Les bas-fonds de Chicago

Queen of the Mob is a fast-paced crime drama. It is set at Christmastime, so I suppose it could be watched at that time of year, although it would be an unusual kind of movie to screen then. Blanche Yurka is quite good as Ma Webster, a character based on real-life criminal Ma Barker. She is alternately tough and frail, depending on who she is trying to manipulate at the time. The film is action-packed and shows how the group cleverly pulled off their big heists and then laid low to avoid being caught. Of course, since this film was made after the code was reinstated which required that criminals be punished and not glorified, things don't end so neatly.

This is a fast paced film with Blanche Yurka (Ma Webster) as the head of a family of gangsters that involve themselves in robbery and kidnapping. Hardman J Carrol Naish (George Frost) is also part of the gang. FBI agents Ralph Bellamy (Scott) and Jack Carson (Ross) are on her tail, but Yurka is a formidable opponent. I think Carrol Naish will agree with that.

The film moves briskly between episodes only lulling for a 5 minute segment with the awful Billy Gilbert (Mr Reier) and his blasted cake. He gets a sequence which is probably only 5 minutes long but seems a lot longer as he shouts his way through his unfunny dialogue and unfunny over-the-top histrionics. And you shout back at him "Get off my television screen!" He almost single-handedly ruins the film. But, get past him and the film is good entertainment, with a cast of surprising pedigree.

That's Blanche Yurka in the title role, playing a thinly disguised Ma Barker. Robbing banks, kidnapping, it was all one to her and her boys -- except for the one who became a lawyer. But the long arm and patience of the FBI spelled her eventual doom

It's a facile entry in the genre of rime Does Not Pay, but it's a long, slow slog for the sixty-one minutes it takes. J. Carrol Naish is good as the jittery member of the mob, and there are nice roles for Jack Carson and Billy Gilbert, but the inevitability of the outcome under the code casts a pall over the proceedings/ No one even has a good time being wicked, as they did at Warners.

A taut, tense crime melodrama from Paramount - which is probably why no one has heard of it. As the website tells us, Universal owns all Paramount films made between 1929 and 1949, and apparently holds them all hostage in a vault somewhere. But here is one they should release, as it is better than your average gangster picture. Much better.

Ma Webster (Blanche Yurka) is the head of a family of 30's bank robbers, and she is riveting in the role. Tough and gutsy, she leads authorities on a chase through several states. She is a martinet and rules her five sons with an iron hand. Also in the gang is J. Carroll Naish. He is insubordinate and a malcontent, but she puts up with him because he is a cold-blooded killer who will cover for her boys during bank robberies.

"Queen Of The Mob" is Blanche Yurka's picture and could be the meatiest role she ever had - even more so than Mme. DeFarge in "A Tale Of Two Cities". The FBI agents tracking her gang are Ralph Bellamy and assisted by Jack Carson. It is an intense, violent study of 30's crime and criminals and the men sworn to bring them to justice.

What a very exciting little crime programmer written by the great Horace Mac Coy and directed by the man who made Ellery Queen series for the big screen. This story is the first, as far as I know, that talks about the famous Ma Barker, the senior gang leader with her three sons. Roger Corman and his crew directors - including Steve Carver, Martin Scorcese, Lewis Teague, and I probably forget some of them, made many of those topics in the 70's, thirty years later. This Paramount productions film is very exciting, as were the other ones, directed by the likes of Louis King and Robert Florey, and starring Lloyd Nolan, J Caroll Naish or Anthony Quinn at his start.

The Grandma character is vivid, so well described.

Don't miss it.