They All Come Out

This was on TCM for the first time in years the other day, and at first I was surprised at how much it seemed like a documentary - specifically one of the "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts MGM did. Actually, it started out that way and Louis Mayer liked it so much he asked that it be expanded into a feature film. Tom Neal stars as Joe Cameron, made an unemployable vagrant by a wounded hand that made him unfit for manual labor and with him not knowing a trade, on the road he went, often picked up by the police for not having a dollar. Hungry, he orders a big meal at a diner that he knows he can't pay for and is bailed out of his troubles by gun moll Kitty Carson (Rita Johnson). This is how he winds up entangled with Reno Madigan's gang, with the job of driving for them whenever they pull jobs.

At first they live it up, but they are eventually captured. But not before Reno and Joe hide 33K in stolen loot but do not tell the others about it. The rest of the film is about how the federal prison system treats each one of the gang - even operating on Joe's hand and teaching him a trade. The lesson seems to be that the feds know who is redeemable and who isn't, and if you're not it's off to "The Rock" - Alcatraz. Before their capture, Joe and Kitty seem to have an understated romance going, and during their imprisonment they are allowed to write letters where this romance seems to blossom. But against them when they get out is their record, local papers looking for sensational stories, and then there is still Reno inside prison expecting Joe to help spring him with the 33K they hid. And Reno has friends on the outside.

I doubt that the federal prison system was ever that good, and even if it was, I doubt a prison psychiatrist could just talk a seemingly crazy man out of believing he had women in his pockets and cure him with talk alone.

imdb currently rates this as a 6/10, but knowing its roots as a short/documentary, I'd give it a 7/10. The leads give real depth to their rather rushed performances, and it is an interesting tale.

What starts out as a typical criminals-on-the-lam movie turns into a didactic moral lesson to prove to its probably youthful viewers that crime does not pay. What is surprising is that in spite of the clichés, the talented acting of the principles make the film much more poignant than it could have been. Tom Neal (most memorable in the classic "Detour") plays with youthful sincerity. His conversion makes it hard to believe that later he was involved in a violent and criminal life himself and actually did time for murder. Rita Johnson is completely winning, as opposed to her obnoxious character as Ray Milland's girlfriend in "The Major and the Minor". She brings her own sincerity to her stereotyped character and makes it more believable. The emotional impact of the film is also the result of the script's mixed dramatic and documentary approach showing the characters from inside and out, and Jacques Tourneur's perfect pacing.

Director Jacques Tourneur's first feature is the polar opposite of edgy Prison Noirs since THEY ALL COME OUT is unapologetic propaganda of the U. S. Correctional System, even more than FBI-backed Noirs like THE STREET WITH NO NAME or G-MEN wherein hard-boiled crime fare plays out from beginning to end following a sparse introduction...

Here it's half-and-half starting with the usual Depression-era gangsters robbing banks where Rita Johnson's Kitty makes a terrific femme fatale... but with a soft side... working for no-nonsense gang boss Bernard Nedell as Reno, who leads muggy thugs and a young handsome driver that the dame actually discovered: Enter future DETOUR actor Tom Neal displaying genuine toughness... yet there's some good in him too...

And just as the rudimentary rugged crime flick picks up violent steam, the girl and men are captured and thrown into various prisons. But Tourneur keeps the stories interesting, even when the propaganda kicks into high gear...

As affable officials decide upon what's best for their inmates sans cinema-cliché sadistic wardens, bullying guards and shiv-shoving inmates, THEY ALL COME OUT maintains a pulpy page-turning cadence, keeping the viewer intrigued about how things'll turn out despite being fairly obvious.

How can you not like a movie that features a bad guy getting a blowtorch to the face when threatening the handsome young naive hero? And action scenes where they just speed up the film? Good fun.

B pictures don't come more B than this offering from Jacques Tourneur, but despite the usual flaws that come from a limited budget, most notably less than stellar acting (Rita Johnson and Bernard Nedell partially excepted) and extremely primitive sets and outdoor locations, this fine director in his first feature already shows the pacing and tonal skills that would render "Out Of The Past" one of the five best noirs and "Cat People" the best of the Lewton creep fests. In just under seventy five minutes Tourneur manages not only to bring to life five gangsters but also to follow them through the prison system with forays into the various gradations of incarceration, ranging from corrupt local jail with its inmates kangaroo court, to grim, federal maximum security (with a brilliant brief glance at bleak Alcatraz), to the relatively lenient honor farms ,with side excursions into a prison psychiatric facility, as well as a womans prison (which I noted with amusement in 1939 resembled an Ethan Allen Furniture showroom). So even though the film at times resembles an infomercial for Penal Rehabilitation (I sure as hell didn't believe that the anti woman psycho inmate would be magically cured by a work stint in the fresh air!) it's an impressive debut for its director. Give it...natch...a B.

PS...Dumb title. Sounds like a slogan for spot remover.