I Take This Oath

Gordon Jones' father was a cop, killed by no one know who. Jones decides to join the force and figure out who did it. First this cuts into his time with his girl, Joyce Compton. Then, when his mother, Mary Gordon, gives him his father's notebook, he investigates the clues therein, playing hookey from his studies.

The very first release from Producers Releasing Corporation is actually a decent, if cheaply shot second feature. The cast is very good, including J. Farrell MacDonald, Craig Reynolds, Veda Ann Borg, an unrecognizable Arthur O'Connell, and Robert Emmett O'Connor. I found the training montage some very nice editing.

Of course, PRC would not maintain this level. It would soon fall into a habit of shoddy scripts and tiny budgets which would stifle any creativity. For the moment, though they were starting out strong for a Poverty Row house.

First: I would never call this a film noir. It's a lackluster movie about police officers and criminals. It came out several years after its genre had died off.

The officer father of the hero speaks with a thick brogue. His loving wife never gets out of the kitchen unless she's at church.

Joyce Compton is the female lead. She plays a police officer's daughter in love with the main character. She got lots of work but was immortalized as Dixie Belle Lee in "The Awful Truth." Here, she wears bangs and has plucked eyebrows, a la Claudette Colbert. There are several reaction shoots of her that seem spliced in.

The movie has several goofs. In one, a b-girl sidles onto a bar stool. She's meant to be hot stuff. And indeed, she is played by the always attractive, often naughty Veda Ann Borg. But her behind seems to bang into the edge of the stool before she alights atop it. I suspect this was shot in one take.

If the print were better, it might be worth watching. But it is undistinguished. The acting never gets beyond adequate. And the plot holds few surprises.

A crime story showing a policemen family, father and son. And this reminded me Josef Von Sternberg's SERGEANT MADDEN, but on another angle. Here the son seeks revenge over father's death. In SERGEANT MADDEN, father - Wallace Beery has his son becoming a rogue cop...Slightly different scheme. Back to this Sam Newfield - Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, his other akas - it is short, very well made for a grade Z picture, made by the king of Z film makers of this period. I was afraid to discover something awful; but no. It is no that surprising though but pleasant to watch. Good action scenes, fast paced. Yes, a good little surprise.

Producer's Releasing Corporation had a reputation for turning out lackluster product with their movies. But this first PRC film was not all that bad. It starred Gordon Jones who before he became beefy and goofy did some lead roles and serious ones in B films. I Take This Oath tells the story of a young man who joins the police force to avenge the death of his father Robert Homans. Homans was trying to find the secret crime boss of his city when he was killed by a bomb.

Obviously he was getting too close and Jones picks up where his father left off. He also joins the police force taking the examination with his friend Craig Reynolds whom he entrusts his girl Joyce Compton to escort as she's a girl who likes to step out. Jones is on a mission and he will let nothing stand in his way.

I Take This Oath is an OK noir film and PRC at least started on an acceptable note. Too bad it didn't live up to expectations.