Very well executed

People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely Fantastic

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

I, the jury, pardon all the usual suspects for this interesting expose of an illegal parole racket where the narrative hooks you right away. The sound of a man's voice closes in on the speaker who is revealed to be the badly bruised Michael O'Shea, a federal investigator telling his story of exposing the racket, headed by ruthless Turhan Hey and aided by sassy same Evelyn Ankers, giving up her title as scream queen to go down Ann Savage/Barbara Payton territory. Smartly written, this exposes what is right about the parole system and what is definitely wrong with it. Starting off with the allegation that parolees are likely to commit more crimes when out, it uses that hook to make you mad enough to see what it has to say. As O'Shea is warned, he has a lot to watch out for, considering that his predecessors were either found filled with bullets, or not found period.Ankers makes a fine vixen, pretending to get drunk on a date with O'Shea to find out who he really is, while Virginia Lee is quite good as the wife if a decent man paroled who pays for betraying the racket. Tight editing and fast pacing make this one of the better racket films that has enough elements of film noir to be lightly categorized in that genre.

I really didn't expect much from this film, I thought it would be a cute film since Turhan Bey and Evelyn Ankers was in it but I never thought it would be as serious and good of a film as it turned out to be.Lyle Talbot is FBI agent Richard Hendricks- one of the Feds. He out to bust a parole ring. It's up to Hendricks alone to keep from getting caught as he is surrounded by a gang of criminals while trying to find out how they are doing it, which gang members are involved and which parole board members are involved.The film actually engrossed me from the very start - there are a couple of cute moments as the film is in it's conclusion but it is a drama - a good crime drama.8/10

Lively actor O'Shea manages to give a lift to this otherwise routine programmer. For some reason these 'undercover' crime films were popular at the time, maybe because of the built-in suspense of being found out by the gangsters. Anyhow, Hendricks (O'Shea) manages to infiltrate a gang that sells paroles to imprisoned convicts. Heading up the gang, in a twist, is the lovely Evelyn Ankers, otherwise known as the queen of scream for her many horror movie roles. Making a belated appearance as the gang's attorney is the sleekly swarthy Turhan Bey (Rodescu).I'm not sure why the narrative is told in flashback from Hendricks' hospital bed. Maybe to assure audiences that whatever the dangers, he survives. I wish there were something especially noteworthy about this exercise. There may not be, but the movie's smoothly done, surprisingly so for tightly budgeted independent production (Orbit Productions). Okay as a harmless time passer.

There have been a lot of paroles. The board is corrupt. O'Shea is sent to infiltrate those suspected of being on the take. He is able to sweet talk his way into the confidences of the ring, but eventually, he must face the real leader, played by Turhan Bay (What a name). Anyway, the plot thickens and one of his confidantes gets killed. It bothers me a bit that even though the guy was a criminal, he had a nice human quality to him. There is some slipshod police work and O'Shea, who looks a little like the mummy in a hospital room, narrates into a giant microphone, telling what happened. I guess a movie in the forties isn't going to have anyone think that the good guys are vulnerable, though he does take quite a beating. This is one of those little films that one barely pays any attention to.