Sometimes I feel like turning my brain off for an hour, and watching the kind of b-movie which used to appear as a late-movie on TV stations during the 1950s. This film certainly matches that description, appearing on late night film presentations such as "Stardust Theater" on WATV and "Night Owl Theater" on WPIX (thank you, Old Fulton NY Postcards website)

Picture quality of this upload is reasonable. However, I normally watch these IA films by putting them on a USB stick and playing them on my Blu-ray player. However, the player would not accept the file, meaning I had to view it on my computer.

I give the film 3.5 out of 5.

Robert Armstrong was very good. Not wasting your time watching this one.
It delivers what it promises. A light comedy. A fun hour entertainment. Not very believable but definately fun.

Is it really that hard to believe that a newspaper reporter would interfere with a police investigation, hide evidence, and risk obstructing justice, if he thought it might help him land a job? The was a depression on after all.

Does the story line have any credibility? Consider the following:

In appreciation for his help in solving a murder case, the police commissioner gives one Larry Doyle, a handgun. Outside in the press room, two other reporters are armed, one with a pair of brass knuckles, the other with a sap. These are later given to Doyle as gifts.

After the official presentation, the boss jokes with the reporter in private that he will probably be fired in the future. The reporter responds with a crack that he is going to use the gun on a city editor, someday. The city editor then gives the armed reporter $50.00 in cash, which he uses to take his coworkers to a bar to get drunk for the rest of the workday. The reporter is fired for some reason, and looks for another job.

After falling for a pretty girl who is down and out, the reporter jokes to a policeman that she needs to be hit every now and then. Shortly thereafter, the couple conspire to defraud an innkeeper. The deception is discovered but the innkeeper gives his 24 hours to pay. His coworkers decide to help raise money to help their pal, by defrauding unsuspecting targets in a crooked dice game.

Doyle pawns the handgun to a pawnbroker who sells it to a criminal. Doyle takes the money to gambling den which is robbed. He witnesses the robbery and an ensuing gun-battle, during which a policeman is murdered by a man in a waiting auto.

The hero climbs into the now dead man's car and witnesses a robbery and yet another murder. The killer just happens to be the same criminal who bought Doyle's handgun. The loot is placed into the vehicle, both of which he steals.

This string of felonious acts did lead to the hiring of our hero by a major newspaper, with a proviso that should he not have the crime solved, he will “go home in a basket.”

The gun is later found and traced to Doyle, through the pawnbroker covers for the murderer, blaming our hero. Fingerprints tie him to the getaway vehicle. The DA holds the pair for suspicion of murder.

Doyle comes clean with the DA and admits that he hid material facts and withheld evidence from the police in order to secure an exclusive story. In defense of his obstruction of justice, Doyle asserts that he “only did what any good newspaper man would do” under similar circumstances.

The DA decides to charge the pair, relenting only after Doyle's boss blackmails the DA. The DA decides not to investigate for 24 hours and the pair are given “a free hand” to find the true villain.

Returning to the crooked pawn shop, Doyle presents his pawn ticket and demands his pistol. When the request is not honored, he threatens the pawnbroker who then tells him the gun is gone. He knocks the man out cold, binding and gagging him. The killer appears, holding our hero at gunpoint. All seems to be lost when the reporter's mild mannered sweetheart shoots the villain from across the room, with deadly precision.

Doyle receives the story, the credit, and a huge reward to boot. The couple marry and go on to abandon their previous lifestyle of larceny, happily ever after.

The preceding could happen. The plot is almost as believable as the performance of Maxine Doyle.

These look like vaudeville players, doing routines, gags, and skits run together. Talking movies were still a novelty and people were more apt to suspend disbelief to be entertained, or so I would like to believe. Entertaining enough for a 76 year old play.

I enjoyed the flick. Armstrong is a little old for the girl, but I imagine there were lots of girls who targeted the older men during the depression.

The movie moves along at a good pace. I wonder how many times they rehearsed the kiss in the closing scene. It spoke volumes about my first point regarding the age of the actors.

I agree with uploader Moongleam. This is a fun little comedy/romance/mystery. As one of dozens (if not hundreds) of Depression-era romantic fantasies cranked out between 1931 and 1940, this mini-adventure fits the mold in every respect, and like most of its contemporaries wasn't meant to be taken seriously. So if completely believable plots are your thing, look elsewhere.

Ace crime reporter Robert Armstrong wakes up broke in the wrong city, where he meets down-on-her-luck Maxine Doyle. He finagles a stay for the two of them in a plush hotel suite. Then as luck would have it, a pawned revolver leads to a mystery to be solved. Armstrong is his usual extroverted self, and cute Maxine Doyle is adequate for her role. The only other cast members of note are James Burke and Henry Kolker.

Better than average production values for a second feature, and snappy direction maintains its brisk pace. The bottom line is an hour of light-weight, escapist fun. The complete print is in excellent condition.

CAST NOTE: Managing Editor Marvin is played by James burke, who spent much of his long and busy career (1932-1962) in comedy relief roles as thickheaded cops and dumb crooks.

It's one of those weird '30s mysteries with a hard living reporter played by Robert Armstrong. Why would a reporter want to make off with the getaway car and the loot, and keep it from the police? So that he could get the story out before other crime reporters? That's the best I can come up with. No reason other than that it's a reporters prerogative is given. I think I've seen similar behavior by reporters in other films. It's a stretch. The police case against him included all the evidence except the critical piece which he could have refuted on the spot. Can't think of any reason for that other than to set up the third act. Just too contrived. The really bad luck that got him in trouble with the police, while contrived, at least was plausible within the story.

The female lead, Maxine Doyle, just wasn't good at all. I saw her in Condemned to Live, and I had a similar assessment of her performance in it. She needed acting lessons. Desperately.

I downloaded the 463MB AVI file. Excellent quality.