I Am a Criminal

This was in a DVD package of 16 gangster films. When I saw the opening title, "A Monogram Picture," I winched as I knew it was going to be a poverty row "C" picture. However, I cheered up a bit when I saw that the director was William Nigh who had done the fine "Mr Wong" detective series and the excellent spy drama "British Intelligence," both with Boris Karloff.

The movie starts out with a very long and talky scene of the District Attorney George Lane (Lester Matthews) telling gangster Brad McArthur (John Carroll) that he was going to clean up the city by getting him. McArthur says that he's a rich businessman who employs a lot of people and has a lot of friends. I like a film that lays its cards on the table. I expected the film to be a battle of wills and guns between the D.A. and the criminal.

Surprisingly, this turns out to be a subplot. The real plot develops when McArthur meets newspaperboy and street urchin Bobby (Martin Spellman). Bobby is an orphan, living alone, making $4 a week. McArthur offers him $6 a week to come work for him. McArthur wants to use Bobby to establish a clean image. The rest of the movie is really about the bonding of McArthur and Bobby.

Your reaction to the movie will hinge on your reaction to Martin Spellman's portrayal of young Bobby. If you find him adorable and sweet, you will probably like the movie. If you find him sugary, overacting, and annoying, you'll hate it. Martin did go on to appear in "A" pictures,"Beau Geste" and "Let Us Live" (starting Maureen O'Sullivan and Henry Fonda). His career consisted of about a dozen films that he did between the ages of 13 and 16. Based on this picture, one would have expected him to become a star or at least a good character actor.

John Carroll gives a nice, laid-back performance as the gangster. He never became a big star, but he had some good parts in some "A" pictures, including "Susan and God" (Joan Crawford and Fredric March) and "Go West" (The Marx Brothers) This is a cute and sweet film in the kid-turns-bachelor's-life-upside-down mold. If you're looking for a real tough gangster flick, run away quick.

The film is hindered by its low budget sets and obviously quick production schedule which seems to have forced a many scenes to be done in long takes. I suspect they only had a five or six day shooting schedule. Still director Nigh is a good story-teller and makes a very pedestrian comic melodrama fun to watch.

John Carroll is a gangster. that's what the D.A. says, even though Carroll says he's just in the entertainment industry, running a nightclub. When the DA's son is killed in an accident at Carroll's joint, Carroll's on the hook for manslaughter. On advice, he tries a Robin Hood act, including taking care of orphan Martin Spellman. As time goes on and the pressure mounts, Carroll develops real fondness for the boy.

Unfortunately for this Monogram production, Carroll's role is written so he spells in short, disconnected sentences, and he adopts a pugnacious manner. It's not inconsistent with the character, but it's unvarying and not very interesting, totally unsuitable for developing much sympathy for him. Director William Nigh can't seem to do much to overcome this; as someone whose career as a director peaked in the early 1920s, he never seemed to have adapted to the balancing dialogue and action to tell a balanced story.

In the opening scene, the District Attorney is chewing out Brad McArthur (John Carroll) and he swears he'll one day jail the guy. It seems that Brad owns a legal gambling joint but it has a seedy reputation. Well, only a short time later, a nasty drunk is in the joint and he is making a fuss. Brad comes out to see what the disturbance is and suddenly the guy lunges at Brad and he flies out a window! This is pretty silly, as you cannot imagine a huge open window this easy to fall out of...whether you're drunk or sober. What also seems odd is that almost immediately Brad's lawyer tells him he's likely to be arrested. since the now dead man is a judge's son..even though there are many witnesses there that clearly saw that Brad did nothing wrong...and he was trying to de-escalate the situation.

The lawyer decides their best course is to rehabilitate Brad's image. Part of this completely cynical program will include Brad adopting a cute kid...and he plans on giving it back to the orphanage as soon as the case is settled. Fortunately, the orphanage refuses to give him a child....so the lawyer decides to find a needy child on his own. Soon, he's found a kid living on the street and Bobby is paid to become Brad's ward. What's next? See the film.

I think the death of the judge's son should have been handled better in order for there to be serious doubt about Brad's innocence. Simply having no witnesses or an unreliable one would have solved that. This is a serious hole in the story.

So how is it otherwise? Well, it is predictable--as my wife told me towards the end exactly what was going to happen...and she was right. It also is HIGHLY flawed at the end...with a very vague ending that surely won't satisfy most audiences. But it's still a pleasant and diverting time-passer on balance.