staged shooting of a District Attorney.

Probably the most expensive Poverty Row production ever made, World Gone Mad features a top-flight cast (Neil Hamilton and Buster Phelps are the only weak links) in a racily dialogued, fast-moving (at least in the cutdown version) account of corporate greed and cover-up. By independent standards, some of the sets and special effects come over as really outstanding. True, there are some rough moments. Both the opening scene and action finale seem a little abrupt in the cut DVD print, but otherwise the rather complicated plot is put across with both speed and efficiency by director Cabanne. The action sequences are perhaps not as slickly staged as they could be, although the superb editing work by Otis Garrett livens them up considerably. Photographer Ira Morgan has lit both his players and Danny Hall's sumptuous sets with commendable finesse and even added some attractive noirish effects to complement the car-train climax.

Measuring up to the standard of his later Charlie Chan and Bulldog Drummonds, Edward T. Lowe's script provides excellent dialogue opportunities for Pat O'Brien (the loose newsman), Evelyn Brent (the heavy's moll), Louis Calhern (the heavy), J. Carroll Naish (a super-spruce goon), and the lovely Mary (Wendy) Brian (the passionate heroine who is throwing herself away on stiff-as-a-board Hamilton).

The lively, fast-paced 105-minutes version is now available on a very good Alpha DVD.

A strong male cast

[greenbudgie · 6/10 · 17 January 2021]

I've just watched this for a second time and I'm glad I did. It's the sort of film that really requires a repeat viewing to get the best out of it.

This underrated B-mystery has a strong male cast. Pat O'Brien is a fast talking reporter. A stock 1930s character in crime movies of that time. The distinctive voice of Neil Hamilton is easily recognizable. He gets promoted to D.A. after the previous one is bumped off. At one point he looks in danger of going the same way. The film's action includes a honey-trap shooting and a staged hit and run and another car crash with a train.

On the villainous side there is the commanding presence of Louis Calhern before he wore facial hair. He is Bruno who vies with Pat O'Brien for the hand of a fast woman. J. Carroll Naish is a crook who is fond of reading the "literature of the sewer. Some of the dialog is bordering on the bawdy typical of the early 1930s movies. The alternative title 'Public Be Hanged' is more appropriate as ordinary investing people are harmed in this story of embezzlement and corruption.