Gang Bullets

B-movie regular Charles Trowbridge is the District Attorney "Wayne" who is constantly playing a cat and mouse game with savvy crook "Big Bill" (Morgan Wallace). Thanks to the latter man's army of lawyers and henchmen, "Wayne" usually comes off empty-handed until he alights on a cunning plan to use his deputy "Carter" (Robert Kent) who is engaged to his daughter "Patricia" (Anna Nagel) to set up the mother of all sting operations that might just expose their quarry to charges even he can't argue away. The production and the acting are both a bit basic and there's way too much dialogue as the scenarios stray into the faintly ridiculous, but the last ten minutes are quite enjoyably strung together using an old grenade and loads of brass neck. Standard fayre you'll never remember, but it passes an hour ok.

1938's "Gang Bullets" shows that Monogram could occasionally compete with Warners' crime dramas, though on a noticeably smaller budget and less action. At the same time Boris Karloff began his 'Mr. Wong' series, the studio's modest ambitions show in this gritty expose of crime boss Morgan Wallace, against crusading District Attorney Charles Trowbridge, with top billing awarded former Warners starlet Anne Nagel, best remembered for her work at Universal in "Black Friday" and "Man Made Monster" (one of her last roles came in Monogram's Charlie Chan entry "The Trap," wearing a fetching bathing suit). After playing the surprise killer in "Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo," Robert Kent was back on the right side of the law, soon starring opposite Bela Lugosi in the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps." Morgan Wallace usually played villains, as he soon would in "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation," before his memorable encounter with W. C. Fields in "My Little Chickadee."

When the theaters were owned by the major studios in the 30's and 40's the price of a ticket got you a feature film, cartoon, news reel, and what is now called a 'B' movie. "Gang Bullets" is one from Monogram, a major player during this era. If this film is judged against others in the same class I would put it in the upper 25%. Starring Anne Nagel (a rare top billing), Robert Kent, and Charles Towbridge it tells the story of a fast talking racketeer who thinks the district attorney can't touch him. The law has other ideas but can they capture the criminal? The 63 minute film moves along under the direction of Lambert Hillyer and the watchful eye of Scott Dunlap. There are hacked up versions including the internet archive version which is not as sharp and shorter. The DVD I purchased is much better quality and available for under $5.00. Abe Meyer, who made his living providing source music for many of these films did an adequate job with this one. A good watch.

Gangster Morgan Wallace gets kicked out of town, so it's on to the next. Chief of Police J. Farrell MacDonald has him dragged into DA Charles Trowbridge's office. Morgan's not worried. He quotes the bill of rights to them and walks out the door. As the months go by, his gang's depredations become worse and the local paper bears down on the DA, with letters from a pseudonymous "Junius" making claims that will force the administration out, leaving the town prostrate.

It's a decently written, shot and acted B movie, but it's at its worst when it's most serious. For the first twenty minutes of this one-hour Monogram picture, there's discussion of the Bill of Rights, claiming it's outdated and useless in the face of the modern gangster, a claim that sets my teeth on edge. Others may not find this so upsetting.

There are a few serious plot threads left hanging at the end of the movie. Presumably they will all be sorted out satisfactorily later.

***SPOLIERS*** One of many Monogram Pictures contribution to fighting crime in the thirties, before the company went into horror films. "Gang Bullets" has to do with how the law is tilted on the side of the criminals and how a crusading and clever D.A turned the tables of a group of ruthless mobsters by almost becoming a member of their gang.

Having been run out of a number of towns big time gangster Big Bill Anderson, Morgan Wallace, finally settles in this unnamed city where he quickly and secretly sets up his organization. Bill Bill's syndicate terrorized everyone from the local cleaners and grocery store owners to the mayor himself.

Big Bill Anderson had learned over the years to stay out of the limelight by letting others, in his criminal organization, do the walking and talking as well as dirty work for him. Smart enough to hire himself a top criminal lawyer Meade, John T. Murrary, Big Bill is even immune, something that even the infamous Al Capone wasn't, from the feds by carefully paying his income tax and keeping records of all his receipts from the tax department to keep it off his back.

Making a shambles of the city's law enforcement agencies it begins to look like Big Bill would never be stopped from doing his dirty dealing as organized crime engulfs the entire metropolis. Big Bill's crimes syndicate uses shake downs, or protection rackets, and has bordellos and illegal gambling dens sprouting up all over the city with the law, unable to pin Big Bill & Co down with an indictment, helpless to stop or run them out of business.

City D.A Dexter Wayne,Charles Trowbidge, frustrated with his inability to get anything on Big Bill devises a secret plan to get the arrogant hood with his pants down by plying into his hubris and sense of invincibility. The plan would expose D.A Wayne to criminal prosecution himself and even death at the hands of Big Bill's gang if they ever should find out that he's setting them up.

Having a secret meeting with Big Bill D.A Wayne agrees to take a $10,000.00 bribe from him to lay off his boys and with everyone expecting Wayne to be thrown out of office in the coming elections he's assured by Big Bill that he'll have a place in his organization as one of his high paid legal mouthpieces.Unknown to Big Bill is that D.A Wayne's assistant and future son-in-law John Carter, Robert Kent, had secretly recorded his conversation with the D.A not knowing that his boss, the D.A Wayne, is throwing in his lot with the Big Bill Gang. Hurt and distraught D.A Wayne's daughter Pat, Ann Nagel, after listening to the secret Dictaphones recording of Big Bill and her dad breaks the record in half destroying it so the facts on it wouldn't be made public. Unknown to her an unknown news source, code named Julius, reported the entire story to the newspapers leaving John Carter no choice to indite both Big Bill and his boss and future father-in-law D.A Wayne for extortion and bribery.

It's only after when D.A Wayne and Big Bill break out of police custody that the truth comes out to D.A Wayne's true motives. As the police and assistant D.A Carter race against the clock to not only capture Big Bill before he takes off, on a private plane, to South America as well as double-crosses his partner in crime the disgraced D.A Dexter Wayne by blowing him to pieces in his hide out leaving nothing of the D.A left to be buried.

Predictable ending with Carter and the cops getting to the hideout just in time. With Big Bill not only getting arrested together with his gang of hoodlums but, with the help of the undercover D.A Wayne, being caught with the goods on them making the law, for once in the movie, work on the side of those who observe it not break it. And yes it was non-other then D.A Dexter Wayne himself, using the news reporter pseudonym Julius, who leaked the story about himself taking a bribe from Big Bill. This was to get on his good side and make the big guy think that he's got the goods on him. When in truth it was Dexter Wayne that got Big Bill to let his guard down and thus set him up for the big fall at the end of the movie.