The Big Boss

I liked Gloria Dickson in this so I looked her up. I was shocked to learn that she died at the age of 27 in a fire.

Dickson's energetic performance was the best thing about this routine drama, The Big Boss from 1941, starring John Litel and Otto Kruger.

Good brother-bad brother story of Litel rising to the governorship of his state, coming up against manipulative mob boss Kruger.

Not for one second did I think Kruger was the bad brother. To me he looked so much older than Litel. In reality they were 7 years apart, which was probably right for the story, though as kids they looked about the same age.

Dickson is the stereotypical '40s female reporter.

Very routine.

Sheriff Ben Taggart is killed facing a lynch mob. He leaves two boys, one of whom grows up to be John Litel, lawyer, speechmaker, state legislator. Machine boss Otto Kruger offers him the governorship, with no strings attached. Litel takes it, and fights for anti-lynching laws, an end to the state chain gang, and the destruction of the money-driven political machine.

It's fun to watch Litel and Kruger face off against each other, but there are peculiar rhytms to this Columbia programmer with its echoes of older, better known movies. It's straightforward and rather bloodless, even Litel's courtship of newspaperwoman Gloria Dickson. It's a result of its 70-minute runtime and the too-efficient direction of Charles Barton. Still, there's a nice twist in the movie, made startling by the movie's speed.