Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Tad Pole . . . is that there are tons and tons of movies and TV episodes with this title, and the 1939 MGM offering with Edward G. Robinson is NOT the one directed by "Fred Hitchcock" (as NORTH BY NORTHWEST actress Eva Marie Saint referred to "Hitch" during "THE OSCARS 2018"). Ms. Saint was NOT in Hitchcock's 1929 Blackmail, at which time she would have been extremely early in her career. I have a colleague who wrote an exceptionally cogent concise explication of THIS version of BLACKMAIL, from 1939, making full use of his many college degrees. I happened to be on hand to lend my street smarts to the exhausting proof-reading process through which all of my associate's musings are subjected. Trust me, the final product was so moving it probably made more than one angel weep. However, the bots running the show here put whatever High and Mighty criteria under which they operate ahead of the public good, denying you the wonderful insights offered therein. Since they never specify or give any clue or inkling as to what goes into their decision-making process (if any), I have not shared a single one of these cogent observations in this space (no one dares make the same mistake twice). However, our coast-to-coast network of film pundits with be distributing (at our great expense) individual printed copies of the original 1939 BLACKMAIL review at EVERY Major League Baseball park Opening Day, 2018, to all of the fans (that is, to each and every one) who has an interest in this film.

id247 Fun Edward G Robinson vehicle to pass the time with, in which he plays a respectable family man, John Ingram, an oil industry fire fighter, with a dark secret, only to be blackmailed by his original nemesis, sent back to a chain gang prison for a crime he didn't commit, and eventually escaping once more, seeking vengeance.Gene Lockart steals the film as Robinson's enemy, Bill Ramey, a slimy piece of work on a mission to ruin Ingram's life, and if you add hideous performances from Guin Williams, as a moronic family friend called Moose, yes I kid you not, and Bobs Watson playing the most nauseating brat of all time, as Ingrams son, you have the perfect B movie.Loved the boiled egg and toast gag in the opening sequence!

telegonus Tough guy Edward G. Robinson, who normally dominates every movie he's in, is upstaged in this one, a good, unambitious actioner, first by raging oil well fires, then by the sly performance of Gene Lockhart, as a particularly loathsome, scheming villain, complete with a baby talking Down East accent. The movie is otherwise unexceptional though very skillfully made at MGM, and features an innocent Robinson on the run from the law for a crime he did not commit. As his sidekick, Guinn Williams is presented as so moronic one wonders how he can hold down any job, much less function as E.G.'s second in command in such a dangerous profession as putting out oil well fires, but the ways of Hollywood are sometimes mysterious. The capable Ruth Hussey is wasted in the boring and irritating role of the wife, from whom we want the movie to get away as quickly as possible. Robinson at first seems out of place in the Oklahoma oil fields but is so robust as the hard-driving entrepeneur hero that this is easily forgiven, and besides, he always excelled at playing fearless men.

David Atfield This film starts with a bang - literally. It also ends with a bang. You see Edward G is an oil-fire fighter in Oklahoma - and he's doing really well. Great job (if a little dangerous), great house, great wife, great kid. Trouble is he is actually a fugitive from a chain gang - and his past is about to catch up with him. A shame it does really because the scenes of Eddy walking fearlessly into fire-balls are unforgettable. A story about the lives of oil-fire-fighters would have been a lot more interesting than the rather dull blackmail leading to a return to chain gang stuff. The chain gang scenes never live up to those of the masterpiece "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" - but I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler got a few ideas on his slave labor camps from this film. Were the chain gangs of the thirties really this brutal? If so there were a few "war criminals" in the Southern USA.Anyway the film drifts back to oil fires at the end - and the climax is really spectacular. It is enhanced by Ed's magnificent performance, and an unforgettable snivelling evil performance from Gene Lockhart. Both rise above the ordinary material. Also impressive is Guinn Williams, but the very talented Ruth Hussey is given little to do but look worried, and Bobs Watson is VILE as the cry-baby son. All in all good MGM entertainment, with some great sequences.