It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's a 62 minute shortie distributed by Pathe Pictures, in this case, made by Producers Releasing Corp. Production quality.. the picture and the sound are just TERRIBLE, but I guess we're lucky to have this one still around in any condition. John Litel is Mike Lynn, a local bigshot who is kidnapped and brought to the home of a thug, played by John Miljan. The thugs want a cut of all the local commerce going on. Florence Rice is Linda Gregory, the nosy newspaper reporting who wants to bust the story wide open, but they convince her to hold off, so the workers' families won't be harmed. (Rice would only make one more film after this one... wasn't working out, I guess.) The story trudges along, exactly as expected. Jean Brooks is in here as "Iris", a supporting player. Brooks was a familiar face from the "Falcon" detective films, but the actress died quite young. According to wikipedia she was once married to erich von stroheim ! It's okay... nothing to write home about. Even HB Warner, who was so GREAT in Lost Horizon (and everything else he did) is pretty cardboard in this one. Part of a three-film set from DSSP.

Creeping along at the pace of a drunken snail, this is an obvious crime drama about the most common type of racket on film: those demanding protection fees and the use of their own suppliers. Ridiculously static with a dreadful print to boot, this suffers from long pauses, loud moments of silence and maudlin music. It is obvious from the start who is behind the big boss's door and this removes all suspense. Unrelated to the Big Town series of radio, film and television, this has a surprising B+ cast who are directed horribly and given clichéd dialog that was trite 10 years before this. Such favorite screen veterans such as John Litel, Florence Rice, H.B. Warner, Frank Ferguson and Mary Gordon try unsuccessfully to rise above the less than mediocre surroundings they are stuffed into, and the results are truly pitiful.

Considering that the film was made by tiny PRC, it sure could have been a lot worse! I know this isn't exactly a glowing endorsement, but it is better than about 75% of the films I've seen from this so-called 'Poverty Row' studio! Now I know this isn't going to get you to rush to see it, BUT if you are bored you can download it for free from the link on IMDb.The film begins with mobsters muscling in on the produce business. When people refuse to play along with them, 'accidents' happen! The problem is that although the police can catch the individual gang members, the identity of Mr. Big is uncertain--and eventually calls for some undercover work.As another reviewer pointed out, the message from this film was very patriotic and was emphasizing the importance of price controls and self-sacrifice during time of war. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't make that point very interestingly and the boss' sudden change of heart made zero sense at all---leading to a very unsatisfying finale. Still, the acting wasn't bad and it wasn't bad...just not all that good either.

This B film from PRC Studios which did nothing but B films was brought out quickly after Pearl Harbor to emphasize the importance of rationing and price control. The wholesale food and produce markets have always been a target of racketeering. During the Thirties one of Tom Dewey's investigations was against Ciro Terranova the Artichoke king who controlled several wholesale markets. But with the war you have the added dimension of war profiteering and hence the people involved were considered traitors.John Litel, usually a most competent supporting player, is the lead in The Boss Of The Big Town. He's in charge of the wholesale market which John Miljan the racketeer is threatening. Being stymied in all directions, Litel decides it's better to join them than fight them. Of course he's really going undercover to find out who the boss really is.It's not just that The Boss Of The Big Town has the usual shoddy production values associated with PRC films, but the script really makes no kind of sense at all. Especially during the final confrontation scene with The Boss Of Big Town where Litel tells him something that brings about a 180 degree change in attitude. A little too late for a man who Litel only seconds earlier was calling a '6th columnist' and the object of that term was lapping it up. And if you can't figure out who the boss is you have not seen too many of these films.