Nothing dilutes Cagney's tough-guy persona, even this little B-movie lets him shine.
He's a civil-servant with punch (literally) working on the front line to enforce weights & measures rules when it seems just about every other retailer is ripping the public off. We see some interesting little dodges as regards to lead weights placed in chickens (they're already dead!) rigged scales, petrol pumps & so on. It was a crooked world in 1930's America - or so it would appear. Basically he's scrupulously honest, won't take bribes, goes after everybody big and small; a sort of Elliot Ness of fair trade. Needless to say; he rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. It's a short movie at just 66mins, so the plot is inevitably shallow and the corruption sanitised with some slap-stick humour.
Despite its age, it kept me watching. Being short, the plot moved at a quick pace. It's B/W, with all of the faults you might expect from an old un-restored print of this age, but it's clear enough in both sound & vision not to detract from enjoyment. My copy came as a 3-movie tough-guy offering on a single DVD, 4x3 format and PG rating.
He's a civil-servant with punch (literally) working on the front line to enforce weights & measures rules when it seems just about every other retailer is ripping the public off. We see some interesting little dodges as regards to lead weights placed in chickens (they're already dead!) rigged scales, petrol pumps & so on. It was a crooked world in 1930's America - or so it would appear. Basically he's scrupulously honest, won't take bribes, goes after everybody big and small; a sort of Elliot Ness of fair trade. Needless to say; he rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. It's a short movie at just 66mins, so the plot is inevitably shallow and the corruption sanitised with some slap-stick humour.
Despite its age, it kept me watching. Being short, the plot moved at a quick pace. It's B/W, with all of the faults you might expect from an old un-restored print of this age, but it's clear enough in both sound & vision not to detract from enjoyment. My copy came as a 3-movie tough-guy offering on a single DVD, 4x3 format and PG rating.