A Gun in His Hand

This is a very unusual installment of the Crime Does Not Pay series in that the bad guy in this one is a cop! Officer Nordell (Tom Trout) just completed his training in the police academy and you then discover that he's always been a member of organized crime! He joined the police force in order to be an inside man and help the crooks!

When Nordell is discovered by one of his fellow policemen, Nordell kills him--shooting him down with his service revolver. However, the police learn that the slug was from a police gun and begin examining the guns of all officers. Not surprisingly, Nordell switched guns to avoid detection but you know, like all the Crime Does Not Pay films, that ultimately evil will be caught and punished.

This is a decent short film, though the resolution seemed a bit too easy. Still, it is enjoyable and worth your time.

By the way, this is the second film in which Anthony Caruso appears. Caruso played great noir villains and even parodied this on the "Star Trek" episode "A Piece of the Action".

In this police procedural with a twist, a group of police graduates are told the story of Dennis Nordell, a fellow graduate who went through all the training simply to use his new knowledge to become a better criminal, learning what not to do, as he put it. He and his gang then proceed to successfully knock off many liquor warehouses. But how will they eventually be caught?

I've always liked these Crime Does Not Pay shorts, having seen most on TCM. (even the copy I saw on YouTube is from a TCM airing) This one is directed by Joseph Losey, which is why I went into it, but I would've enjoyed it regardless. These shorts are always simple but interesting, designed to show the public to not even bother; you will be caught. Even in the days before computers and other hi-tech equipment, the departments could still be highly sophisticated in their own way.

As usual with these shorts, there were a few familiar faces, the most notable being Richard Gaines as Inspector Dana and Anthony Caruso as Frankie, but apparently Hugh Beaumont and good ol' Ray Teal are hanging around out back too. ;)

Tom Trout is a new graduate from the police academy. His future looks bright. He led the class in many of his subjects. He is also a crook. He had a clean record and figured that the best way to plan a crime is to learn how the police investigate one. Can he be on to something, or will he learn, as many a studio audience has, that CRIME DOES NOT PAY?

This short subject was nominated for an Oscar and it's easy to see why in retrospect. It very daringly concerns itself with police malfeasance. It's a common enough complaint these days, but in an era where the gang wars of Prohibition were not far away, the idea that the foot soldier in the fight against crime might be a problem was a shocker. Usually corruption, pay-offs from the hoods spread from the top in the popular mind.

The MGM back lot sure looks darker and more foreboding here than it does in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN.

"Nordell" (Tom Trout) is your ideal policeman. Top of his class, studious and meticulous and destined to go far in the force. We know, however, that he has other plans and that he using his skills and his knowledge of internal procedures to lead a gang on some daring warehouse robberies. His colleagues are baffled until one of their number cottons on to their diversionary the strategy and is gunned down. With police efforts redoubled, can "Nordell" keep pulling the wool over their eyes? It's part of the "Crime Does Not Pay" series so jeopardy there isn't, but this is still quite a decent short drama on the ingenuity of both the criminal and the forensic expertise of the scientists. Trout is actually quite effective as the cocksure officer and though the denouement is both rushed and a bit disappointing, it at least sets up a more substantial story to illustrate it's point.

This is the story of a young man who knew what he wanted to be once he graduated from the police academy: a thief. Once Dennis Nordell becomes an officer of the law, his grand scheming falls perfectly into place. Officer Nordell walks his beat through the day and plans robberies of liquor warehouses at night. Because Officer Nordell knows the whereabouts of his fellow officers up to the minute, he can plan without fail many robberies over several weeks.

Once Nordell murders a fellow police officer during a robbery, clues start to fall into place and Nordell starts to head unknowingly into a trap. Police headquarters suspect Nordell, but leave it to Nordell to hang himself while taking charge of the investigation. Nordell complies by tampering with evidence. Nordell goes a step too far by trying to put the finger on a street thug who literally doesn't have the fingers required to leave any fingerprints.

This story plays out like a decaffeinated CSI TV show. You won't have to sit through an hour to see how the robberies get figured out, nor will you have to wade through minutes and minutes of beer and car commercials. Best of all, you won't have to watch guys with perpetual two-day beards in khaki pants solve anything.

It's very dated, but who isn't these days….7/10.

Clark Richards