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All Dan (Mickey Rooney) wanted to do was to "borrow" $20 from
the register of the garage he works at, to later spend the money on a
dame, hot Vera (Jeanne Cagney). And since he figures he can pay it back
the very next day since a friend owes him a twenty, he doesn't even regard
it as minor demeanour - he has been promised the money for the next day
anyhow, so what's the big deal? Thing is, the friend doesn't pay up the
next day, and when he buys a watch on loan to sell it to a pawnbroker, he
suddenly finds himself a hundred in debt, and when he robs a drunk (Sidney
Marion) of his winnings in bingo ... well, arcade owner Nick (Peter Lorre)
witnesses this and manages to collect evidence - to then blackmail Dan
into providing him with nothing smaller than a car from the garage. Nick,
it has to be mentioned here, is Vera's ex who she loves to tease every now
and again, and who has developed a severe dislike in Dan, naturally. Dan
steals the car for Nick, but now his boss (Art Smith) figures it might be
a good idea instead of calling the police and getting nothing out of it to
blackmailing him into coming up with $3,000 to pay for the car. Now if Dan
had 3,000, he naturally would have never stolen the 20 in the first place
... but here, Vera rushes to the rescue, suggesting they rob Nick's place.
With her knowledge of the lay of his place, this goes very well, and Dan
already thinks his problems are over ... until he finds out Vera hasn't
done this to aid him, but has split the loot to buy herself a mink coat,
and instead of the 3,000 he was hoping for, Dan is left with 1,800. Still,
he tries to pay up his boss, but the two get into an argument upon which
Dan strangles his boss, and at Vera's place almost runs into the police,
which Vera's only too happy to help - but Helen (Barbara Bates), the woman
who has long been in unrequited love with Dan, now helps him to skip town
... and after a wild chase also convinces him to give himself up to the
police, especially since it turns out that he didn't actually kill his
boss, and since it was his first offense ever, he might come away with no
more than one year ... Agent/producer Samuel H. Stiefel's
second attempt (after The Big Wheel) to get then 30 year old Mickey
Rooney away from his a tad too youthful Andy Hardy-image
turns out to be a pretty solid B picture of the film noir variety, with
Rooney being rather perfectly cast as the hapless guy who never means to
do wrong but ultimately does nothing but. Stiefel's other protegée Peter
Lorre also gives a strong performance as the jilted lover Nick, but as
much had to be expected from him, actually. In all, this is a pretty
good flick, telling an interesting story with many an unusual plottwist,
carried by a great ensemble cast and a well-paced directorial effort. Only
the rather too reconciliatory ending might put one off a bit, but it
hardly destroys the movie. I probably wouldn't go so far as to say it's an
undiscovered classic, but it's definitely above-average budget conscious
genre entertainment! Stiefel's last movie as a producer by the
way, as his expertise lay more in promoting music than making films. But
it's definitely not a movie to be ashamed of!
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