Upon release from the penitentiary, Phillip Whitney tells his friend, Bennie, that he is going straight, and visits his lawyer brother John. Phillip looks up to John and while incarcerated maintained contact with him through a continental mailing agency. As John has no idea he was in prison, Phillip tells him that he has just returned from Japan.
Acting
Anthony Bushell's shifty charm as the lying ex-con.
Direction
Richard Thorpe's efficient MGM studio craftsmanship.
Director
Richard Thorpe
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Richard Thorpe directed over 180 films, including five Tarzan pictures and two Elvis vehicles. This early crime programmer shows his lean efficiency.
Pre-Code films like this slipped moral complexity past censors before the 1934 Production Code crackdown — note the unrepentant criminal protagonist.
US
