Riot Squad

The title to "Riot Squad" is misleading as it has nothing to do with riots but is actually a story about a doctor going undercover with the evil Grosso gang.

The film begins with nice Dr. Tom asking Mary to become his wife. You also soon meet the winner of the Dick Nixon look-a-like contest, Dan the cop. Soon Dan is plugged by Grosso (John Miljan) and Dr. Tom agrees to go undercover for the police to investigate this gang. However, Tom's stupid fiancée automatically assumes Tom is now a crook and calls off the marriage. She also takes in Dan's insufferably cute kid, Betty. As for Betty, she spends the movie being annoying--either singing a god-awful high-pitched Irish tune or yelling out "Dr. Tom, Dr. Tom" almost every time she opens her mouth. By the end of the picture, Grosso and his gang are ready to shoot Dr. Tom...though you really wish they'd just shoot Betty!

The film is in many ways a typical sot of low-budget crime film from Monogram--with the same shallow plot and broad acting. However, Betty was a most unwelcome addition to the movie--and I knocked a point off just because she was in the film! Strictly for folks with extremely low expectations!

Richard Cromwell is a doctor spending his time as an ambulance driver. He and nurse Rita Quigley are in love and plan to get married and open an office in private practice. One evening, when they are celebrating their engagement at a lavish night club, John Miljan, who runs the club as a front, calls him into his office. He has just been shot -- by the cop he has just killed; the cop was Cromwell's best friend. He offers Cromwell lots of money not to report the gunshot wound, and thus Cromwell is recruited as a mob doctor. Miss Quigley doesn't know exactly what is going on, but the blood she has to wash out of Cromwell's shirt after this incident makes her break off the engagement.

Will Cromwell redeem himself? Will Miljan be brought to justice? Will Miss Quigley finally agree to marry Cromwell? Do I care? I'm not going to spoil this movie for you, so I'll only answer the last question. No, I did not care what happened in this movie. Some of the issues I had with it include its paint-by-numbers plot, an adorable, curly-haired young moppet who sings "Those Endearing Young Charms", and Miss Quigley's apparent inability to speak a line as if she were not squinting at very small print. This is odd, because she was on loan-out from MGM, where they actually hired actors.

I blame director Edward Finney. It's one of five movies he directed. Most of the time he was a producer or executive at Poverty Row studios. According to the story he told, he tried to convince the head of Grand National to film ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, instead of SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT, the mega-flop that is usually blamed for destroying the ambitious studio. If that is true, it only demonstrates he was as effective an executive as a director.