Humphrey Bogart (Roy Earle) is sprung from prison so that he can lead a gang in a robbery at a hotel for the wealthy. He meets his gang - Ida Lupino (Marie), Arthur Kennedy (Red), Alan Curtis (Babe) along with the inside man who works on reception at the hotel, Cornel Wilde (Mendoza) and heist mastermind Donald MacBride (Big Mac). However, on his way to meet up with his new crime unit, he befriends a family headed by Henry Travers (Pa) and falls in love with the daughter Joan Leslie (Velma). He retains his connection with this family throughout the film as he plans his robbery and escape. Does he pull it off......?
The film has a nice setting and the ending stands out as we watch Bogart battle things out on the Sierra mountain range. There is a standout shot of a marksman looking down from a vantage point on the Sierra Nevada - nice camera-work. There is also a car chase up the mountain which is well executed and the stuff of nightmares as cars tear round bends not knowing what is around the corner. The cast are OK with Bogart as the standout character.
Unfortunately, the film does not deliver on what should be an interesting story. It spends far too much time tracking Bogart's friendship with Travers and his family and, in particular, his perverted love for someone who is WAY too young for him - Joan Leslie - the daughter with a club foot. He pays for her defect to be cured and thinks he can swoop her away with him. What a perv. Lupino is a far more suitable love interest for him but I can understand him not wanting anything to do with her because of her affection for a bloody dog called Pard. The writers have given Bogart a sensitive side by thinking "Hmmmm. He needs to be sensitive. Lets get him to love a cripple and have a soft side for dogs. Yeah. That's a good idea." Well, it's not. He should have killed the dog in the first few scenes. And this is where the story gets stupid - he takes the dog with him to a robbery on Lupino's request. Aaaah! How sensitive of him! There is a lot more of that irritating dog in the film - it's really naff.
Given the cast, the film is weaker than the sum of it's parts and it is just not gripping enough. Oh yeah....and Willie Best does his annoying black man thing in the guise of Algernon.
The film has a nice setting and the ending stands out as we watch Bogart battle things out on the Sierra mountain range. There is a standout shot of a marksman looking down from a vantage point on the Sierra Nevada - nice camera-work. There is also a car chase up the mountain which is well executed and the stuff of nightmares as cars tear round bends not knowing what is around the corner. The cast are OK with Bogart as the standout character.
Unfortunately, the film does not deliver on what should be an interesting story. It spends far too much time tracking Bogart's friendship with Travers and his family and, in particular, his perverted love for someone who is WAY too young for him - Joan Leslie - the daughter with a club foot. He pays for her defect to be cured and thinks he can swoop her away with him. What a perv. Lupino is a far more suitable love interest for him but I can understand him not wanting anything to do with her because of her affection for a bloody dog called Pard. The writers have given Bogart a sensitive side by thinking "Hmmmm. He needs to be sensitive. Lets get him to love a cripple and have a soft side for dogs. Yeah. That's a good idea." Well, it's not. He should have killed the dog in the first few scenes. And this is where the story gets stupid - he takes the dog with him to a robbery on Lupino's request. Aaaah! How sensitive of him! There is a lot more of that irritating dog in the film - it's really naff.
Given the cast, the film is weaker than the sum of it's parts and it is just not gripping enough. Oh yeah....and Willie Best does his annoying black man thing in the guise of Algernon.