Graft

In 1928 a new play about fast-talking newspapermen took Broadway by storm: "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur packed the stage with jaded reporters, mean cops, corrupt politicians, and hard-bitten dames. And when the talkie revolution swept Hollywood soon afterward a new movie genre was born: the city room saga. Several popular comedy-dramas set wholly or partly in newspaper offices were produced in the early '30s, including Five Star Final, Platinum Blonde, Blessed Event and the first film version of The Front Page itself. Following the Hecht-MacArthur prototype, hallmarks of the genre tended to be rat-a-tat pacing, violent action, and a deeply cynical attitude that presaged the Noir classics of the '40s.

Graft is an example of this sort of movie, but it's far from the best of the lot. As film-making goes it's little more than competent. We wait in vain for colorful types to deliver snappy wisecracks or spit out underworld slang; instead, the simpletons who comprise this film's characters dutifully deliver their pedestrian dialog through scene after scene, and when the movie's over not a single line stands out as memorable. Christy Cabanne's direction is as uninspired as the script, and at no point does he attempt to enliven the proceedings with any creative flourishes. Cabanne tells this routine crime story of political corruption and murder at a deliberate pace, which feels slower because of the lack of background music, and without much humor, although the plot takes such a ludicrous turn at the finale that some viewers may chuckle anyhow. Perhaps the movie's biggest drawback is the personality of our hero Dusty Hotchkiss, played by Regis Toomey. Toomey was always a dependable actor and sometimes an excellent one (as in the first-rate melodrama Kick In, where he held his own opposite Clara Bow), but here he is stuck playing the most exasperating "hero" imaginable. Dusty Hotchkiss is an eager beaver cub reporter who forgets the name of a key witness, can't describe a suspect's face, writes a story implicating the wrong person in a murder, and allows the actual killer to slip away with ease. Harry Langdon would have been a more formidable leading man than this guy, and at least he's funny.

Still and all, however, there is one reason to watch this film. The crime kingpin's creepy henchman -- a character named "Terry," all of things -- is played by Boris Karloff, and although his dialog is just as dull as everyone else's Karloff at least brings an air of menace to his role, and lends the movie some much-needed color. Terry is a thug of a decidedly misogynistic bent: when he isn't kidnapping or killing people he's warning his boss (who is having problems with Pearl, his moll) that dames are all double-crossers who aren't worth the trouble. Hearing these words delivered in that inimitable voice, matched by the sight of those dark, hollow eyes and strikingly gaunt features, gives these moments considerably more juice than anything in the other scenes. My favorite bit comes when Terry has to lure Pearl onto a yacht where she will presumably be rubbed out, and his manner changes: suddenly, the killer oozes sinister sweetness and phony cheer. I was reminded of the Grinch promising Cindy Lou Who that he'd return her Christmas tree just as soon as its broken light was repaired.

Karloff fans willing to watch him in anything will be impressed at the way this still unknown character actor deftly steals the show from the other players, although this particular show was hardly worth stealing. Regis Toomey, for his part, would get another shot at playing a reporter in a vastly superior example of a city room comedy-drama, perhaps the best of them all: His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks' 1940 remake of the Hecht-MacArthur play that launched the whole cycle.

Pre-code crime picture with a little comedy, starring Regis Toomey as a reporter looking for his big break, which comes when a district attorney is killed. Forgettable B movie, notable today only because of Boris Karloff in a supporting part as one of the bad guys. This was released just a couple of months before Karloff's breakthrough role in Frankenstein. Toomey's kind of annoying in this with his nasally voice and whiny "gee whiz" manner. His character's name is Dustin. I don't claim to have seen all or even most movies from this period but I've seen a lot. I think this might be the first Dustin I've come across in a movie from this time. Playing the girl tied up in it all is Sue Carol, who would go on to greater success as an agent and eventually wife to Alan Ladd.

A young reporter investigates the murder of a District Attorney on the eve of a big election. The film Boris Karloff was making when he was awarded the career changing role of Frankenstein's monster suffers from one of those relentlessly chirpy heroes (Regis Toomey) you feel like strangling by the third reel. Given his gangling frame, it's odd that Karloff was repeatedly cast in these criminal sidekick roles, but he's inarguably the best thing about an otherwise routine crime thriller that's ably directed by the prolific Christy Cabanne

Viewed this picture on late, late, late night TV in the mid 1950's and taped this hard to view picture,"Graft". Boris Karloff was beginning to get the breaks he needed, this film was made before "Frankenstein" and it was also around the time he made,"Criminal Code" which launched his career as the KING OF HORROR. In this picture, Dusty (Regis Toomey), a young cub reporter on a big-city newspaper, wants to have a huge story by-line. A crooked politician learns Pearl (Dorothy Revier), his former mistress, is going to reveal their affair to the District Attorney. Afraid of an indictment, the politician orders the D.A. to be killed and Pearl kidnapped. Dusty gets involved with the murder and accuses Constance,(Sue Carol,wife of Alan Ladd of "Shane"), the reformed candidate's daughter, of the murder. The story appears in the paper and the editor fires Dusty. Dusty still continues to follow the crooks and Pearl to a yacht, where she is being held prisoner. After a big fight, Dusty captures Terry, the leading Crime Boss, (Boris Karloff) and frees Pearl as the police arrive. The young reporter gets back to the newspaper in time to give them his story. Dusty eventually gets his position on the newspaper back and also wins the heart of Constance. This is a newspaper story revolving around the City Desk. "GRAFT" is like "FIVE STAR FINAL" 1931. This movie is so crazy and unrealistic, it would really make a good COMEDY with lots of laughs. (This film is rare and is not for sale or a gift)

Regis Toomey, as the eager but not necessarily able reporter Dustin Hotchkiss, is playing this one somewhat slow-witted on purpose, much like any film role you'd see Don Knotts in some thirty years later. Hotchkiss' boss, tired of him whining about wanting a real story, sends him out to interview the head of the local machine and crime syndicate, certain that the threats and general unpleasantness he'll meet when he gets there will shut him up for awhile and keep him happy writing obituaries and wedding announcements. Unfortunately, what does happen is Hotchkiss becomes the witness to the aftermath of the murder of the D.A by a hit-man for the syndicate (Karloff as Terry), and he draws all of the wrong conclusions. Seeing the daughter of the reform candidate standing over the body, he rushes back to his paper and implicates her in the story he writes. When the police investigate, they determine the girl (Sue Carol) could not have done it since the bullets came from outside of the D.A.'s home. However, the papers claiming she's involved have already gone out for sale to the public. Embarrassed by the mess he's made for the reform candidate by getting his daughter wrongfully caught up in a scandal, Hotchkiss embarks on a crusade to find the real killer, although he has only two days to do so before the election in which the reform candidate is pitted against a candidate that is the puppet of the crime syndicate.

If Hotchkiss has a chance against these guys it is only because the syndicate's reasoning skills seem to be as bone-headed as Hotchkiss'. For example, Pearl, the ex-girlfriend of the crime machine's boss who has all the dirt on the mob, threatens to talk to the D.A - and does. Instead of taking her for a ride the old-fashioned way they decide to lock her up in a comfy compartment on a yacht until after the election. However, they shoot the D.A. dead in his own home when he threatens to indict, which is an empty threat without Pearl's testimony. Any mobster would tell you that the killing of honest public officials in their own middle-class neighborhoods can't be good for business.

Karloff is outstanding as Terry, the muscle and hit-man of the syndicate. He's smooth yet menacing and the perfect sociopath. He isn't angry at his victims, it's just all in a day's work. This would be an OK but rather unremarkable crime drama without his performance.