Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

mukava991 Unlike most gangster films of the early 30s, this Hearst-produced item was fiercely on the side of the law (with a supporting quote by President Herbert Hoover directly following the opening credits), as personified by Walter Huston, as a charming "everyman" Irish cop with a weak-willed younger brother (Wallace Ford). Huston is a charming family man (extended scenes with his wife and children underscore this point, to distraction) who dedicates himself to wiping out crime in a generic, unnamed American city during Prohibition when bootleggers were the scourge of the nation. Ford, lured by gang moll Jean Harlow, gets mixed up with a crime syndicate (led by German-accented Jean Hersholt uncharacteristically cast as a loathsome Italian gangster). Harlow gets the best lines and is easily the most engaging element of the story. The resolution is earnest if technically clumsy and obvious, but with Harlow, Huston, Hersholt and Tully Marshall, who delivers a rousing courtroom monologue (not to mention a supporting role played by an 11-year-old Mickey Rooney), it's worth a look.

kidboots While Warners was glamorizing the gangster ("Little Caesar", "The Public Enemy") the more conservative MGM turned to the police force to show the public that they also needed glorification. Even though her role in the unpopular "The Secret Six" was very secondary, Jean Harlow was rushed into it's companion piece "The Beast of the City" and her part as Daisy, the sensuous gun moll was far more memorable.The police were shown to do their duty even for an uncaring public - patrons in a speakeasy boo a raiding police group. About the only decent man in town is a police captain (Walter Huston was completely at home in police stations, prisons etc by 1932). "This town is as rotten as an open grave". Corruption even touches his family with his younger brother Ed (Wallace Ford) co-erced into crime because of his relationship with Daisy. The original story was an updating of W.R. Burnett's western novel "Saint Johnson" (1930) and it was made in the original western form as "Law and Order" (1932) - Huston also played the lead in that one as well.Police captain Jim Fitzpatrick's (Huston) failure to put racketeer Sam Belmonte (Jean Hersholt) behind bars causes him to be transferred to a quieter precinct. When he captures a pair of robbers he is promoted to police chief but his brother proves a real thorn in his side. Ed wants quick promotion and is not entirely honest - when asked to keep an eye on Daisy, he easily falls for her charms and starts to take payoffs from the gangsters she is involved with.What a seduction scene Harlow puts on - no ordinary red blooded male would be able to keep his head, certainly not a weakling like Ed. "That's not dancing - this is dancing"!!! Within minutes of meeting she is getting him drunk and seduces him with a sultry sexy dance that has him eating out of her hand. He thinks it's love but she knows exactly what she's doing. When he drunkenly tells her of an assignment he has - keeping an eye on a truck load of cash, she persuades him to fully join Belmonte's gang in stealing the shipment and his decision has repercussions for everyone. Like other reviewers I think the ending will shock but the biggest shock to me was the improvement in Jean Harlow's acting.Within ten years Wallace Ford was playing character roles but in 1932 he and Jean looked great together. It was hard to believe only the year before her acting in "The Public Enemy" was causing critics and the public to snigger, to say nothing of her harsh, trashy make up. In "The Beast of the City" she looked dazzling, acted in a natural way and got her first good notices. Mordaunt Hall, "The New York Times" - "Jean Harlow, the first of the platinum blondes, is a distinct asset to this film" and Irene Thirer of the "New York Daily News" - "Yep, the platinum blonde baby really acts in this one, mighty well"!!!

bkoganbing The Beast Of The City finds Walter Huston cast as a crusading and honest cop, possibly too rigidly honest. His character is a whole lot like Kirk Douglas's detective in Detective Story that would come out a generation later.The film also borrows a lot from westerns at the time. Huston's unknown western city is ruled by gangster Jean Hersholt who is apparently untouchable as far as the law is concerned. A whole lot like real life gangsters Al Capone and Lucky Luciano who were coming into prominence.Huston's family life is secure enough, wife Dorothy Peterson, a few kids among them a young Mickey Rooney. He also has his younger and weaker brother Wallace Ford living with them. Ford's got a real good deal, no rent and he apparently chases a lot of skirts. That proves to be his downfall and eventually Huston's.The skirt that did them in belonged to Jean Harlow. Jean was never a better mantrap in her career than she is The Beast Of The City. Wallace Ford turns out to be putty in her hands.Also note another good performance in The Beast Of The City is that of Tully Marshall who plays Hersholt's lawyer. The word shyster was invented for lawyers like Marshall, but he's good to have on your side especially if you're guilty as sin.The climax is an unforgettable one and one more typical to a western than a modern drama. It's what makes The Beast Of The City a classic that is too rarely seen today.

Jason-38 This is one of the grittiest of the pre-Production Code features. It is important to realize that just two years later, with the implementation of the rewritten Production Code in 1934, this film could not have been made.As with any piece of popular entertainment that is nearly 70 years old, there are going to be dated elements. What is more important is how relatively modern this film feels, especially compared to the films made under the Production Code after 1934. The story is a hard slice of life, and it will not suit all tastes. This is especially true for those who have been too conditioned by Production Code features and television.The ending has been compared to Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH and Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY, and not without cause. However, try to imagine yourself as a member of the original theatrical release audience in 1932. There would have been very little to prepare you for it, apart from DOORWAY TO HELL, LITTLE CAESAR, PUBLIC ENEMY, and SCARFACE. The difference here is that the story is told from the point of view of the men in law enforcement. It focuses on something that was common knowledge at the time, that prohibition had corrupted law enforcement far beyond the scope of anything the public had ever known.The remedy for corruption that this film prescribes is very strong medicine indeed. You may not like it, but I defy you not to think about it for a long time after you've seen it.