Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Eric Linden (Corporal Greg Carroll), Ben Alexander (Sergeant Paul), Donald Curtis (Lieutenant John Harmon), Ann Doran (Linda), Constance Worth (Alma Barton), Boyd Irwin (Colonel Longstreet), George Lynn (Professor Carroll), Weldon Heyburn (Sergeant Blake), Robert Frazer (Captain Bryant), I. Stanford Jolley (Carl Flegler), Dudley Dickerson (Sam), Bernice Pilot (Mamie), Ray Erlenborn (Private Norton), Dennis Moore (Stanley Hume), Earle Hodgins (Wallace, military intelligence), William Ruhl (Captain Gray), Emmett Vogan (Harold), Jack Cheatham (Martin, military intelligence), Bill Cartledge (elevator operator). Director: Joseph H. LEWIS. Screenplay: Edward Bennett. Story: Arthur Hoerl. Film editor: Howard Dillinger. Photography: Arthur Martinelli. Wardrobe supervisor: Emanuel Glussman. Production manager: Earl Sheffer. Assistant director: William Strohbach. Sound recording: Ben Winkler, Arthur B. Smith. Producer: E.B. Derr. Executive producer: George R. Batcheller.Copyright 13 June 1941 by Producers Releasing Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 27 June 1941. 7 reels. 70 minutes. Alternative title: ARMY MYSTERY. SYNOPSIS: Spies infiltrate an army base. Suspicion falls on a young corporal, though anyone with half a brain (except, of course, the deadheads in army intelligence) would realize that he was the least likely person in the entire camp.COMMENT: Ingeniously directed by Joseph H. Lewis to pad out a meager budget by actually shooting both outside and inside the studio sound stages, this PRC effort emerges as a reasonably captivating little thriller, helped out by some attractive performers, not least of which is Eric Linden who turns in a much classier job here as the principal hero than he did as Norman Foster's helpmate in "Ladies Crave Excitement". Both heroine Ann Doran and sultry heavy Constance Worth also appeal, while Dudley Dickerson and Bernice Pilot provide some fair comic relief.

CRIMINALS WITHIN is another forgettable and worthless crime thriller from an era full of such films. It seems like producers didn't let a lack of money or talent put them off churning out B-picture after B-picture and this one is particularly devoid of enthusiasm. The hero is the brother of a mad scientist who gets killed by enemy spies. The hero decides to go hunting the spy ring himself but nefarious elements within the army are working against him. It sounds like it could get thrilling but it never is, going through all of the elements with a distinct lack of relish and featuring below par performances throughout. It's a real dud.

This early semi-noir – which was actually shelved for some two years! – from director Lewis (who would later deservedly acquire a cult reputation) is a thoroughly routine if convoluted programmer, albeit pacy and short enough to be tolerable nonetheless.Being a wartime production, of course, it involves secret formulas and foreign agents – while the young military hero is, for most of the duration, mistaken for both murderer and spy (actually, the eminent scientist killed in the opening moments is his brother). He's later joined by a female reporter in his effort to outwit the villains – who use a cobbler shop in the vicinity of a U.S. military base (already infiltrated by two members) to pass information to the enemy. For the record, the film includes some now politically incorrect footage involving colored persons employed in servile capacities (even if they get to take part in the climax naturally depicting the comeuppance of the spy ring); by the way, the wrap-up to the film is most abrupt!Though, as I said, Lewis would eventually become a force to be reckoned with in "Film Noir" (MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS [1945], GUN CRAZY [1950] and THE BIG COMBO [1955]), there's very little evidence of the style typically associated with the genre here. Incidentally, another early film of his I'd watched was the mildly entertaining Bela Lugosi vehicle INVISIBLE GHOST (1941); this, then, reminds me that I've recently acquired another popular 'B' horror effort which Lewis directed – namely THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET (1942), starring Lionel Atwill, and which I may get to sooner rather than later on the strength of this (being from the same era and all)

Joseph Lewis, later renowned for lifting standards above what might be expected for the second features that he was generally given to direct, through adept management of his actors as well as skillful editing, simply goes through the motions here with a low-budget PRC film that is completed in 1941, before formal entry of the United States into World War II, and it is a carelessly written espionage tale akin to pulp fiction of its day, with scant cinematic substance and ragged production values. When Professor Carroll, a U.S. Army scientist is murdered after formulating a powerful chemical explosive, Military Intelligence assumes the criminal investigation, leading to an apparent foreign spy ring that, along with M.I., is seeking to forestall inquiries being made by Carroll's younger brother, Army Corporal Greg (Eric Linden) whose aim (while AWOL) of locating his sibling's killer interferes with his pursuers as Greg is known to have had in his possession a list of other researchers involved in the development of the explosive who are, therefore, in danger. Greg's slapdash antics while escaping from his Post stockade and from military investigators, as well as from a contingent of spies, are entertaining only to him but Linda (Ann Doran), a reporter, takes an interest in Corporal Carroll because she needs more information from him in order to complete and file a news story about the affair, and the two are presently in trouble from all sides, especially from a diverse collection of alien agents, all seemingly as American as apple pie. This is a disappointing effort with often startlingly trite dialogue that renders ineffective any attempts by the players to create believable roles, and spirit is missing from a narrative within which nothing results from anything. However, there are veteran troupers on board here who give better service than their assigned lines deserve. A scene stealing comedic Negro couple, played by Dudley Dickerson and Bernice Pilot, give nicely natural performances, while acting honours go to Doran, whom fate has determined will be underrated, as she gives life to her part, and it is pleasant to watch Dennis Moore, although in a small part; capable Donald Curtis is trounced by his largely silly lines and Constance Worth appears to be playing to a mirror in a film that moves briskly but includes precious few sequences that will be of any interest to most viewers.