This is an above-average B crime drama that grabs you from the very beginning and does not let you go until the end. It shows how crime certainly does not pay, and how those who get away with it for so long ultimately pay in the end. It also shows the victims of crime, some of them innocent bystanders as evidenced in the very shocking opening scene where a barber shop owner announces he refused to give into a slot machine racket that is bullying him. The racket is led by the outstanding Akom Tamiroff, one of the Great character actors of all time whose strong and often charming racketeer is quite ruthless when crossed. We see that in his very first seen as to how he reacts with the employee who bombed the barbershop and killed innocent bystanders. He makes a play for beautiful nightclub singer Claire Trevor, giving an excellent performance as she becomes determined to expose the gambling ring for its evil when her old friend Helen Burgess pays dearly for crossing Tamiroff.
Co-starring with Trevor is Lloyd Nolan, best known for later character performances but a leading man from the mid-1930s through the late 1940s. He is excellent throughout, particularly in a drunken scene where he bids on a kiss from Trevor only to refuse it. This film contains some shocking violence, pretty amazing for a post-code film, and obviously some of those scenes were later utilized in other films, the opening very similar to another opening scene 50 years later with "The Untouchables". Then there are two scenes involving an elevator that are quite shocking. Great character performances from familiar character actors like Porter Hall and Cecil Cunningham (quite deliciously sinister) helps this become a crime drama you won't soon forget.
Co-starring with Trevor is Lloyd Nolan, best known for later character performances but a leading man from the mid-1930s through the late 1940s. He is excellent throughout, particularly in a drunken scene where he bids on a kiss from Trevor only to refuse it. This film contains some shocking violence, pretty amazing for a post-code film, and obviously some of those scenes were later utilized in other films, the opening very similar to another opening scene 50 years later with "The Untouchables". Then there are two scenes involving an elevator that are quite shocking. Great character performances from familiar character actors like Porter Hall and Cecil Cunningham (quite deliciously sinister) helps this become a crime drama you won't soon forget.