Joan Crawford and William Bakewell are the spoiled, yet uneducated children of wealthy William Holden (Not the popular matinée idol of the 40's and '50's) who must find other means of supporting themselves when he looses all of his money. Crawford becomes a cub reporter on a big city newspaper while drunkard Bakewell gets involved in bootlegger Clark Gable's racket, seemingly to set him up with wealthy new clients. When Crawford's reporter pal (Cliff Edwards) is spotted investigating a St. Valentine's Day Massacre type assassination on members of a rival gang, Gable forces Bakewell to kill him. Crawford goes undercover to unmask those responsible, wins Gable's confidence, and is horrified by what she discovers.
This quick-moving and entertaining melodrama was MGM's answer to "Little Caesar", "The Public Enemy" and "Scarface", with a woman's angle added to make things a little different. As she did in many of her earlier films (both silent and sound), Crawford dances up a storm, proving herself as one of the best "Jazz Babies" of the late 20's and early 30's. Star-to-be Clark Gable is billed way down in the credits, playing a brutish role that made him extremely unlikable, although his sexiness does show in his scenes with Crawford and the feisty Natalie Moorehead as his moll. In all of his future movies with the future "Mommy Dearest", Gable softened his image and was more the lover rather than the brute man, even though he was still all man. Bakewell, who was a major player in the early 30's (usually cast as insensitive and selfish young men who cause their families a lot of heartache), was never really likable on screen, and in bit parts of the late 30's and 40's, this trait continued as well.
Well-written and excellently photographed, this is one of the films that assured Crawford stardom, making her a major threat to Norma Shearer. (Garbo would be in a category all her own.) There's a lot of pre-code innuendo, some great montages, and a memorable exchange between Natalie Moorehead and Gable involving a lit match.
This quick-moving and entertaining melodrama was MGM's answer to "Little Caesar", "The Public Enemy" and "Scarface", with a woman's angle added to make things a little different. As she did in many of her earlier films (both silent and sound), Crawford dances up a storm, proving herself as one of the best "Jazz Babies" of the late 20's and early 30's. Star-to-be Clark Gable is billed way down in the credits, playing a brutish role that made him extremely unlikable, although his sexiness does show in his scenes with Crawford and the feisty Natalie Moorehead as his moll. In all of his future movies with the future "Mommy Dearest", Gable softened his image and was more the lover rather than the brute man, even though he was still all man. Bakewell, who was a major player in the early 30's (usually cast as insensitive and selfish young men who cause their families a lot of heartache), was never really likable on screen, and in bit parts of the late 30's and 40's, this trait continued as well.
Well-written and excellently photographed, this is one of the films that assured Crawford stardom, making her a major threat to Norma Shearer. (Garbo would be in a category all her own.) There's a lot of pre-code innuendo, some great montages, and a memorable exchange between Natalie Moorehead and Gable involving a lit match.