Inside the Law

This C picture was directed by Hamilton MacFadden, who directed some Charlie Chan pictures, but this was done on an even lower budget, say five dollars. Wallace Ford, known for years as a supporting character actor, actually achieved top billing in this, though there was little for him to do, certainly no acting. The film manages to be consistently amusing, despite being so low-grade. A group of seven con men and women start the picture by staging a fake fight at a Manhattan auction, and after the melee has ended they have vanished and so have the wallets and watches of everyone present. After this, they decide to head west, which is portrayed by an extraordinary montage sequence of changing scenery, with them ending up beside a road sign saying Los Angeles City Limits. They stop and scratch their heads and say: 'But where is Los Angeles?' because there is nothing there but bush and scrub. This was evidently meant to be a joke. Then a drunk driver turns up, is arrested and put away for thirty days, and they naturally pick his pockets, thereby gleaning a letter of introduction to take over a bank in the area. They all move in as the 'staff', only to find that the bank vault is empty, having been robbed. So instead of robbing it themselves, they have to fill it first, by soliciting deposits, which they successfully do. Then they decide why steal it when they can go straight, settle down, and go on running 'their' bank. Then one of them double-crosses them and waves various guns around, but ends up stealing an empty suitcase, and of course there is a suspicious sheriff who wants to arrest them all, and it gets more and more complicated. The script could have done very well with a good cast and director, but it holds up with a bad cast and bad director nonetheless. Well, not every film is brilliant, sometimes they are merely like this. It's short, funny, and corny, what more do you want?

A small gang of pickpockets and small-time tricksters decide to head out to California for the wealthy suckers. When Wallace Ford lifts a drunk's wallet and discovers it's an introduction to take over a small-town bank, they decide their opportunity has come.

I'm very fond of movies about confidence tricksters, but there was almost nothing to amuse me in this slack effort from director Hamilton McFadden. The script by Jack Natteford seemed to offer opportunities for comedic or serious ornamentation, but there is little indication that these opportunities were taken. People speak their lines swiftly and flatly. Everything seems to be dedicated to the issue of getting through the plot points as quickly as possible, despite the presence of a few old-timers capable of amusing the audience, like Lafe McKee, starting to slow down after thirty years in the movies (he would make only three, uncredited appearances on screen over the next six years) and Harry Holman. McFadden would direct one more movie, three years later, It's an inept time-waster from PRC.

Back in the 30s and 40s, there were movie houses that couldn't compete with the theaters that played what Warner Bros., MGM and other major studios churned out. Fortunately, there was Poverty Row's primary tenant, Monogram, and even deeper in the doldrums, Producers Releasing Corporation. "Inside the Law" is a classic example of a PRC release -- shot in less than a week, including long car chases to occupy running time, with a cast headed by a likable grade-B leading man, Wallace Ford, who was transitioning to the next stage in his career as a grizzled character actor. Oddly enough, it's entertaining. The script, about a gang of thieves who wind up running a small town bank and decide to go straight has enough holes to drive an old Ford roadster through. But a remarkably adroit cast plays it with breezy bonhomie. And there are even a few amusing surprises -- like the opening brawl at an auction house. It's worth watching despite the slam-cut ending which suggests that the film's final clinch may have been the victim of the decay that too often eroded nitrate film.

Every now and then Poverty Row in Hollywood occasionally produced a worthwhile item and such is the case with Inside The Law. This one had typical PRC production values and the cast is left to its own devices. But the idea was interesting and the cast led by Wallace Ford and Luana Walters does a good job.

Ford and Walters head an intergenerational gang of roguish thieves who have left the east for southern California till the heat cools down. On the way they run into an inebriated man heading for a job at a small town bank. Ford takes his identity and they move in with the intention of cleaning out the bank.

It's almost like it was lifted from Lost Horizon, but several of the gang think this might be a golden opportunity to go straight. But not all of them and therein lies the story.

This could have been really good at even a studio like RKO or Columbia. There's a nice performance by Earl Hodgins as the chief of police who smells a crook, but can't quite prove it.

Highlight of the film is an extended sequence with the Mexican border patrol.

Might be worth a look.