An interesting twist on the usual Warner Bros. gangster film. This time, Joan Blondell is a downtrodden woman who turns to a life of crime to gain power and control over her own life. She becomes involved with gangster Chester Morris, and uses her wits and determination to rise to the top of the Chicago underworld.
This is another one of these early talkies that packs an incredible amount of plot into its brief running time of just over an hour. Similar to the "rise and fall" plotlines of Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, Blondell's character starts from nothing and claws her way up to the top of the criminal ladder, but her ambitions ultimately lead to tragedy.
It's also a nice, if all too rare, opportunity for Blondell in a starring role where she really carries the film on her own as the lead.
1 comment:
Anything Blondell in the 1930s is fabulous. I love her movies with Glenda Farrell (even though Glenda isn't in this one), one of the great buddy pairings in film history.
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