The Devil's Party

A good story idea and a good performance by Victor McLaglen make this crime feature work well, despite some weaknesses in other areas. The premise is a good one that holds many possibilities, and in general the story makes solid use of them. The production has a low-budget look to it, but most of the time this doesn't get in the way. The rest of the cast never comes up to McLaglen's level, and this is probably the main thing that keeps it from being better. It's still pretty good.

The setup has McLaglen's character Marty, as a boy, as part of a five-member gang (which includes one girl) in Hell's Kitchen. Caught in the act of one of their crimes, Marty is the only one caught and sent to the reformatory. Then the main story starts, with the five of them now adults, and holding a reunion. As the only former convict, Marty owns a night club and gambling house, while the others include a singer, a priest, and two police officers.

The story that follows tests the relationships among all of the old friends, and sometimes pits their new relationships against the old ones. As a result, there are some good moments of drama and suspense. McLaglen fleshes out Marty quite well, bringing out his character and the way that it has been shaped by events. If the other characters had approached his in depth, it could have been quite compelling.

The rest of the cast is adequate, and the pacing also keeps things moving, but the one-dimensional nature of the other characters often keeps it from grabbing you as much as it could have. It's still well above average for its time and genre.

The film begins with a group of five kids playing around a warehouse. They accidentally light the place ablaze and run when the police arrive. However, one of the gang (Marty) is caught and he refuses to tell them who else was involved. So, he takes the rap for everyone and ends up growing into a guy who is a shady character--owning his own casino and consorting with disreputable types.

The other four members of the gang grew into a not particularly talented lounge singer who works for Marty (Helen), a priest (Jerry) and two brothers who are firemen (Joe and Mike). Each year, they all meet for a reunion and are life-long friends.

This friendship is tested when two thugs that work for Marty kill a man. Joe suspects it is not an accident and when he goes back to investigate, the thugs kill him as well! Now Mike takes up where Joe left off and he begins to suspect Marty's involvement. As for Marty, he did NOT want anyone killed and is stuck having to cover for the two thugs because this all began when he ordered the two to rough up a customer who refused to make good on his gambling debts. The problem is that the thugs have plans of their own and they refuse to leave town when Marty tells them to beat it.

In the middle of this mess is Father Jerry. He cannot allow Mike to kill Marty but also cannot just ignore Marty's involvement. How all this is worked out is something you'll just have to see for yourself.

Overall, this is a very interesting B-film with some nice twists and turns thanks to some excellent writing. As far as the acting goes, it's just fine, though Victor McLaglen in the lead is a real standout--in a tough but very sympathetic performance.

A bunch of young roughnecks in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan grow up to be Victor Mclaglen, Paul Kelly, William Gargan, Beatrice Roberts and a couple of others.

Pardon me while I contemplate that sentence. Most of the others go straight, but Mclaglen goes to prison (which must be where he picked up that accent. Yeah. Everyone in Greenville and SingSing talks that way). Twenty years later and they've all grown up and mostly gone their ways, some into police work, Miss Roberts is a singer in Mclaglen's night club. They all still get together once a year. Except this year, the two of them who are cops are investigating a murder. A couple of Mclaglen's collectors got too rough with someone who wouldn't pay his gambling debts, and were sloppy getting rid of the clues, leading to one of the old pals who spotted them getting killed....

It's from a novel by Borden Chase, and it's a fine little Universal B movie directed by Ray McCarey, Leo McCarey's kid brother and a reliable director of cheaper features. It's also got camerawork by the solid but not yet celebrated cinematographer Milton Krasna -- he wouldn't be nominated for an Oscar until 1942, and not win one until the 1950s. It's shot in beautiful, sharp black and white, showing off the beauty of industrial lines, even as the story and line readings crackle along.

It's clearly not a great movie, but it does what a B movie is supposed to do -- tell a story with economy and beauty -- and tell it quickly.

This one wasn't bad - I expected the film to be far worse so it came as a nice surprise. It's not a great story but kinda fun to watch in a way. It's about the kid's club "Hell's Kitchen"... where a gang of kids, 4 boys and 1 girl, become friends. The oldest boy, Marty Malone, accidentally set fire to a building and was sent to reform school. Then the story fast-forwards to their adulthood where we find them meeting every year, the year we peer into their story there is a murder that leads to another murder - Marty Malone is involved.

All grown up: A night club owner, a singer, a priest and 2 cops. I found my favorite of the gang to be the Priest Jerry. He was the one trying to keep the others calm and reasonable.

It's not the grandest of stories but I found this one watchable and enjoyable.

6.5/10

A group of young kids growing up in Hell's Kitchen form a lifelong bond. Because one refused to rat the others out, he goes to the reformatory. As adults they find their way to conflicting positions in society. Two cops, a priest, and a nightclub owner. The latter is mixed up in some shady dealings, mostly related to gambling. He hires a couple guys to rough a "client" up but they don't heed his limitations and kill the guy. This sets of a series of events where he is now under suspicion and brings about the death of one of his lifelong buddies. The film looks pretty good and it has that cool black and white element. Of course, honor is at the center, but that honor is not respected by the "really" bad guys. Victor McLaglan's character must confront his own miscues and face the music for his actions. It's not a bad movie, but there are absolutely no surprises and the characters actions are frequently pretty hard to swallow.