About the only reason to see this poverty row film released by RKO is the fact that the original story was written by Dashiell Hammett. Even the presence of leads like Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, and Melvyn Douglas can't save it. And anyone who thinks that they will see The Thin Man, any of the versions of The Maltese Falcon, or The Dain Curse is in for a rude shock.A shoddy production with bad editing can even defeat these talented people. Ralph Bellamy is a parolee released from prison and has Fay Wray who is trying to get away from her cad of a lover Melvyn Douglas. Cutting through a lot Douglas frames parolee Bellamy for assault and he has the dubious choice of taking it on the lam or finding out the real story of what happened to Reed Brown, the friend of Douglas that Bellamy is accused of assaulting.When you watch the aforementioned Dashiell Hammett classics you know how interesting Hammett's supporting characters are. The players do their best but it's like all that might make them interesting seems drained from the screenplay. The editing is totally slipshod as well.I'd watch this just to have an object lesson at how even a classic author can get butchered with a bad screen adaption.

Ralph Bellamy is a man with a temper. After having gotten into a scuffle and accidentally killing a man he's sent to prison for manslaughter, he released. Moving back home he resigns himself to living a life away from people. Unfortunately the local sheriff doesn't like him, more so because his daughter is in love with him. One night while he is attempting to get the sheriff's daughter to leave there is a knock at the door. Its Fay Wray, she's on her way to the train station and in flight from Melvyn Douglas a no good cad with dark designs on everyone and everything. Douglas eventually frames Bellamy for the beating of one of his henchmen and it looks like Bellamy will be going back to prison, this time for murder. Okay drama with a very good cast is hurt by a very talky and very static style. People sit around and talk way too much with the result that you want to shout at the TV get on with it. In all honesty I hit the fast forward a couple of times because I really wished they'd talk less and do more. I suspect my lack of patience was more owing to the lateness of the hour rather than anything else, since the cast is good and manages to sell the nonsense on screen.

I've known of Ralph Bellamy for most of my life. During the fifties and sixties, he was a bit of a staple in television dramas and had a fairly extensive movie career. Rediscovering him in some of these old films, he appears to have a quality that was utilized. He was frequently used as a very masculine character, a kind of dominator of women. He seems to be characterized as a person who once he makes his mind up, won't listen to anyone. This is no exception. He has been framed and put in prison for manslaughter, his temper getting the best of him. It isn't long before he is in trouble again, hooking up with Fay Wray (who really was quite beautiful) and alienating a few people in his community. The problem with all this is that we are expected to believe that people will act in such knee jerk ways, not looking at evidence. Of course, the good guys don't help because instead of pleading their cases, they just take off. Shootings occur and people end up making deals when a simple explanation would have probably circumvented the whole thing. This is a sort of pleasant movie, but not worth a whole lot. There is some pretty bad comic relief that only distracts from what is supposed to be serious.

Sort of a very early "Twin Peaks" look at a small town and its corruption. Ralph Bellamy is a man just out of jail for accidental manslaughter but the town hates him. Fay Wray is running away (from what?) in the dark night in a slinky gown. She comes to his cabin where he is trying to get rid of the sheriff's daughter. She got him in trouble first time around.Then Melvyn Douglas and a stooge barge in looking for Fay Wray. In a tussle the stooge shoots Wray's dog so Bellamy clunks him one and he hits his head on the fireplace. Here we go again.Bellamy and Wray take off but get sidetracked by a cop and end up hiding out in the city with Bellamy's old cell mate and his wife, Roscoe Ates and Ruth Gillette.Then the cops arrest Wray for stealing jewels from Douglas (which were a gift). To get out of jail she agrees to go back to Douglas but when she catches him trying to kill the stooge (who lingers on) she changes her mind.Wild plot but the 3 stars are all pretty good. This is a 1934 film and it was made at Biograph Studies in New York City. I thought they had gone out of business 20 years before this!