Although it has its quirks, this little film acquits itself well and covers some original ground for a B crime drama. The film opens with a guy on the street asking people if they want their fortunes told. The fortune teller across the street says that he is in her territory and calls her "protection racket" to get rid of the interloper. They actually show up! They actually eject the interloper! It turns out that every fortune teller in town is in league with this protection racket and is ponying up 10% of their take to them. Now this is normally not how it goes. Usually some big bulky piece of muscle says - "Nice business you have here, be a shame if anything happened to it." The business is just paying to prevent the mob from smashing their business. But there is a method in the mob's madness.
They are using the fortune tellers to get their clients' signatures on small checks for payment of service and then transferring it to power of attorney papers via forgery to clean out the client's bank account. Or they are steering them towards worthless stock and a particular broker of that stock who is in league with the mob.
Enter newspaper reporter Joe Ryan (Allan Lane) who strikes a deal with the D.A. to go into the fortune teller business with a fresh face who will collect evidence to get the thieves. Joe sure has some friends in high places because he is also friends with Phoebe Sawyer (Clara Blandick), a wealthy widow who lost her grown son in a shipwreck and is talked into going to a fortune teller - one of the most crooked and clever of them all it turns out - by her well meaning maid to find out if her son is really dead. The problem is, Joe doesn't know any of this - can he get the thieves before they clean out his wealthy friend? Watch and find out.
There are some things that don't make a lot of sense in this film. First there is the crowded jail cell full of women in an all girl show who are looking at 90 days for - it is never said. They are certainly decently if tackily clothed. Was there a law against tacky sequined gowns in this town? It is among these girls that Joe finds his fortune tellers - an actress and a ventriloquist, Kitty (Inez Courtney). Now that ventriloquist turns out to be pretty important so pay attention to her. Then there is a murder that is never explained, but somehow the audience is supposed to get what happens due to the furtive glances of the assassin, who we don't even know is an assassin at the time. In the D.A.'s office it is explained that this guy has been murdered and I wondered - Who was that again? Then a dramatic touch that never pays off. One of the D.A's assistants says "He (murdered guy) was murdered because..." and then a knock at the door stops him and the motive is never explained! I can only figure that this was rushed out the door and that there was some hasty editing done. But the film works well in spite of this. Allan Lane carries off the main role of the clever reporter with good natured energy. I just wonder how the justice system in the town managed to handle anything less straight forward than jaywalking without him. All of the creativity in foiling the thieves comes from him. He's helped along with a great supporting cast - the best known being Clara Blandick, the rest being largely anonymous - all handling their parts well.
I'd recommend it. Don't let its B film status fool you.
They are using the fortune tellers to get their clients' signatures on small checks for payment of service and then transferring it to power of attorney papers via forgery to clean out the client's bank account. Or they are steering them towards worthless stock and a particular broker of that stock who is in league with the mob.
Enter newspaper reporter Joe Ryan (Allan Lane) who strikes a deal with the D.A. to go into the fortune teller business with a fresh face who will collect evidence to get the thieves. Joe sure has some friends in high places because he is also friends with Phoebe Sawyer (Clara Blandick), a wealthy widow who lost her grown son in a shipwreck and is talked into going to a fortune teller - one of the most crooked and clever of them all it turns out - by her well meaning maid to find out if her son is really dead. The problem is, Joe doesn't know any of this - can he get the thieves before they clean out his wealthy friend? Watch and find out.
There are some things that don't make a lot of sense in this film. First there is the crowded jail cell full of women in an all girl show who are looking at 90 days for - it is never said. They are certainly decently if tackily clothed. Was there a law against tacky sequined gowns in this town? It is among these girls that Joe finds his fortune tellers - an actress and a ventriloquist, Kitty (Inez Courtney). Now that ventriloquist turns out to be pretty important so pay attention to her. Then there is a murder that is never explained, but somehow the audience is supposed to get what happens due to the furtive glances of the assassin, who we don't even know is an assassin at the time. In the D.A.'s office it is explained that this guy has been murdered and I wondered - Who was that again? Then a dramatic touch that never pays off. One of the D.A's assistants says "He (murdered guy) was murdered because..." and then a knock at the door stops him and the motive is never explained! I can only figure that this was rushed out the door and that there was some hasty editing done. But the film works well in spite of this. Allan Lane carries off the main role of the clever reporter with good natured energy. I just wonder how the justice system in the town managed to handle anything less straight forward than jaywalking without him. All of the creativity in foiling the thieves comes from him. He's helped along with a great supporting cast - the best known being Clara Blandick, the rest being largely anonymous - all handling their parts well.
I'd recommend it. Don't let its B film status fool you.