a5c7b9f00b A crusading young politician is running for mayor on a program of cleaning up the graft-ridden politics of a big city. However, all of his opponent are mysteriously being shot to death, which does him no good, and the coroner can't even find the bullets in the bodies of the dead men. A young lawyer is elected mayor of the city and promises to rid it of the corruption it's famous for. The problem is that most of the corruption he's vowed to eliminate is caused by the crooked political machine that helped elect him. Here is a typical indie city crime drama of the early 30s with an assortment of "name" players doing a paycheck job with a fairly dull script. There is a mystery killer plot tied in, with a fairly inventive gimmick to his method of killing. The print is better than many an Alpha release, although, annoyingly, someone has dubbed in extra sound effects. They occur during the two scenes in Mischa Auer's laboratory, and I assume Alpha Video is the culprit, since similar predations occur on other 30s releases by this company. Auer has test tubes bubbling, and someone has dubbed in what sounds like the largest witch's cauldron ever. The bubbling and popping is so loud as to make the dialog hard to hear in spots. The film's real claim to fame, I feel, occurs in the last 20 seconds as the corrupt Gorman stalks out of Preston Foster's office. He is flipped off by the wiseacre reporter (Charles Delaney) in a full middle-finger salute. I replayed this to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Apparently this gesture was contemporaneous to '33 – but perhaps its translation into words wasn't universally agreed upon. Unless I misapprehended the finger he used, this moment deserves mention in a social history of 20th Century America, or at least a history of rude gestures. A lot of early programmers were that in name only - there was nothing cheap or slipshod about them. Mostly they were helped by excellent casts, in some cases terrific actors who somehow didn't catch on or who were not in the right place at the right time. Preston Foster came from Broadway to recreate his role as the happy go lucky riveter in "Two Seconds" and later won praise for his role in the film "The Last Mile" as "Killer" Meares but while he didn't have the conventional leading man looks he was just a sensational young character actor. Likewise Evalyn Knapp who First National rated pretty highly but unfortunately her first feature had her pitted against newcomer James Cagney and he was the one who came out on top<br/><br/>The usual story. Up and coming politico Tim Butler (Preston Foster) vows to clean up the city if elected mayor but the manipulators (who got him elected in the first place) soon begin to plot his downfall. One of the crooks, Gorman (weasley Tully Marshall) had before approved of Tim marrying his daughter but now forbids Sylvia (sultry Natalie Moorehead) to have anything to do with him. He calls in henchman Regan, the slimiest of scoundrels and who better to play him than Warner Richmond, an actor right at home playing low lifes (I last saw him in "Night Court", he was the thug employed to hide in Anita Page's bedroom and then try to convince the neighbours (he did so easily) that the devoted mother had resorted to prostitution)!! When he can't convince Tim to go over to the bad side he resorts to strong arm tactics but is stymied through the efforts of a hidden newspaper cameraman who gets photos of the event. Seeing it all through is Ellen, Butler's loyal and trusty secretary who knows all too well of the corruption that Gorman and Sylvia are mired in and also secretly gives Tim her life savings (she tries to convince him that the gift is from his old friend the doctor)!! Evalyn Knapp is a joy in the role, stamping it with her very bubbly personality.<br/><br/>Unfortunately Bob is also set up - photographed in the apartment of a "notorious blonde" (Gwen Lee) and dumped from his job, but as an Attorney at Law if he can convince enough honest officials of his innocence he will be able to look forward to a promotion to State's Attorney. Before the good times can start Tim is involved in the murder of Regan - he was an innocent bystander but with false testimony and an unfair trial now finds himself facing life behind bars. The ending is an about face featuring a mad scientist who has designed ice bullets made from poisonous alcohol and as usual Mischa Auer completely steals the movie as he tries to rid the town of corruption!!
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