Victor McLaglen's wife has died, and he broods over it and the scars he has accumulated. He settles on munitions manufacturer Walter Connolly and kidnaps his infant daughter, then hands him to his sister and brother-in-law, and prepares to leave. Before he can, he's picked up on another charge and spends twenty years in prison, with Peter Lorre as his puling cell mate. Released, he goes to find his sister long dead, his brother-in-law dying, and the kidnapped girl, June Lang, delighted with her father. Connolly, whom he runs into, is sympathetic, and offers him a job as a gardener on his Long Island estate. As his fondness for Miss Lang grows, he finds that Lorre has stolen his papers proving her identity and offered another woman as Connolly's daughter.
It seems a role tailor-made for the star of The Informer, even though the part was offered to Wallace Beery with Otto Preminger as director. Attitudes ensued, and. George Marshall wound up directing and.... well, something's wrong. Perhaps it's McLaglen's constant attitude of sullenness, perhaps it's Barney McGill's crime-drama cinematography. The story is still interesting, but what emerges on the screen is interesting, rather than compelling.
It seems a role tailor-made for the star of The Informer, even though the part was offered to Wallace Beery with Otto Preminger as director. Attitudes ensued, and. George Marshall wound up directing and.... well, something's wrong. Perhaps it's McLaglen's constant attitude of sullenness, perhaps it's Barney McGill's crime-drama cinematography. The story is still interesting, but what emerges on the screen is interesting, rather than compelling.