The World Gone Mad

The District Attonrey has uncovered some wrong doings at a corporation and is about to blow the lid on the lot when he's whacked by a hit-man. His replacement (and friend) takes over, and much to the dismay of the bigwigs at the corporation he's determined to blow the lid on all the shenanigans too. What's an evil, greedy person to do? Well, whack the new DA too, obviously! Problem is, the new DA's friend is a reporter who seems to know everyone in the world, and he's also uncovering more and more evidence.

Although billed as a horror film on Mill Creek's 50 Horror Classics box set, A World Gone Mad is more of a crime thriller (although at one point some characters walk past an ad for the film The Vampire Bat!) with a lot of twists and turns thrown in. It's not majorly exciting, but it's not boring either, with plenty of that fast talking thirties mannerism ("Are you on the level?" ) and such like. It's also strangely relevant today, and just seems to show that nothing ever changes. They even mention pyramid schemes at one point.

It's no forgotten classic, but not as bad as other folks have made out.

... and that seems to be what lots of people complain about with this film, all because Mill Creek inappropriately included it in a public domain pack of 50 horror films when this is actually a crime/newspaper caper film. But don't take it out on Pat O'Brien, Neil Hamilton, Louis Calhern and company, because that was a decision made 75 years after this film was made!

The title is probably what got it included, and the title itself is a bit of a mystery for there is nothing of cosmos or craziness in this film. Instead it is about the murder and set up for disgrace of an honest DA (Wallis Clark) by gangsters, and how his newspaper columnist friend (Pat O'Brien) tries to solve the crime and redeem the name of his deceased pal, if for nothing else than for the sake of his widow and son.

The acting of the well known names here is very good. Little Majestic Pictures must have shot the works as far as budget to get so many relatively big names. But the screenplay is another matter. Sure, the plot as a whole makes sense, but there are holes in the plot that make no sense! Pat O'Brien's character seems to be psychic as far as figuring out almost immediately who the trigger man is. How? This is never explained. When the DA's good name is smeared the janitor at the rooming house where his body is found has a whole story about how the DA came there regularly for months to shack up with a lady not his wife and drink heavily. OK, so the janitor is lying. But if he is lying, why not lie completely? Instead he gives a totally accurate description of the girl who was one of the co-conspirators in the DA's murder. Why? You never see this janitor again, so maybe for doing such a bad job of lying for them, the mobsters fit him for a cement overcoat. We'll never know. There are lots of other plot holes too, but these are two big examples.

There is lots of precode naughtiness here, including language and sexual inuendos, and one almost graphic sex scene for the day of two unwed people in bed together. However, the total darkness and the fact that the scene is almost too prolonged takes away from its punch.

Overall, not a bad way to spend 70 minutes.

A fast paced action drama featuring Pat O'Brian as a hard drinking, woman chasing reporter who is on a first name basis with everyone from the District Attorney to mob chiefs and down to hit men on the street. The story opens with a corporate bigwig contracting with the local mob chief (Louis Calhern) to have the District Attorney killed. The newly appointed District Attorney, who happens to be engaged to one of the corporate bigwigs' daughter, and, is, of course a friend of Pat O'Brian. From here it is a race to expose the wicked corporation, in a sort of 1933 Enron scandal, and to keep the new District Attorney alive.

Remembering that this is a 1933 film, it is years ahead of itself in technology, film noir effects, and settings. Everyone dresses for dinner. Even our fearless reporter has a manservant to whom he gives the night off to allow the plot to thicken unfettered at his Art Deco apartment. One scene has bullet identification, which I thought didn't come into being for another 50 years; however here, performed by our reporter hero, rather than the police.

This dated movie holds up to today's standards, and could have even been a basis for the film Chinatown. The corporate leaders get their rewards, the new District Attorney gets the girl, and Pat O'Brian gets another phone number or two for his private file.

I would rate this movie 5 ½ on a scale of 10.

Apart from some occasionally stiff acting by the leads, plus the usual enthusiastic reporter portrayal, this time by Pat O'Brien, this is a pretty terse and believable tale of Your Wrongs Will Eventually Find You Out. The overall technology was poor of course, but ignorable. Some cogent scripting was going off here, much too detailed to go into - take my word for it! However, Neil Hamilton as the D.A. says that if he could he would line up against a wall all crooked businessmen and shoot them ... if caught a fair trial was obviously guaranteed then.

Best bit: The two minute scene in the dark where Pat O'Brien and Evelyn Brent are lying on a bed both pretending to be drunk and playful for their own reasons. Your mind can run riot listening to them goofing around as shadows!

Out of dozens of similar early 30's films in this vein I've seen, TWGM must come near the top.

This is a s-l-o-w crime drama. Not much of a mystery and it's definitely NOT a thriller nor a horror film. It's not the worst film in the world but there are much better crime-dramas from the 1930s. This one is not memorable.

The Internet Archives says this film's genre is drama/horror and the movie is also found in the 50 horror film collection. This film is far away from being a horror film.

Wikipedia has this film as a crime-thriller listed at the bottom of the page. Crime - yes. A thriller? - Debatable. I would argue NO this movie is not even a thriller film.

I think the genre tags on IMDb are correct for this film: crime, drama, mystery. That sums the film right up.

The movie is watchable but I have seen much more interesting crime-dramas from the 1930s than this particular film.

2/10