"Corruption" had a noble theme and noble aims even if it fell short. I think a better movie on the topic was "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) starring James Stewart.
"Corruption," as the title so aptly states, was about political corruption. In this case it was on a city scale and not a state or national scale. The party selected an attorney named Tim Butler (Preston Foster) as their mayoral candidate. He wasn't a party man, but they figured they could get him on board with the program once he was in office. The problem was that once he became mayor he began actually cleaning up. He was getting rid of all the "grafters" in office and public positions one-by-one.
Naturally, the party, led by Dan Gorman (Tully Marshall) and Regan (Warner Richmond), the muscle, was not too pleased with Butler's cleaning up. He was targeting shills they put in. The only thing for them to do was to get rid of Butler by hook or by crook.
"Corruption" had two elements I found disagreeable. The first was the secretary in love with her boss. The secretary was played by Evalyn Knapp and she was in love with her boss Tim Butler (Preston Foster).
The female-employee-in-love-with-her-boss was done so much I'm sure people believed it. For reference see "Baby Face" (1933), "Beauty and the Boss" (1932), "Skyscraper Souls" (1932), "The Office Wife" (1930), "Morning Glory" (1933), "Jennie Gerhardt" (1933), "Behind Office Doors" (1931), "Lawyer Man" (1933), "Good-bye Love" (1933), and "Goodbye Again" (1933). I suppose the women couldn't help themselves around such powerful men.
The second disagreeable thing was the professional yet tough good guy. I mean the kind that's so tough he doesn't even back down from a gunman. Hollywood pushed the narrative that so long as a man is right and has guts he will be imbued with the strength, agility, and ability to knock out a gunman, and if need be, shoot him with the same gun. It was such a stupid fantasy. Usually he'd then get the girl afterwards.
I think that's why I liked Philo Vance so much. He wasn't fighting anyone. His department was brains and he never stepped outside of his lane.
Also of note in this movie was Natalie Moorhead. I mention her because she never got a break. I've never seen her as a leading lady, and in every movie I've seen her in she's had character flaws. In "Corruption" she was the stuck-up daughter of Dan Gorman, the party head.
One more thing of note, because I'd never seen it in the hundreds of old movies I've watched: someone gave the finger. There was a reporter played by Charles Delaney who flipped off Gorman. He did it in a merry and sarcastically deferential way like he was curtsying, but it was unmistakably the middle finger.
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