I can sum it up in one word: Whee! It's a slick, fast-moving Universal Pre-Code nightclub-gangster flick that has everything you could wish for: a cast that includes Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff (in a straight role as the tough night-club owner) and Busby Berkley choreography that showcased exactly what he was going to do the following year at Warner Brothers, with shots through chorines' legs and overhead crane shots. There are plenty of wise cracks, George Raft as a hood, Robert Emmett O'Conner as a cop on the beat, Clarence Muse stealing the show, and, of course, editor Ted Kent doing his best to amortize that optical printer that Laemmle had bought back in 1929.
It was director Hobart Henley's next-to-last movie and I have no idea what happened to him to cut his career short. Anyone who could direct a movie like this should have been in demand.
It was director Hobart Henley's next-to-last movie and I have no idea what happened to him to cut his career short. Anyone who could direct a movie like this should have been in demand.