That was an excellent one.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

***SPOILERS*** Hard hitting writing and take no BS investigative reporter Tim Haydon, John Garfield, who's been a torn in the butt of New York City Mob Boss Bull Bransom, Stanley Fields, gets himself arrested to end up in the notorious Blackwell's Island on the East River for slugging Manhattan District Attorney Hampel, William B. Davidson. That's after Bransom was sent there for an assault and battery against NYPD cop Terry Walsh, Dick Parcell, after his men tried to murder hospitalized boat captain Pedersen, Wade Boteler, that officer Welsh tried to prevent. Pedersen who refused to pay protection money to the Bransom Mob was later murdered, together with Oficer Welsh, by them after his testimony sent Bransom for a six month "vacation" to Blackwell's Isand.Hayden as an inmate at Blackwell's Island is actually working undercover for the NYC D.A's office in order to expose the corruption that's going on there that Bransom is wholly responsible for. Yet at the same time befriends Bransom in order to get on his good side as well as get the goods on him and his paid off stooge Warden Stuart "Stu" Granger, Granville Bates. It's later when Bransom gets wind of what Hayden is really up to he sets him up to be shot trying to escape from the island. A plan that backfires on him and ends up sending Bransom up the river in Sing Sing Prison on murder extortion as well as racketeering charges for the next 99 years!John Garfield who would have celebrated his 100 birthday yesterday March 4, 2013, he didn't lived long enough to celebrate his 40th, in one of his first tough guy roles that he soon was to became famous for is very convincing as reporter Tim Hayden who goes all out to take down big time mobster Bull Bransom as an act of both justice as well as revenge for his goons murdering his girlfriend Sunny Welsh,Rosemary Lane, brother Officer Terry Welsh and does it John Garfield style. He also has help from the new straight as an arrow and incorruptible Correction Commissioner Thomas MacNair,Victor Jory, who ends up not only putting Boss Bransom away for good but his stooge of a warden "Stu" Granger and his entire paid off,by Mob Boss Bransom, prison crew as well.

On the waterfront in New York City, practical joking extortionist Stanley Fields (as Bull Bransom) is not amused when reporter John Garfield (as Tim Haydon) starts writing a series of articles exposing his racket. After beating up policeman Dick Purcell (as Terry Walsh), Mr. Fields is sentenced to "Blackwell's Island". But Fields soon has the prison operating like his private country club, with criminal activity continuing. Mr. Garfield goes undercover as an inmate to investigate. Playing Mr. Purcell's pretty sister, nurse Rosemary Lane (as Sunny), provides Garfield with a romantic interest.**** Blackwell's Island (3/2/39) William McGann ~ John Garfield, Stanley Fields, Dick Purcell, Rosemary Lane

Blackwell's Island (1939) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Interesting if not totally successful Warner film that mixes their gangster pictures with their prison films of the time. A gangster gets sent to prison but he's having an easier time calling the shots there so a reporter (John Garfield) enters to try and see what's going on. There's a strange mixture of laughs and thrills in this picture that comes off pretty strange. The gangster in the picture is played for nothing but laughs and this includes him constantly playing pranks on people. The film's screemplay is pretty weak and doesn't offer too much that we haven't seen in countless other Warner dramas. The one big bonus is the terrific performance by Garfield.

This is like a lot of crime movies from Warner Brothers and RKO. In some ways, it seems a vehicle for John Garfield. And Garfield is extremely appealing as an honorable reporter.The fascinating part is Stanley Fields, though. He plays the vicious mob boss who is an overgrown kid. He plays practical jokes. He is barely literate but love the funny papers. His two dogs are as nasty as he is and they accompany him to jail. In jail, he sets himself and his cronies up in the infirmary, throwing out all the legitimately sick people. There he plays with a model train set.The plot is plausible. Garfield is Good. The Lane sister who gets high billing has only a few lines so who can judge. But Fields's character is the shocker here.