Jack Pot

This episode of MGM's long-running crime series takes on the slot machine, informing us they're crooked, support racketeers and lead to no good, because CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

It's the third and last episode to feature Edwin Maxwell. He's a hefty, older actor, that seemed to be cast on those roles for which the producers couldn't afford Edward Arnold. Usually cast as a businessman, often a crooked one, or an authority figure, he appeared in one film in 1915, then back onto the stage until 1929. From then, he showed up in about 150 features and shorts. Although he occasionally received no credit after 1940, he worked steadily until his death in 1948.

It's another episode of MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series. The mayor is tackling illegal gambling. Mob boss Rocky Fallon has a mole in the mayor's office. He built his empire from gambling and has so much more.

Some of this is interesting. Some of it is weak. There is nothing weaker than a bad shooting victim. The girl getting acid thrown in the face is a pretty big move. It's almost modern. It's fine as one of these episodes, but it's probably trying to do too much. These shorts work best with a simplistic, straight-forward story. This feels like a story that needs to be expanded into full length.

This 20-minute film is one of an MGM short series called Crime Does Not Pay. "Jack Pot" is docu-drama about how social tolerance for small, seemingly harmless, illegal practices, can lead to major organized crime. The portrayals in this film indeed show how insidious the spread of crime can be. The culprit in this case is the illegal but seemingly harmless slot machine. The neighborhood drugstore has one, so does the laundry, etc.

The players are good in this film as the plot leads to local corruption and violent crime. An unidentified police chief introduces the film with a warning, "The greatest single menace to honest law enforcement is not sensational gangsterism or any other open lawlessness. It's public apathy." By accepting of petty illegal functions, the public provides a wedge for organized crime to move into in a town or city.

The case is well made in this public service type of short.

Like all the other Crime Does Not Pay films I have seen, it begins with a fake public official addressing the audience. These folks were very convincing and are introduced as a judge or prosecutor or some other public official and you assume that's who they are since they are not listed in the credits, but MGM used actors in these roles!

This is the second film in the series that stars Tom Neal. Like the other one, he's a good guy out to stop crime--quite a bit different from his IMDb biography, by the way. He is a shopkeeper who is approached by a mobster and told he must place a slot machine in his business OR ELSE! Well, he's not having any part of it and goes to the police. However, and this is VERY unusual for the series, the town's political machine is corrupt and soon the mobster is released from custody. So, Neal does what any clear-thinking citizen would do--take on the mob all by himself! What's next? See the film.

This is a rather average film from the Crime Does Not Pay series--and this is NOT bad, as the films generally were well-acted and exciting and this one is no different. Not outstanding but still quite good.

Just watched this Crime Does Not Pay short from M-G-M on the I Love You Again DVD. This one concerns the illegal profit of slot machines displayed in various places where unsuspecting customers don't know how they're getting ripped off. An owner of a dry cleaning business, however, doesn't want one and gets in trouble as a result. I'll stop there and just say this was quite an interesting short, if not a very exciting one. Since there's no music score, silence is effectively used in some scenes. So on that note, Jack Pot is worth a look. P.S. Among the players is future Ward Cleaver from the TV show "Leave It To Beaver", Hugh Beaumont. He plays a mechanic.