A newspaper reporter who is really a treasury agent brings a mobster to justice with the help of his girlfriend who does the accounts for said mobster. It is a routine Warner Brothers gangster film. It's main strength is the splendid dialogue such as the line above, a mixture of poetry and realism.
An underused Bette Davis and a bland George Brent as the accountant and the agent respectively are OK. Their scenes together are not as interesting as the gangster scenes. Ricardo Cortez (who did a good hero or a good villain) stands out as the chief mobster with the icy eyes. He is supported in his gang by a fine gallery of character actors like Jack La Rue, Joe Sawyer, J. Carrol Naish and Paul Guilfoyle. The unique Charles Middleton pops up for a brief scene as a policeman.
It was directed by William Keighley who made some better films but this one moves along nicely and doesn't outstay its welcome.
An underused Bette Davis and a bland George Brent as the accountant and the agent respectively are OK. Their scenes together are not as interesting as the gangster scenes. Ricardo Cortez (who did a good hero or a good villain) stands out as the chief mobster with the icy eyes. He is supported in his gang by a fine gallery of character actors like Jack La Rue, Joe Sawyer, J. Carrol Naish and Paul Guilfoyle. The unique Charles Middleton pops up for a brief scene as a policeman.
It was directed by William Keighley who made some better films but this one moves along nicely and doesn't outstay its welcome.