Review of Illegal

Illegal (1932)
3/10
What some mothers will do . . .
25 February 2012
I suppose it's barely possible that some people were moved by this tedious little "quota quickie" in 1932, but it's got precious little to recommend it these days. After kicking her wastrel husband out of the house, a woman decides to raise her two daughters to be respectable young ladies by running an illegal - and profitable - gambling house. It's not clear, at least to me, what the two girls were told when they asked why their mother was out of the house every night until after midnight, but that's only one of the many plot holes in this film. The acting isn't up to much, either - especially Moira Lynd, who plays the younger daughter, and who leaves a hole in the screen every time she appears - but then the hackneyed script and clumsy direction don't give the actors an awful lot to work with. There also seems to be some footage missing in the last couple of minutes, which results in abrupt edits and an unseemly rush to the finale.
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