George Brent and Bette Davis appeared in 11 movies together and while they didn't exactly have the smoldering chemistry of Bogie and Bacall, they worked very well as a team. Sort of old and comfortable, like an old married couple who are still very fond of each other.
George's character is a newspaper reporter, Bill Bradford. His girlfriend, cute little Julie Gardner (Bette) is a bookkeeper for notorious gangster Alexander Carston (Ricardo Cortez). She certainly doesn't seem like a hardened moll but she explains this anomaly away by stating she was young and naive and in need of a job when Carston offered her the position. She had no idea what it would entail, but the main thing is keeping his books in a private code, thereby assisting him with tax evasion, amongst several other crimes.
It's not like she is actively helping Carston get away with things, but her quick knowledge of his affairs makes her very valuable to him...and to the Feds. One thing neither she nor her boss is aware of is that Bill, the nondescript newspaper reporter, is actually a special agent. He is trying to take down Carston, and is determined to do so, even though the racketeer has been brought up on charges 50 times yet still seems to slither out of his accuser's grasps, time and again . Eventually Bill lets Julie know who he really is, and she agrees to help him get the goods on her boss. If Carston finds out, it is certain death for her, as he has a habit of dispatching those who are not faithful to him. She allows one of the feds in to 'photostat' the doctored books and gives them the code to decipher. Carston, though fond of Julie, sort of figures out what she's done. He's not certain, but she is a dangling loose end so he sends two of his thugs to pick her up at the courthouse, pretending to be lawmen.
There is, of course, a shoot-em-up, which is actually a little funny. The windows and walls and a few bodies are peppered with bullets...yet nothing seems to happen other than a few bullet holes and men dropping over, completely intact. Also, the rat-a-tat of the gun goes on for several seconds after the shooting, making it feel like we're in a dubbed movie and the timing is off...
My only complaint is the too-loud rinkety-tinkety background music that was SO annoying I eventually turned the sound off and the closed- captioning on. Bless the people who are involved in the closed caption process on these old movies. Sometimes, between the background music and the actor's rapid-fire delivery, I would certainly miss a lot if not for the time and trouble taken to help those of us who are hearing-impared
George's character is a newspaper reporter, Bill Bradford. His girlfriend, cute little Julie Gardner (Bette) is a bookkeeper for notorious gangster Alexander Carston (Ricardo Cortez). She certainly doesn't seem like a hardened moll but she explains this anomaly away by stating she was young and naive and in need of a job when Carston offered her the position. She had no idea what it would entail, but the main thing is keeping his books in a private code, thereby assisting him with tax evasion, amongst several other crimes.
It's not like she is actively helping Carston get away with things, but her quick knowledge of his affairs makes her very valuable to him...and to the Feds. One thing neither she nor her boss is aware of is that Bill, the nondescript newspaper reporter, is actually a special agent. He is trying to take down Carston, and is determined to do so, even though the racketeer has been brought up on charges 50 times yet still seems to slither out of his accuser's grasps, time and again . Eventually Bill lets Julie know who he really is, and she agrees to help him get the goods on her boss. If Carston finds out, it is certain death for her, as he has a habit of dispatching those who are not faithful to him. She allows one of the feds in to 'photostat' the doctored books and gives them the code to decipher. Carston, though fond of Julie, sort of figures out what she's done. He's not certain, but she is a dangling loose end so he sends two of his thugs to pick her up at the courthouse, pretending to be lawmen.
There is, of course, a shoot-em-up, which is actually a little funny. The windows and walls and a few bodies are peppered with bullets...yet nothing seems to happen other than a few bullet holes and men dropping over, completely intact. Also, the rat-a-tat of the gun goes on for several seconds after the shooting, making it feel like we're in a dubbed movie and the timing is off...
My only complaint is the too-loud rinkety-tinkety background music that was SO annoying I eventually turned the sound off and the closed- captioning on. Bless the people who are involved in the closed caption process on these old movies. Sometimes, between the background music and the actor's rapid-fire delivery, I would certainly miss a lot if not for the time and trouble taken to help those of us who are hearing-impared