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Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Larger than life Wallace Beery is Sergeant Madden, the cop on the beat, who can solve any problem. About twenty minutes in, we jump ahead to when his son Dennis is applying to the police academy, and must learn some hard lessons. Alan Curtis plays "Dennis", and died young at 43, after surgery. Interesting note... Don Haines plays Milton; Haines enlisted early in the war, and died fighting in Africa at the young age of 23. Also look for David Gorcey (Punchy).. younger brother of the better known Leo Gorcey from the "Bowery Boys" films. In the story, Dennis is stubborn, and can't seem to get along with anyone, including members of his own family. Dennis is sweet on Eileen (Laraine Day) , the girl that the family had taken in as a baby. This was one of Day's early roles, and was only 18. Dennis gets into all kinds of trouble, and Dad (Beery) tries to get him out of it, if he can. Pretty good story. Very typical in the days of the mob and a mix of good cops and bad cops. Only 90 votes as of today. Must not be shown on Turner Classics very often. It's pretty good; hope they show it more frequently. Directed by Josef von Sternberg, who had been nominated for Oscars in 1931 1nd 1932.

"Sergeant Madden" is a remarkable movie on many levels. First, it's an excellent Irish-American melodrama -- and unashamedly so. You don't like melodrama, don't watch this movie. You like strong emotions and interpersonal conflicts, extravagant actions and feelings, people and situations that push it just that little bit too far -- watch it. Second, Berry does what he always does perfectly - - the tough old guy with a heart of gold, with an edge of the maniac in the glint of his eye. The other actors are equally strong, play each part to the melodramatic, Irish-American hilt; family, loyalty, work, love, comradeship, the whole wonderful and emotional lot. Third, the crowing touch is the blend of direction and scenery & settings, the rich tapestry of indoors and outdoors urban backdrop of late 1930s USA. Josef von Sternberg, as usual, saw and found God in the details. (Inspect the living room or the boarding house!) Watch it. Enjoy. They don't make'em like this anymore. Except as a parody. Which this is not. Here's the real thing.

This is another atypical Sternberg film, his sole official effort at staid MGM; I TAKE THIS WOMAN (1940; which is to follow) was another assignment for that studio that would however be completed by other hands. Still, given the presence of Wallace Beery, I thought this would be a comedy-drama whereas it turned out to be a thriller with elements of both the gangster pictures then at their zenith and the soon-to-be in vogue noirs! That said, the film starts off in a sentimental vein as Irish copper – with traditional heart-of-gold – Beery offers to raise a slew of orphaned or abandoned babies. The catch is that, when they grow up, the kids would cause all sorts of trouble for him: two are in love but another claims the girl (Laraine Day) for himself and, while the latter (Alan Curtis in the kind of role John Garfield would come to specialize in) follows in father's footsteps, his impatience for promotion sees him antagonize a notorious gangster (Marc Lawrence) who had learned to respect Beery and eventually turn criminal in his own right! The latter aspect links the film with his earlier (UNDERWORLD [1927], THUNDERBOLT [1929]) and later (MACAO [1952]) phases and, while MGM was best-known for producing wholesome, entertainment-oriented fare, they did churn out the occasional hard-hitting picture over the years. Beery, too, could be serious and schmaltzy and here he mixes the two to reasonable satisfaction.Though, as I said, Sternberg was unable to invest the proceedings with his trademark style, the film does incorporate an effective montage sequence (courtesy of Peter Ballbusch, who had worked for the director on his masterpiece i.e. THE SCARLET EMPRESS [1934]) depicting Curtis' 'road-to-ruin'.

Wallace Beery pulls out all the stops in scene stealing and as an extra has a touch of the brogue in his speech as Sergeant Madden of the NYPD. Of course when we first meet Beery he's merely Patrolman Madden who finds a baby girl on his doorstep and brings him home to wife Fay Holden. Beery and Holden already have a boy of their own and a neighbor's kid who hangs around so much he's like one of the family.The kids grow up to be Laraine Day, Alan Curtis, and Tom Brown respectively. Curtis is a newly minted patrolman himself fresh from the Academy and burning with ambition and now married to Day although Brown has a thing for her. He shoots a young punk David Gorcey caught in the act of a robbery although he could have with some effort taken him alive. That whole incident shows how times have changed, today Curtis would be suspended, maybe kicked off the force for shooting an unarmed suspect. As it is he gets a leery well done, but earns the ire of local hood Marc Lawrence whose girl friend Marion Martin was Gorcey's sister.Lawrence arranges a nice little jackpot for Curtis and I won't say any more because the plot of Sergeant Madden gets more maudlin and unbelievable as it continues. Although the private Wallace Beery was hardly matching the lovable oafish type Beery portrayed in sound films even as a villain, Sergeant Madden is the kind of film that Beery was asked to carry strictly on the strength of that appeal. Beery carries Sergeant Madden to an average rating for me, strictly on that appeal.