Les yeux des bas-fonds

Enjoyable programmer from Universal starring iron-jawed Richard Dix as an ex-con-turned-police chief who sets out to bust up a car theft ring and gets framed for his efforts. Don Porter plays a special investigator who inadvertently helps with the frame-up, then tries to save the day. Wendy Barrie is Dix's secretary. She's in love with him but he pushes her away on account of his past. Porter's got a thing for Barrie but she's all about that Dix. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays Dix's friend, a dimwitted brute willing to do whatever it takes to help a pal out. This includes torture in one gripping scene. Despite starring in horror films for Universal around this time, Chaney only has a supporting part here (but he makes the most of it). The rest of the cast includes Marc Lawrence, Lloyd Corrigan, Joseph Crehan, and Edward Pawley. Fast-moving B picture with solid direction from Roy William Neill. Nothing exceptional but a good time-passer. Worth a look, if nothing else, for Chaney's performance and that awesome shootout/fight scene near the end. Chaney's character is positively superhuman! He also has one of my favorite movie lines when he's about to torture the bad guy: "You're gonna live a long time in the next few minutes."