This odd little film feels like an A-pic demoted to B+ late in development. Beat cop Pat O’Brien (in for A-lister James Cagney?*) is obstinately by-the-book, a stickler for even minor infractions. A pain to those he should be protecting and to his superiors back at the station, he destroys ex-con Humphrey Bogart’s chance at a fresh start with a summons on a noisy car muffler. Later finding redemption by helping the family Bogie left behind and decency from neighborhood teacher Ann Sheridan. Director William Dieterle, in the midst of his prestigious bio-pics with Paul Muni (PASTEUR; ZOLA), gives the opening some comic snap, and keeps O’Brien off his overbearing manner. But once we meet Bogart’s limping little girl (bathetic Sybil Jason), there’s not much he can do other than run the show as quickly as possible. (O’Brien too opaque an actor to set a tone on his own.) A tricky last act with a just released Bogie panicking about O’Brien’s next move against him is an intriguing idea but inevitably gets shortchanged in a film that barely runs 70 minutes. Look fast for a glimpse & the cackling laugh of Frank McHugh (a cop in a car) in a bit so small even IMDb seems to have missed it.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Cagney, at war with Warners in 1936- ‘37, made a pair of indies for Grand National, returning in ‘38 to co-star with O’Brien on the forced comedy of BOY MEETS GIRL and triumph in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. Maybe Warners was trying out Dieterle for that NYC tenement drama, a far bigger proposition eventually given to Michael Curtiz.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: This might have worked better with if O’Brien & Bogart swapped roles. Lots of Lt. Cmdr. Queeg in that stubborn, infraction-obsessed cop.
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