Strictly a curiosity piece from Warner Bros., this early crime drama with a sermonizing WALTER HUSTON as a D.A., is so full of annoying and clichéd moments that it seems far longer than its 68 minutes running time. Everything about it is so dated, it's hard to recommend it as anything but a museum piece. (Trivia note: DICKIE MOORE was one cute kid as the littlest brother).
I never heard of CHARLES "CHIC" SALE before, but he makes an insufferable grandpa, the dad of GRANT WITHERS. "Blood's thicker than government pea coup" is one of his most clichéd statements. The opening scene has the family gathered for a dinner interrupted by gunfire. Seems that a man on his way to see the D.A. was gunned down by underworld gangsters.
With the family witnessing the whole thing, the story turns on just when and whether the star witnesses will testify. Unfortunately, the bare plot outline sounds better than it plays. The sentiment is so thick involving gramps and the little kids and there are so many inconsequential moments with weak attempts at humor, that the whole story falls apart long before the predictable ending.
Hard to see how William A. Wellman came to direct this weak early effort at crime drama, except for the brutal moment when NAT PENDLETON teaches GRANT WITHERS a lesson in gangster brutality.
WALTER HUSTON is given to lots of sermonizing. "This is the fight of every decent man!" so that the drama has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Summing up: Just a curiosity piece of vintage film-making but hardly worth a peek. It's the sort of tale given a much more dynamic , grown up treatment years later by William Wyler for THE DESPERATE HOURS.
I never heard of CHARLES "CHIC" SALE before, but he makes an insufferable grandpa, the dad of GRANT WITHERS. "Blood's thicker than government pea coup" is one of his most clichéd statements. The opening scene has the family gathered for a dinner interrupted by gunfire. Seems that a man on his way to see the D.A. was gunned down by underworld gangsters.
With the family witnessing the whole thing, the story turns on just when and whether the star witnesses will testify. Unfortunately, the bare plot outline sounds better than it plays. The sentiment is so thick involving gramps and the little kids and there are so many inconsequential moments with weak attempts at humor, that the whole story falls apart long before the predictable ending.
Hard to see how William A. Wellman came to direct this weak early effort at crime drama, except for the brutal moment when NAT PENDLETON teaches GRANT WITHERS a lesson in gangster brutality.
WALTER HUSTON is given to lots of sermonizing. "This is the fight of every decent man!" so that the drama has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Summing up: Just a curiosity piece of vintage film-making but hardly worth a peek. It's the sort of tale given a much more dynamic , grown up treatment years later by William Wyler for THE DESPERATE HOURS.