That was an excellent one.

Dreadfully Boring

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Interesting mash-up of genres from MGM: part prison/crime drama and part romantic comedy. Two convicts (Chester Morris and Joseph Calleia) escape from prison and one is wounded. The other goes for help and comes back with a drunkard doctor (Lionel Barrymore) and a girl (Jean Arthur), who turns out to be Calleia's sister! Starts out as a fairly typical but enjoyable prison flick. Then there's a twist. I admit I didn't see the twist coming but in retrospect I should have. Others might peg it right away or see it in some plot descriptions. Anyway it changes gears once Jean Arthur enters the picture and becomes a sort of romcom for a little while, before returning to being a crime picture.Terrific cast really makes it worth seeing. In addition to Morris, Arthur, Barrymore, and Calleia, there's Lewis Stone, Paul Kelly, Paul Hurst, and George E. Stone. Ladies will appreciate a shirtless Barrymore washing his moobs in a bath. Spectacularly violent shoot-out between cops and criminal gang. Calleia's fate was obviously inspired by how John Dillinger met his end. Eliminate the final scene between Morris and Arthur and I might have bumped this up to a 7. Hated that part. Remade in 1941 as The Getaway with Robert Sterling and Donna Reed.

I liked the first portion of this film--it was a bit clichéd but very entertaining. You see a very brash crook (Chester Morris) having difficulty adjusting to being locked up in prison. He can't help but be noticed by everyone, as he leads prison riots and makes a nuisance of himself. Eventually, he and his cell-mate (Joseph Calleia) manage to escape and Calleia is badly injured in the process. So, it's up to Morris to get a doctor--and unfortunately the only one who will treat him without informing the police is a drunkard (Lionel Barrymore--in a very vivid and atypical sort of role). Along the way, Morris just happens to pick up a girl (Jean Arthur) who just happens to turn out to be Calleia's sister! Little does she or Calleia know that Morris is actually a government agent--sent to infiltrate the Purple Gang (of which Calleia is the boss).Up to this point, it's a highly improbable but entertaining film. However, making Arthur and Morris fall in love just seemed a bit too much--as did making Morris throw away the MONTHS and MONTHS of undercover work for her. This tended to slow down the film but despite this, it was still fun to watch. Not great but fun--in a mindless sort of way. Also, note the theater ending--obviously an attempt to cash in on the way they caught up with John Dillinger the previous year.By the way, this is a very, very close remake of "The Getaway" (1941). If you've seen either, it probably isn't worth seeing the other. Also, it's pretty ironic that Chester Morris plays this undercover agent, as one of the gang members that he betrays (and gets killed at the end) is George E. Stone--the same guy who played Morris' best-friend and sidekick in the Boston Blackie film series!!

Is a fine Irish-American girl whose strangely Italian (?) brother (named Sonny "Dinkie" Black) runs Detroit's Purple Gang. At least they are both Catholic. Beginning inside a prison, the film introduces the immortal Chester Morris as an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the gang and falls for Terry (played by Jean Arthur). They have a slick prison break sequence and a fair amount of action, romantic comedy, and Hollywood's on-going campaign to make G-Men public heroes. John Dillinger had been killed a few months before "Public Hero #1" went into production, they change the names and the city but recreate the events of his apprehension outside a theater. Forgotten actor Joseph Calleia plays the gang boss and brother. He has the most challenging role and does a fine job portraying a multi-dimensional character. Lionel Barrymore gets to overact nicely as a perpetually drunk mob doctor. "Public Hero #1" is a surprisingly good film. It's mix of genres is as strange as it sounds but that works in its favor if you like to get away from standard formula stories. While it lacks overall unity, the disparate pieces are quite well done and are very entertaining inside their own little compartments.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Public Hero #1 starts out as a conventional prison yarn, then switches to sophisticated screwball comedy, then back to shoot 'em up melodrama. Perhaps it is the way the cast handles the crackling dialogue by J Walter Reuben and Wells Root that makes this mixed-genre film so entertaining. It never sinks into torpidity, thanks in part to the introduction of Jean Arthur and Lionel Barrymore well into the proceedings. Until then it is up to Chester Morris to hold our interest, which he does robustly, as an undercover federal agent posing as a convict to trap bad guy Joseph Calleia and his gang. Barrymore, however, steals the show as a pickled-to-the-gills alcoholic mob doctor - the great ham at his hammiest. Calleia contributes a nicely textured portrait of a hardened but still human criminal. All in all, an energetic if contrived gangster story spiked with laughs, fun plot twists and colorful characters. The final moment is interesting. It's as if Chester Morris was itching to wrap and go home that day, didn't like the way the fade out was written, so he recklessly improvised the last line and the last blocking bit and then the director gave in and allowed it. See for yourself!