Parole, Inc.

There's nothing like a movie made in the 40s. There is a simplicity of perspective that is utterly refreshing when compared to the rubbish that passes for entertainment these days. The entire cast is excellent, the plot clean and easy to understand. Well before the half point of the film, I was rooting for the undercover agent to succeed. I like the fact that the crooks were't so smarmy as to be stereotypes. They were rotters but somehow still seemed human. The end of the film has a strong build up. I really enjoyed this forgotten movie. I wonder how many other B movies are so good. Working my way down IMDb list of available films online, I may soon know.

Filmed by a Poverty Row studio with a largely unknown cast, augmented by former Universal stalwarts Evelyn Ankers and Turhan Bey, PAROLE INC., is a good example of a so-called "problem picture" designed to draw attention to one of the iniquities blighting late Forties American society.

In this case it is the corrupt parole system whereby habitual criminals are let out of jail on the promise of reform and promptly resume their nefarious habits. This is chiefly due to a corrupt system headed by lawyer Barney Rodescu (Turhan Bey), who bribes two of the five- person Parole Board to vote in the prisoners' favor while trusting in the Board's ability to return positive verdicts.

Intrepid federal agent Hendricks (Michael O'Shea) volunteers to expose this racket by posing as a master criminal, infiltrating the racket at its lowest level and discovering how it works. He frequents The Pastime Club, a seedy joint run by Barney's fiancée Jojo (Ankers), and peopled by a clutch of hoodlums all in baggy suits and snap-brimmed hats. The rest of the story is predictable.

For an action thriller PAROLE INC. is remarkably static with too much time devoted to lengthy voice-overs from Hendricks as he tells what happened to a tape recorder from his hospital bed. The two nominal stars do what they can with the material: Bey looks immaculate in his tailored suits, but shows a tendency towards sadism, even though he assaults no one. He has a good line in dialogue delivery, describing one of his unfortunate minions as "a jackass," and vowing to get rid of any double-dealers daring to cross him.

On the whole, however, Alfred Zeisler's B-Movie is rather too moral for its own good, even though it dramatizes a scenario common to late Forties movies, suggesting that corruption is so rife in American institutions that no one knows how to separate friends from enemies.

I really didn't expect much from this film, I thought it would be a cute film since Turhan Bey and Evelyn Ankers was in it but I never thought it would be as serious and good of a film as it turned out to be.

Lyle Talbot is FBI agent Richard Hendricks- one of the Feds. He out to bust a parole ring. It's up to Hendricks alone to keep from getting caught as he is surrounded by a gang of criminals while trying to find out how they are doing it, which gang members are involved and which parole board members are involved.

The film actually engrossed me from the very start - there are a couple of cute moments as the film is in it's conclusion but it is a drama - a good crime drama.

8/10

This low-budget little crime thriller actually turned out to be better than I thought it would be. Cagney-like Michael O'Shea plays a federal investigator who goes undercover to expose a crime ring that gets undeserving prisoners paroled in its care, resulting in a crime wave that's wracking the city. O'Shea is quite good as the feisty agent posing as a convict on the lam, and Turhan Bey is fine as a slick, villainous lawyer. The script by "B" veterans Sherman Lowe and Royal Cole is serviceable if predictable, and some of the supporting performances are weak, but little-known director Alfred Zeisler keeps things moving along, although a little raggedly. All in all, a pretty good example of the low-budget independent "B" thriller of the late '40s. Worth a watch.

Some shoddy editing prevents me from giving this noir film from that across the pond studio Eagle-Lion a better rating. Parole Inc. tells the story of the federal government's effort to smash a parole fixing racket and how FBI man Michael O'Shea working undercover as a recently paroled criminal himself makes a connection to get his partner free.

Heading this whole racket is a very smooth attorney played by Turhan Bey and his moll Evelyn Ankers. Bey is nobody's fool and he suspects O'Shea from the beginning.

What's best about Parole Inc. is O'Shea is out there without much of a lifeline and has to rely on his wits to survive. A lot like Marlon Brando in one of my favorite Brando films Morituri. We know he does survive because he narrates the film from his hospital bed using a Dictaphone. Does spoil the suspense somewhat.

Who else survives and how O'Shea breaks the racket. Watch Parole Inc.