This is another variation of the same which has been done over and over and over. The other versions of the story usually involves either an attorney and a gangster or a priest and a gangster, but this one involves a policeman and a gangster. they grew up in the slums and through flashback the audience gets to see how they ended up taking different paths. It's Kane Richmond as the cop and Edward Norris as the gangster, shown through flashbacks as kids how their lives took different paths and lead them to the crossroads in their lives where even their lifelong companionship can't keep them from being on opposite sides.
It's an interesting opportunity to see veteran actor Ricardo Cortez in the director's chair, but sadly he has a film that seems to have many different mood swings and often is too jolly where it should be a bit more downbeat. Amanda Duff is the heroine as Norris's sister, basically similar to Myrna Loy in "Manhattan Melodrama" (minus the sophistication), Sylvia Sidney in "Dead End" and Claire Trevor in "Angels With Dirty Faces".
The best performance comes from Henry Armetta as their father who basically raised Richmond. There are far too many supporting characters (especially pre-teen kids who aren't anything like the Dead End kids) and thus too many other arcs. While telling the story through flashback does give it an interesting structure, the character of the reporter played by Jack Carson affects the overall structure by bringing in an unnecessary light-heartedness. The conclusion makes you feel like you've just been watching a comedy which this is far from.
It's an interesting opportunity to see veteran actor Ricardo Cortez in the director's chair, but sadly he has a film that seems to have many different mood swings and often is too jolly where it should be a bit more downbeat. Amanda Duff is the heroine as Norris's sister, basically similar to Myrna Loy in "Manhattan Melodrama" (minus the sophistication), Sylvia Sidney in "Dead End" and Claire Trevor in "Angels With Dirty Faces".
The best performance comes from Henry Armetta as their father who basically raised Richmond. There are far too many supporting characters (especially pre-teen kids who aren't anything like the Dead End kids) and thus too many other arcs. While telling the story through flashback does give it an interesting structure, the character of the reporter played by Jack Carson affects the overall structure by bringing in an unnecessary light-heartedness. The conclusion makes you feel like you've just been watching a comedy which this is far from.
