What Price Safety!

Many of the shorts in the "Crime Does Not Pay" series seem slapdash and old-fashioned, even taking into consideration their age. This one, however, plays well and has a good plot. It's believable and well acted and includes several familiar faces, which is part of the fun of watching the series.

Truth be told, though, you have to be an ardent movie fan to remember the likes of Addison Richards or Ben Welden. It also helps if you can remember a time when everyone wore suits and ties and fedoras, and telephones with the receiver in two pieces. Having said that, this short has a good story and with an element of tension to go with the acting jobs, which are above the norm.

The story has to do with mob figures moving in on the construction trade, resulting in shoddy workmanship and defective material so as to make a profit - hence the title. As stated, it's better than average and so is the entertainment value.

John Wray has been running his construction company for twenty years. Recently, however, his buildings have been falling down, sabotaged! He's running out of money, so he gets a partner in. Lionel Royce -- doing an Akim Tamiroff imitation. Royce, however, is the mobster who's been wrecking his buildings, and now builds them so far below code they can't possibly pass..... although a few busted heads among the inspectors may take care of that problem.. Can he make crime pay?

No! Why call the series CRIME DOESN'T PAY if hat's the case? This is an ok entry in MGM's long-running crime drama, with the techniques of how to build shoddy buildings well covered in case anyone wants to try it. It also has a pretty exciting ending.

"What Price Safety!" begins with crooks deliberately sabotaging the Wray Construction Company's buildings in order to ruin the guy. This is so criminals can muscle in on him and build inferior projects instead--charging clients normal prices for sub-par projects. Not surprisingly, the safety inspectors are appalled but are either reassigned when they say anything or are violently killed. However, oddly, the case is solved due to orchid pollen found on the dead inspector.

This is another exceptional installment of this series. Like the other shorts, the production values are very nice (it was made by MGM) and the story hums along well. What I particularly liked about this one was its reliance on forensics--well before you might expect. In addition to the pollen the police also evaluate the steel using extreme magnification. Well done in every way.

By the way, when you see one of the building collapse, I am pretty sure some of these clips were lifted of an earlier MGM film, "San Francisco". Also, Wallace Doughtery is the district attorney who introduces the show. Despite their saying he was the D.A., he actually was an actor!