Gang Bullets

1938's "Gang Bullets" shows that Monogram could occasionally compete with Warners' crime dramas, though on a noticeably smaller budget and less action. At the same time Boris Karloff began his 'Mr. Wong' series, the studio's modest ambitions show in this gritty expose of crime boss Morgan Wallace, against crusading District Attorney Charles Trowbridge, with top billing awarded former Warners starlet Anne Nagel, best remembered for her work at Universal in "Black Friday" and "Man Made Monster" (one of her last roles came in Monogram's Charlie Chan entry "The Trap," wearing a fetching bathing suit). After playing the surprise killer in "Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo," Robert Kent was back on the right side of the law, soon starring opposite Bela Lugosi in the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps." Morgan Wallace usually played villains, as he soon would in "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation," before his memorable encounter with W. C. Fields in "My Little Chickadee."

B-movie regular Charles Trowbridge is the District Attorney "Wayne" who is constantly playing a cat and mouse game with savvy crook "Big Bill" (Morgan Wallace). Thanks to the latter man's army of lawyers and henchmen, "Wayne" usually comes off empty-handed until he alights on a cunning plan to use his deputy "Carter" (Robert Kent) who is engaged to his daughter "Patricia" (Anna Nagel) to set up the mother of all sting operations that might just expose their quarry to charges even he can't argue away. The production and the acting are both a bit basic and there's way too much dialogue as the scenarios stray into the faintly ridiculous, but the last ten minutes are quite enjoyably strung together using an old grenade and loads of brass neck. Standard fayre you'll never remember, but it passes an hour ok.

This movie came bundled with 7 other old gangster films, and was purchased by a friend of mine at a bargain price.. Gang Bullets is the second one I have watched from it. The quality of the prints is not great, but I don't find that too distracting. Unfortunately, I had to rate the film on the low end. The storyline concerns a Mob Boss and his attempt at controling an unnamed city and the efforts of law enforcement to find evidence in which to arrest him. So yeah, it certainly held some promise.

Yet, it'l ends up being mostly dull, and contains some really stiff performances. Morgan Wallace is somewhat interesting in the role of Big Bill, the crime boss, and Ann Nagel is attractive and provides some emotion. But the rest of the acting seems sedate, when you would have expected more intensity. So essentially I enjoyed the plot, but found mysel bored at times .

GANG BULLETS is a low rent mobster story from cheapie studio Monogram Pictures, notorious for making endless B-movies on a shoestring. This film's about the efforts of an entire city's law and justice departments to bring a notorious criminal to book. Morgan Wallace plays said criminal, 'Big Bill' Anderson, with relish and certainly dominates the film with his larger-than-life persona. I loved the sly joke when he tells the cops that his tax records are up to date so they can't bring him to book.

With a running time clocking in at just over an hour, GANG BULLETS is never boring for a moment and the plot constantly twists and turns as first the cops and then the criminals get the upper hand. The usual clichés of the gangster genre are played out here, including protection rackets, stings, and shoot-outs, and they're all handled with surprising aplomb given the paucity of the budget. The film lacks any big-name actors for recognition but works anyway despite this.

Gangster Morgan Wallace gets kicked out of town, so it's on to the next. Chief of Police J. Farrell MacDonald has him dragged into DA Charles Trowbridge's office. Morgan's not worried. He quotes the bill of rights to them and walks out the door. As the months go by, his gang's depredations become worse and the local paper bears down on the DA, with letters from a pseudonymous "Junius" making claims that will force the administration out, leaving the town prostrate.

It's a decently written, shot and acted B movie, but it's at its worst when it's most serious. For the first twenty minutes of this one-hour Monogram picture, there's discussion of the Bill of Rights, claiming it's outdated and useless in the face of the modern gangster, a claim that sets my teeth on edge. Others may not find this so upsetting.

There are a few serious plot threads left hanging at the end of the movie. Presumably they will all be sorted out satisfactorily later.