Bill Cracks Down

Grant Withers plays a steel man and friend of the mill owner who is left control of the mil when the owner dies. Withers is to control the mill until the owners son proves himself over the course of a year. Odd comedy/drama/romance thats set in and around a steel mill. The film is an odd mix of seeming real locations (the mill) and Hollywood sets (everything else). As I said the film is rather odd, pausing for a song in the midst of everything else thats going on. The unevenness of the tone works against total enjoyment of the film since it seems to be shifting gears a bit too often. Its not bad, its just not as good as it should have been.

The basic story idea of "Bill Cracks Down" is very good and it could have been a better film. However, the story moves too quickly and this makes the characters' behaviors seem strange and inconsistent. I'm sure it was only made worse when someone decided to abbreviate the film...cutting about 10 minutes off the run time.

When the story starts, a steel magnate is dying and he knows it. But he's afraid to leave the company to his lazy son. So, he gives it to his best employee, 'Tons' Walker (Grant Withers) to run until the son is responsible enough to take over...and the plan is to force the lazy son to go to work at the mill and learn about self-respect and the value of hard work.

The young man, not surprisingly, is cocky, manipulative and lazy....and he deliberately courts Tons' ladyfriend in order to take her away from him. But Tons isn't an ordinary guy...and if she loves the young man, he's willing to step aside. This magnanimous gesture throws the young man....shaking his confidence in his plan. What's next? See the film.

The acting in this one is pretty good...Withers in particular. However, the film has two strikes against it. One I mentioned above..the quickness which characters change...it just isn't realistic. The other is that although this is not a musical, twice characters just break into song. Musicals need music...non-musicals with singing...well, that's just weird. Worth seeing though flawed.

William Rearden Sr, who built the steel mill, dies on the job and leaves the mill to his son, a painter in Paris, if he works in the mill for a year. In the meantime, it is in the hands of 'Tons Walker'.

It's an interesting idea for the story, and the steel mill sequences are shot with care and verve. Grant Withers as Tons is excellent, and Beatrice Roberts as the love interest is fine, but the rest of the cast is, at best, uneven and some are bad. Ranny Weeks as Bill Jr. is nasal and annoying. But he's not a patch on William Newell, playing his raccoon-coat-wearing, ukulele-strumming buddy, 'Porky' in an awful Jack Oakie imitation.

There are some potentially interesting plot complications added, but they are played by stiffs. If I were you, I wouldn't bother.