Strong and Moving!

One of my all time favorites.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

"Make hay while the sun shines and whoopee while the moon shines." So speaks Evelyn Brent, the glamorous operator of a casino where the booze flows as the bullets fly. With Brent's line, you know that you are in the world of pre-code Hollywood where pretty much anything goes. This drama focuses on Brent's love for decent Regis Toomey, the son of the cop who killed her father. Add in other elements of organized crime muscling in on her, and you've got a pretty spicy tale of cafe society when sobriety was not an option no matter what the law said.Other than some moments when certain actors speak very slowly, this is a rather interesting look at what was going on during that free for all era of prohibition. Brent's not quite a Texas Guinan or Sophie Tucker, but don't let her all American girl look fool you. Toomey, better in supporting parts, remains one of the true curiosities as a leading man, being totally bland. This reminded me of "Shopworn", another pre-code drama with similar themes, except in that film, it was a possessive mother father than a disproving father that also featured Toomey. Ralfe Harold a rather slimy rival. As pre- code films go, this is an early talkie example of how enjoyable they could be, even if the technical standards needed improving.

I am really shocked that "Framed" is not a more famous film. I am also surprised that it's somehow lapsed into the public domain--an inglorious ending to a terrific gangster film.Evelyn Brent plays Rose Manning--one of the hardest dames you could ever see in Pre-Code gangster films. Shortly after the film begins, Rose learns that the one person in life she cared about, her father, has been killed in a shootout with the cops. She blames Inspector McArthur (William Holden--NOT the one you're thinking about, but an older actor of the same name) and wants her revenge. However, she's a smart cookie and her revenge will be slow in coming. In the meantime, she becomes pals with a hood named Bing (the aptly named Maurice Black) and they open a classy gambling hall named after her.Time passes and finally you learn of Rose's plan. She has seduced Inspector McArthur's very naive son, Jimmy (Regis Toomey) and she knows this will drive the Inspector nuts! How did she do it? She convinced the young dummy that she is an innocent lady who truly loves him! Not surprisingly, when Jimmy tells his father, there is a HUGE blowup between them and Jimmy won't believe that his fiancée is a criminal. However, Bing is NOT a subtle sort of guy. Despite Rose's plan, he decides the best thing to do is just kill Jimmy. But when Rose learns of this, you see that this hard-hearted dame MIGHT just have fallen for the squirt. What's next? See this film.This film has so much going for it. Most importantly, at the time this film was made, Radio Pictures was doing a great job with sound pictures. I have seen several of their films from 1929-1930 and the sound is VERY clear and the actors don't tend to stand around hidden microphones--a serious problem with many of the early talkies. Additionally, the film, while a tad sentimental at the end, is great because the bad people really are awful and the film avoids pulling its punches. I'd stack this crime film up along side the best of the genre of the day ("Little Caesar", "Scarface" and "The Public Enemy")--due to wonderful writing, acting and a professional production all around. Well worth seeing--and available for free download at archive.org.

No one did sulky/sultry quite like Evelyn Brent. She really hit her stride in the late 1920s with parts in a couple of Josef von Sternberg ground breaking films. When talkies came along she was thought enough of by Paramount to be cast in their first all talkie production, "Interference", and no one in the cast (not even William Powell) seemed more natural or at ease in front of a mike than Evelyn. Even though Paramount had her pegged for stardom she was mysteriously let go amid rumours of temperament but Brent claimed that as an independent woman she was just speaking her mind. Fortunately for film fans her brand of "bad girl" continued to be in demand and in "Framed" she gives a blistering performance which makes you wonder why she didn't find stardom - especially when Ralf Harolde, who plays "Chuck" gives a very mannered, stagy performance, obviously still finding his "talkie" feet!!Film opens (and closes) with an innovatively filmed interrogation scene in which Rose Manning is grilled by the police and realises that they may have killed her father. Five years later a vengeful Rose is now a nightclub hostess but still planning the demise of police chief "Butch" McArthur (William Holden) - through his son, persistent nightclub patron Jimmie (Regis Toomey - did he ever play a tough guy - I doubt it!!) There is more than enough evidence to suggest with Harolde's "madly mugging" performance that he was the real killer of Rose's dad. The result is an okay crime meller (to give audiences of the day their gangster fix) with some interesting camera angles that only the smaller studios seemed game enough to try.Tough talking Brent keeps the action flowing and is the main reason to watch. Her costumes are gorgeous and must have blown Radio's yearly budget - there is a silver geometric evening dress and one with feathers - how could any man resist her?

I recently caught this one on the internet archives,since i like gangster movies like public enemy and scarface i had a feeling i would enjoy this one even though its a b movie from rko radio pictures that would make a blockbuster movie 3 years later,that movie of course was king Kong that broke all box office records and saved rko from going bankrupt.the story is simple a gangsters daughter is being questioned from the police because her dad and a cop were both killed.she is bullied by a police official and she vows to get revenge afterwords.years later she is the co owner of a nightclub and becomes romantically involved with the police officials son.but does'nt know its his son until someone tells her.not giving away spoilers but this is a good movie made around the same time as public enemy and little ceasar.8 out of 10