This is part musical and part gangster film.Unfortunately neither really meshes with the other.Just when we are enjoying a musical interlude the rather routine gangster film comes crashing back in.It seems to me that they really could not make up their minds what sort of film they wanted this to be.The cast is quite interesting.Ann Shirley and Richard Barthelmess both make their swan songs.Also featured are the marvelous Mary Wickes and Millard Mitchell.In fact the exchanges between those two are the best part of the film.There is one rather strange scene when George Murphy asks the young gang leader to come and live with him instead of Ann Shirley.In the next scene Murphy and the boy are seen all hot and sweaty in his gym!I wonder if they were trying to tell us something?
4 Reviews
Crime And Music
atlasmb2 July 2021
I am not a huge fan of George Murphy as an actor, but this film suits him. As ex- hoodlum Joe Jonathan, he plays someone with a moral compass tempered by reform. This role fits Murphy's temperament. Joe is also an ex-hoofer, so Murphy gets to display some impressive footwork.
Joe Jonathan manages bands and dance halls. Though he once was a criminal, he is almost naïve in this belief in others. But his success is threatened by a young thug. Simultaneously, Ed Kirby (Richard Barthelmess in his last film)---his former boss---is seeking parole from his stint at Sing Sing. Joe's girlfriend and gal Friday, Jessey (Anne Shirley), is concerned about his nonchalance in the face of these threats, but Joe has his own way of handling things.
Anne Shirley is a bright spot in this film. The rest of the cast is strong. Barthelmess, who was a silent film actor, is very effective in portraying menace even without words. Joan Merrill, in one of her few films, plays a singer in Joe's organization; and she has a strong voice.
The most interesting aspect of the film is its characterization of Bits McKarg (Rex Downing), the young thug who runs a gang of juveniles. Joe takes him under his wing with a belief that he can rehab the kid with kindness. It's like a social experiment. Bits and his cohorts might have been born around the year 1925. They would have grown up during the Great Depression and witnessed the adulation given to the gangsters of their time, especially in the gangster films of the thirties, which led to a romanticizing and hero worship of gangsters similar to that given cowboys. The viewer can probably guess how the film resolves the juvenile delinquent problem, given the moral directives under which Hollywood operated. But it is interesting that the writers even included this part of the story.
The script is kind of wandering, but it manages to resolve all the stories with a neat bow of an ending.
Joe Jonathan manages bands and dance halls. Though he once was a criminal, he is almost naïve in this belief in others. But his success is threatened by a young thug. Simultaneously, Ed Kirby (Richard Barthelmess in his last film)---his former boss---is seeking parole from his stint at Sing Sing. Joe's girlfriend and gal Friday, Jessey (Anne Shirley), is concerned about his nonchalance in the face of these threats, but Joe has his own way of handling things.
Anne Shirley is a bright spot in this film. The rest of the cast is strong. Barthelmess, who was a silent film actor, is very effective in portraying menace even without words. Joan Merrill, in one of her few films, plays a singer in Joe's organization; and she has a strong voice.
The most interesting aspect of the film is its characterization of Bits McKarg (Rex Downing), the young thug who runs a gang of juveniles. Joe takes him under his wing with a belief that he can rehab the kid with kindness. It's like a social experiment. Bits and his cohorts might have been born around the year 1925. They would have grown up during the Great Depression and witnessed the adulation given to the gangsters of their time, especially in the gangster films of the thirties, which led to a romanticizing and hero worship of gangsters similar to that given cowboys. The viewer can probably guess how the film resolves the juvenile delinquent problem, given the moral directives under which Hollywood operated. But it is interesting that the writers even included this part of the story.
The script is kind of wandering, but it manages to resolve all the stories with a neat bow of an ending.
limited crime drama
SnoopyStyle6 January 2024
Joe Jonathan (George Murphy) is a reformed con trying to go straight with his music booking agency. The previous owner Ed Kirby (Richard Barthelmess) is in prison for racketeering. Jessie Lee (Anne Shirley) is Joe's former dance partner and love interest. Small time hood Bits McKarg (Rex Downing) is after his business and leads a mob of young folks. He hires McKarg and takes the young man under his wing. Kirby is back after leaving prison and entices McKarg.
This has good potential for a dark take on the music industry. The movie needs to bring in Bits McKarg a little sooner. Rex Downing had a decade plus run, but I don't see him being more than in a tough kid role. The other side is that Kirby needs to be a more memorable villain. This is struggling to be more than a limited crime drama.
This has good potential for a dark take on the music industry. The movie needs to bring in Bits McKarg a little sooner. Rex Downing had a decade plus run, but I don't see him being more than in a tough kid role. The other side is that Kirby needs to be a more memorable villain. This is struggling to be more than a limited crime drama.
Fatherly advice for the Hell's Kitchen boys.
mark.waltz12 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This minor B drama mixed with comedy and a few big band numbers takes on the kids of 10th Avenue in an effort to particularly keep one kid out of trouble and to keep organized crime our of hoofer George Murphy's dance studio west of Times Square. The kid is Rex Dowling, a forgotten "Our Gang" actor who can dance as well and looks really good with his shirt off. Murphy's partner (Anne Shirley) doesn't approve of his mentoring Dowling, but when Murphy must take on protection racketeer Richard Barthelmess and his gang, she realizes that they've got bigger fish to fry.
Overly long and often tedious, this doesn't really hold up interest past Freddy Martin's band and some funny moments from Mary Wickes (once again in a nurse's uniform) and her boyfriend, Millard Mitchell, who looks like an older version of Art Carney. The songs are just so-so and the story not interesting. By the time the plot thickens, you may find yourself checking out your watch.
Overly long and often tedious, this doesn't really hold up interest past Freddy Martin's band and some funny moments from Mary Wickes (once again in a nurse's uniform) and her boyfriend, Millard Mitchell, who looks like an older version of Art Carney. The songs are just so-so and the story not interesting. By the time the plot thickens, you may find yourself checking out your watch.
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