Starting out (even the opening credits cross promoting Clara Bow's cheeky song from "True to the Navy") as a light hearted sailor on a spree type of film it quickly descends to nightmarish reality for the two young stars. Gormless gob Joe Hart (Richard Arlen) desperately sells his gun to dissolute, man about town Laurie Roberts (Charles Rogers) to stay in a crooked dice game. Almost back on his boat Hart is arrested for murder - it seems his gun was found at the scene. Laurie's sister Kay (gorgeous Fay Wray) is engaged to hot shot lawyer Drake Norris (Clive Brook) and Laurie confesses to him that he, while not the killer, was at the scene of the crime, knowing that through the lawyer's code of ethics the secret is safe and cannot be disclosed. At this time in his career Charles Rogers had dropped the "Buddy" to give himself more credibility as a dramatic actor but in my opinion, for this movie, it didn't work. It needed someone like Phillips Holmes who brought credibility to shallow and weakling characters. Rogers seems too nice and though there is a change of heart in the last ten minutes, before then he was immovable, even though his lack of action meant that an innocent man would hang.
The cast is chock full of stars at the top or on the rise. Clive Brook plays Norris whose dilemma of to tell or not to tell drives a wedge between him and his fiancé. Richard Arlen, surprisingly third billed as the innocent sailor disappears during the second half of the film but that gives his girl Beatrice (Jean Arthur) a chance to shine as she moves heaven and earth to convince Drake to look for the real culprit he is so desperate to hide. Fay Wray was kept very busy at Paramount - she went there with Erich von Stroheim when he created his "The Wedding March". While Paramount were less than thrilled with him they loved Fay who they saw as a perfect leading lady but in fact this was her last Paramount film. Jean Arthur was also wilting on the Paramount vine - she had been named a 1929 Wampas baby star after being signed by Paramount the previous year but even when talkies revealed her unique voice the bland ingénue roles still kept coming. After this movie she decided to go back on the stage and really learn her craft.
The cast is chock full of stars at the top or on the rise. Clive Brook plays Norris whose dilemma of to tell or not to tell drives a wedge between him and his fiancé. Richard Arlen, surprisingly third billed as the innocent sailor disappears during the second half of the film but that gives his girl Beatrice (Jean Arthur) a chance to shine as she moves heaven and earth to convince Drake to look for the real culprit he is so desperate to hide. Fay Wray was kept very busy at Paramount - she went there with Erich von Stroheim when he created his "The Wedding March". While Paramount were less than thrilled with him they loved Fay who they saw as a perfect leading lady but in fact this was her last Paramount film. Jean Arthur was also wilting on the Paramount vine - she had been named a 1929 Wampas baby star after being signed by Paramount the previous year but even when talkies revealed her unique voice the bland ingénue roles still kept coming. After this movie she decided to go back on the stage and really learn her craft.