Framed

Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) loses her criminal father in a police shootout. She is interrogated by police inspector Butch McArthur and she vows revenge. Five years later, she is the hostess in a casino owned by bootlegger Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde) who has his eyes on her. She falls for Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey) before knowing that his father is the man she hates.

This is a pre-Code crime drama. I really like the premise and Evelyn Brent has ballsy energy. The longtime actress was able to make the transition from silent to talkie. I'm not completely in love with this relationship. It's a bit bland. Mostly, he's a bit bland. I wouldn't mind a few more scenes with Chuck doing violent crimes. That would elevate the tension. All in all, this is good enough.

The career of Evelyn Brent probably peaked in the end of the silent era. She made three pics with von Sternberg (Underworld; Last Command; and The Dragnet) and a solid effort with William Wellman (Woman Trap) and did make the jump to talkies, but none of HER pics were successful. This one is mostly straight revenge, taking out her emotions through the cop's son, played by a very young William Holden. Brent has an undisputable presence, and an intriguing nose, and her gowns and dresses are frequently revealing...one or two are cut so low in the back that they would be fashionable and mildly daring today. Fans of early talkies will love this!

This is a solid gangster film. It's interesting as it is precode and it's very sinister on multiple levels.

The plot does take twists and turns and it keeps you interested. The performances are solid, sufficient, believable, but seeing once is enough....

It's yet another revenge drama, and like "Paid", the woman marries the son of the man she holds responsible for killing her father (as opposed to the guy who sent Crawford up the river). The opening is cops surrounding Brent interrogating her about a cop killing. She refuses to talk, including when she's presented with a police lineup that includes the killer.

Five years later, Brent works as a "hostess" at the casino run by Ralf Harolde. She's his mistress, but every night Toomey comes and grins blandly as she works the crowd. Seriously, there is way more chemistry between Brent and Harolde. Once Brent discovers Toomey is the son of the man who killed her father, she marries him. Do you know, I saw this movie a week ago and I can't remember the rest? Only that Harolde has men assassinated in front of the SAME drugstore at the SAME time every time! You'd think the cops would at least stake it out.

Side note: Evelyn Brent made a hit in Josef von Sternberg's "Underworld" (1927) as "Feathers", a tough gangster's moll. Humorist S. J. Perelman wrote in the New Yorker piece"Smugglers In The Dust": FEATHERS: (eyes smoldering) Hello, you two-timing bastard.

TYRONE: What's the matter, Feathers?

FEATHERS: Nothing. I always say that when I enter a room.

... with some Hitchcockian irony thrown in. This was certainly a good vehicle for Evelyn Brent who plays Rose Manning. The first scene is her surrounded by cops acting like a football team. Maybe if they confuse her with enough questions she'll confess? In this case they are looking for the killer of her father. Two of his associates are shown to her in a lineup and she says she does not know them.

Meanwhile she is sure that Police Inspector "Butch" McArthur (William Holden...no not THAT William Holden) is responsible for her beloved dad's murder, and years later she still wants revenge.. She goes to work for gangster Chuck Gaines (Raf Harolde) as a hostess at his nightclub. At least I THINK that's her job. She doesn't sing or dance, just goes from table to table. The front story to keep the customers off of her is that she is Gaines' girl. Problem is, the story is apparently so convincing even Gaines believes it. A young guy is at the club night after night (Regis Toomey as Jimmy) who is head over heels for Rose and wants to marry her, taking up all of Rose's time. She thinks he is just a sweet kid until she finds out Jimmy is actually the inspector's son, the son of the man she think killed her dad. What worse revenge could she send upon him than to have a gun moll as his daughter in law? Meanwhile Chuck Gaines is a dumb gangster or the police are even more dumb. First off, Raf Harolde portrays his gangster more as cowardly weasel than brains of a syndicate. Jimmy Cagney he is not. But then WB in its prime RKO is not either, so what can I say? Gaines never does the killing himself, he always sends his doorman out to do the job, dressed up in a costume as obvious as an organ grinder, and uses the same corner drugstore and the same time (midnight) for all of his hits. The owner of the all night drugstore, the police, and the fact that it is all of Gaines' old friends that are being bumped off should make somebody wise to this guy's ways.

How does this all work out? Very ironically in a way you'd never guess. Yes some of the scenes are laughable, but overall it is one of the better early talkie films I've seen from that year.