Let's start at the end.....without giving anything away, the ending is so stupid, so really, really stupid that you are very likely to yell out at the screen: 'You stupid idiot!'
Why you'll feel so animated and annoyed to do this is because by the end you will have bonded with these people. They two main characters are brilliantly portrayed by Walter Huston playing New York's most honest, sincere and earnest crusading policeman and Wallace Ford playing his kid brother. The younger brother is overshadowed by 'the great man' so cannot compete with him in terms of status, respect and especially salary. He is easily corrupted by the tartiest of tarty gangster's molls ever - Jean Harlow, who leads him down the route to fun, easy money - and because it's an MGM film, ultimate destruction! For once, Jean Harlow's acting is actually not too bad, I personally can't see why anyone could be attracted to her but whatever she does she does it pretty convincingly to poor, unsuspecting Wallace Ford.
The story behind why this motion picture was made and the opening quotation from hapless Hoover almost deterred me from watching. President Hoover, WR Hurst (who financed this) and LB Mayer annoyed that gangsters were seen almost as celebrities (and WB not MGM/Hurst were making money from gangster movies) decided to make a film which glorified the authorities instead of the criminals (although none of the WB actually glorified the gangsters). It may originally have had those high ideals but since it ended up showing corruption in the courts, corruption in the police, corruption in society, it is essentially just another gangster movie. The grey and grimy, sleazy streets of the city are just as unwelcoming yet also just as enticing and exciting as in any of its Cagney contemporaries.
The 'beast' here is corruption and because we're used to watching good guys fight bad guys, when the bad guy is a concept rather than an actual person in a black hat, maybe we can't get as emotionally engaged? However, with a pretty decent story, a believable script, a decent MGM budget and good, fast-moving direction from Scouser Charles Brabin, veteran of the silent days, this is surprisingly good....but what a stupid, stupid ending.
Why you'll feel so animated and annoyed to do this is because by the end you will have bonded with these people. They two main characters are brilliantly portrayed by Walter Huston playing New York's most honest, sincere and earnest crusading policeman and Wallace Ford playing his kid brother. The younger brother is overshadowed by 'the great man' so cannot compete with him in terms of status, respect and especially salary. He is easily corrupted by the tartiest of tarty gangster's molls ever - Jean Harlow, who leads him down the route to fun, easy money - and because it's an MGM film, ultimate destruction! For once, Jean Harlow's acting is actually not too bad, I personally can't see why anyone could be attracted to her but whatever she does she does it pretty convincingly to poor, unsuspecting Wallace Ford.
The story behind why this motion picture was made and the opening quotation from hapless Hoover almost deterred me from watching. President Hoover, WR Hurst (who financed this) and LB Mayer annoyed that gangsters were seen almost as celebrities (and WB not MGM/Hurst were making money from gangster movies) decided to make a film which glorified the authorities instead of the criminals (although none of the WB actually glorified the gangsters). It may originally have had those high ideals but since it ended up showing corruption in the courts, corruption in the police, corruption in society, it is essentially just another gangster movie. The grey and grimy, sleazy streets of the city are just as unwelcoming yet also just as enticing and exciting as in any of its Cagney contemporaries.
The 'beast' here is corruption and because we're used to watching good guys fight bad guys, when the bad guy is a concept rather than an actual person in a black hat, maybe we can't get as emotionally engaged? However, with a pretty decent story, a believable script, a decent MGM budget and good, fast-moving direction from Scouser Charles Brabin, veteran of the silent days, this is surprisingly good....but what a stupid, stupid ending.