Watch Crime, Inc. For Free

Brilliant and touching

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

***SPOILERS*** Tom Neal is crusading crime reporter Jim Riley who's connection with mobster Bugs Kelly, Danny Morton, who's being pressured to join the syndicate. It's the Idreaded syndicate who controls most of the politicians as well as police in the state as well as D.A's office. Being an independent mobster who doesn't like to take orders as well as kick back to the syndicate Buggs signs his own death warrant when he has syndicate big shot Pat Coyle, Lionel Atwill, kidnapped and held for a $100,000.00 ransom in order to get it off his back. With the syndicate coming to Coyles rescue, by finding him and killing his captors,Bugs end up on the syndicate's sh*t end of the stick when he's tracked down with one of his goons in a Conley island wax museum and gunned down has he sitting in a fake electric chair having a smoke.Meanwhile Jim got to know and fall in love with Bugs sister night club singer Betty Van Cleve, Martha Tilton, who just happened to be the late Bug's sister who had no idea what her brother, he told her he was an insurance agent, was involved in. On top of all that Jim is now under investigation by the local D.A in what he knew, if anything, about Bug's murder and who was responsible for it. Playing it safe Jim now also in the cross hair of the syndicate ends up going on his own in order to get the goods on it before he ends up getting rubbed out, like his friend Bugs, for knowing too much.***SPOILERS*** Using 1945 state of the art electronics and photography Jim gets the evidence on the syndicate as well as those in the police and city and state politics that it controls just when he was about to get indited for withholding evidence in Bugs' murder. And it was a number of those in the police and D.A's office who were prosecuting Jim who ended up getting busted for using their office to do the syndicate bidding! With his job done and the bad guys now safely behind bars Jim can now concentrate on hooking up Betty by getting married and putting all of this-Crime reporting- behind him. P.S It was later that year that Tom Neal was to star in what was to be his signature movie "Detour" that turned out to be one of the most significant "Film Noir" movies of that genre.

Okay, all the things we've expected to find from Poverty Row productions- Bad sound.Uneven lighting.confused, incomprehensible plot.Cheap Sets.Washed up actors who worked for bigger studios working for booze money. Kind of what "Direct to DVD" movies are today.Usually, we find these movies in DVD collections because no one bothered to copyright the few messed up copies that are left, and they get picked up at garage sales.

I've seen a number of poor films from Poverty Row studio PRC Pictures, but this has to be one of their better efforts, an unusually involved gangster flick that pits bad guys against bad guys and a grand jury attempting to get the goods on a big time crime syndicate. Newspaper reporter Jim Riley (Tom Neal) gets unusually close to mobster Bugs Kelley (Danny Morton) by saving him from a rub out, only to hear of his eventual demise for refusing to join Crime, Inc. One of the more interesting casting decisions has to be that of Leo Carillo as Tony Marlowe, finger man for the mob, and diametrically opposed in character to the one he portrayed as the Cisco Kid's sidekick in all those Western films and TV shows. It was a bit surprising to see him pull off a serious role without going for one of those hysterical malapropisms, although he did place a five thousand dollar bet that turned out to be a contract hit on Bugs Kelley.With the film coming in at about seventy five minutes, the windup did seem to be just a bit too tidy, as all the elements fell into place to bring the members of the crime organization to justice. I think I'll need another viewing to make the connection with the crooked cop who leaked information to the criminals, as that seemed to blow by rather quickly. The romantic subplot between Riley and Kelley's sister Betty (Martha Tilton) didn't seem especially necessary for the story, but it didn't hurt either. Say, how was that for an impromptu wedding ceremony as the final curtain came down? I always found it helpful when watching the Charlie Chan films of the era to keep a scorecard to track the many characters who were introduced during the course of the story. The same applies here, as it's easy to get the good guys confused with the villains and vice versa. Like Lionel Atwill and Sheldon Leonard, you wind up marveling at their appearance in the story well before you figure out which side they're on!

Jim Riley is a columnist who writes his daily Crime Reporter column discussing the moves and killings of noted racketeers. Riley gets much of his information from gangster Bugs Kelly, a friend, who is trying to leave the underworld and its business organization Crime, Inc. by testifying at a grand jury hearing on the organization. The heads of Crime, Inc. learn of Bugs' motives and put a hit out on him eventually nailing him at a carnival. Riley, now under investigation since Bugs was a close confidant of his, decides to turn states' evidence and appear before the grand jury. Crime, Inc. plans to be a bit more sadistic with the rubbing out of Riley by using Riley's sweetheart (and Bugs' sister) nightclub singer Betty Van Cleeve. Average and interesting poverty row gangster film with a good story and plot that does have some interesting twists. The ending does not seem to deliver the explosiveness promised from the earlier parts of the film but the crime does not pay mantra does take effect. Actors are decent here (surprised to see Carillo play a non-Hispanic speaking role here) but nothing special. Rating, 5.