Purity Squad

Frank Fenton and Dick Elliott plan to push their new drug, despite the warnings of Doctor Byron Foulger. Their plans might result in the deaths of the users, but the FDA is on watch to make sure that CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

THis entry in the long-running MGM crime series tries to bring it into the post-war world. In the 1930s, it was all about criminals and how their nefarious dealings brought them misery and death. During the War, episodes concerned the Feds fighting spies and saboteurs. Now it was concentrating on rapacious businessmen and their quest for profits, no matter the cost in human lives. It's a rather dry episode, with men showing each other papers.

Purity Squad is one of the later and more importantly relevant short subjects from the Crime Does Not Pay series from MGM. This could be a plot easily for a feature length film today.

Byron Foulger is a doctor with a mysterious past that includes a felony warrant for malpractice and he's working for a pharmaceutical company trying to develop an alternative medicine to insulin for diabetics. When Foulger's experiment is released without his consent, his employers have him blackmailed to silence. Then the dead bodies start piling up.

Dick Elliott is the head of drug company and he's seeing lost profits and lawsuits in his future. Personally I would have just run with whatever you've made to some place without an extradition. But Elliott and associates are greedy men and the cover-up continues including a murder of an accomplice.

The Feds, the state attorney general and the Food and Drug Administration all get involved here, not to mention the local police. Given that the FDA has come into a lot of good and bad press with some of their policies, the film has a real relevance for today's audience.

I'd check this one out, it might prove interesting.

Just watched this Crime Does Not Pay short on the DVD of the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn film Without Love. It tells of how a couple of crooked men-with reluctant help from the doctor who works for them-sell this doc's medicine called diabulin which is supposed to cure diabetes but this doc says it's not ready and shouldn't be sold yet but, well, of course his superiors think differently...Quite dramatically compelling for a 19-mimute short with enough time for the tense climatic end. So that's a recommendation for Purity Squad.

Purity Squad (1945)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

45th film in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series looks at the FDA and their attempts to break a drug company from selling a pill to diabetics, which is suppose to be better than insulin but no tests have been done on it. This episode here really packs a nice little punch due to some very good performances and a couple great villains. This was one of the last from the series and the production values have fallen quite a bit from when the series started but the film still packs a nice little punch.

This episode of the Crime Does Not Pay series is about the work of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It begins with an announcement that a dangerous drug has been sold, Diabulin, and it should be destroyed immediately.

Following this introduction, the story of how such a harmful drug came to the market is explained through a flashback. A researcher has created Diabulin to treat diabetes. However, it's not been thoroughly tested and he is horrified to see that his bosses are planning on selling it anyway. And, their marketing campaign is even worse--with fake testimonials and a media blitz that make it SEEM like it is a miracle drug. But, it soon becomes obvious that the drug is dangerous--and the manufacturers couldn't care less and their number one concern is making money! This film was both very informative AND very entertaining--a difficult balancing act for a film. Well worth seeing, it's unusual for the Crime Does Not Pay series--but a worthy installment nevertheless.