Rackets are taking over a big, unnamed city, so a law professor (Edward G. Robinson) decides to get involved. Little does he realize that one of his best former student's own father is head of the rackets which causes the urbane gangster (Otto Kruger) much headache when Robinson hires the son (John Beal) to be his partner. Robinson is getting a headache from trying to convince the victims of the racket to testify even though the violence has continued to get worse. Robinson's pretty wife (Barbara O'Neil) desperately wants Robinson to take a sabbatical, but that won't happen until all the racketeers are behind bars or dead.
It's inevitable that at one point, the popular gangsters of the early 30's are going to play law enforcement, and after James Cagney became a "G-Man", Robinson was sure to follow suit. This is the same year that he investigated the criminal mind in "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" (with future hero Humphrey Bogart still playing the gangster) and just a few years before he played a reformed gangster hiding out as a monk in "Brother Orchid". The villain here isn't a "Public Enemy" or a "Little Caeser", but a respected member of society hiding behind expensive suits and well dressed sophisticated ladies (in this case, the pretty Wendy Barrie) who is just as shady as the sugar daddy she left a career as a reporter to move into more expensive circles.
The clever screenplay really hooks you in as you see the obstacles which Robinson will have in going after the unknown kingpin and the dirty rats he's out to exterminate. He's not afraid of humiliating himself or even break the law himself as long as the outcome protects the people who have become victims of a protection racket. One very clever scene has Robinson rounding up the gangsters following the widow of one of the victims, calling in the press, and proceeding to show the truth about their real character. At first it seems a bit preposterous, but it is done in such a fun way that it is easy to overlook the ridiculousness of it all. Even more clever is the finale where Robinson gets the goods on the nasty Kruger and makes a bargain with him where the only way out has no return. It's even a bit of a redemption that literally is dynamite.
It's inevitable that at one point, the popular gangsters of the early 30's are going to play law enforcement, and after James Cagney became a "G-Man", Robinson was sure to follow suit. This is the same year that he investigated the criminal mind in "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" (with future hero Humphrey Bogart still playing the gangster) and just a few years before he played a reformed gangster hiding out as a monk in "Brother Orchid". The villain here isn't a "Public Enemy" or a "Little Caeser", but a respected member of society hiding behind expensive suits and well dressed sophisticated ladies (in this case, the pretty Wendy Barrie) who is just as shady as the sugar daddy she left a career as a reporter to move into more expensive circles.
The clever screenplay really hooks you in as you see the obstacles which Robinson will have in going after the unknown kingpin and the dirty rats he's out to exterminate. He's not afraid of humiliating himself or even break the law himself as long as the outcome protects the people who have become victims of a protection racket. One very clever scene has Robinson rounding up the gangsters following the widow of one of the victims, calling in the press, and proceeding to show the truth about their real character. At first it seems a bit preposterous, but it is done in such a fun way that it is easy to overlook the ridiculousness of it all. Even more clever is the finale where Robinson gets the goods on the nasty Kruger and makes a bargain with him where the only way out has no return. It's even a bit of a redemption that literally is dynamite.