Top notch performances from the leads single this out among gangster films of its day as a classic. Howard had to lobby hard to keep Bogart his stage role, for which we should be grateful. While the film still shows its stage origins, it works for the claustrophobic atmosphere to keep locations to a minimum. Furthermore, it was stage dramas like this and Dead End which helped the gangster film bounce back from the censorship that followed Scarface, Public Enemy and Little Caesar. Without films like this, we'd have had no Angels With Dirty Faces or Roaring Twenties.
Bogarts' arrival on scene is a killer, especially considering he's been so well hyped throughout - all we've heard about is how dangerous Duke Mantee is. And the theme of the 'artist' or sensitive type holed up with gangsters is now legendary - reworked in films as diverse as Performance, but perhaps best with Bogart (again) as the good-guy in Key Largo.
Bogarts' arrival on scene is a killer, especially considering he's been so well hyped throughout - all we've heard about is how dangerous Duke Mantee is. And the theme of the 'artist' or sensitive type holed up with gangsters is now legendary - reworked in films as diverse as Performance, but perhaps best with Bogart (again) as the good-guy in Key Largo.