Hanging around with a man of ill repute gets shopgirl Merna Kennedy in deep trouble thanks to her agreement that no matter what, she'll keep her mouth shut. Theodore Von Eltz basically bribes her into being his alibi for a murder (with her ending up with the gun) then when she becomes the wife of a prominent man (and stepmother to four year old Shirley Temple) blackmails her into getting him $10,000 so he can get out of the country. The gun comes in pretty handy when she finds herself and her new family in jeopardy, but this stirs up a whole new pot of trouble.
Crackling prints and slow pacing, along with a cliched script and poor acting make this poverty row pre-code crime drama only moderately interesting only because director Christy Cabane tries to get this out of the sound studio and onto the streets. Kennedy is supposed to be young and innocent, but she seems a good decade older than what the part calls for.
Temple, already in her trademark curls, isn't as cloying as she would later be but is obviously being led around the set in her few scenes and doesn't seem really comfortable. Some ridiculous twists erupt to be quite a convenient way to turn the plot around as it tries painfully to resolve its plotline.
Crackling prints and slow pacing, along with a cliched script and poor acting make this poverty row pre-code crime drama only moderately interesting only because director Christy Cabane tries to get this out of the sound studio and onto the streets. Kennedy is supposed to be young and innocent, but she seems a good decade older than what the part calls for.
Temple, already in her trademark curls, isn't as cloying as she would later be but is obviously being led around the set in her few scenes and doesn't seem really comfortable. Some ridiculous twists erupt to be quite a convenient way to turn the plot around as it tries painfully to resolve its plotline.