Bullets or Ballots **** (1936, Edward G Robinson, Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane, Frank McHugh) – Classic Movie Review 2729

Director William Keighley’s sharp and involving 1936 gangster movie stars the great Edward G Robinson, along with Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane Frank McHugh.

And Robinson is on the side of the law for once as Johnny Blake, an apparently demoted police detective who is in fact actually working as an undercover cop for unsuspecting mobsters ‘Bugs’ Fenner and rackets boss Al Kruger (Bogart and Barton). Joe King plays Police Captain Dan McLaren, who becomes the new police commissioner. Blake convinces Kruger that he is sincere in his effort to join the mob but ‘Bugs’ Fenner thinks he is a police agent.

This is a particularly tasty example of Warner Bros’ Thirties social realism gangster thrillers, painting a disturbing picture of a violent, urban world gone awry.

It is fast-paced, realistic and revealing, with plenty of vim from director Keighley and brio from star Robinson, and talented support from the Warner character actor crew. Joan Blondell plays the heroine Lee Morgan.

Also in the cast are Dick Purcell, George E Stone, Joseph Crehan, Henry O’Neill, Henry Kohler, Gilbert Emery, Herbert Rawlinson, Louis Beavers, Norman Willis, Frank Bruno, Eddy Chandler, Joe Connors, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, Hal Craig, Lew Harvey, Al Hill, Milton Kibbee, Guy Kingsford, Anne Nagel, Leo White, Tom Wilson and Jack Wise.

With Robinson with a cigar in his mouth or pipe in is hand and Blondell with a cigarette, the movies help to glamorise smoking and poisoned a whole generation or more.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2729

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