classicsoncall It's hard to believe it's the same Walter Huston in this film that shows up some years later in 1948's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" - the characters he portrays in each film don't resemble each other in the least. His role as prospector Howard in the later flick just tickled me to death, much the way he tickled those gold nuggets out of a stream. Here you've got him in a much more sober role, perhaps even too straight an arrow trying to rid the city of hoods and thugs plying the illegal booze trade.This is the kind of film Warner Brothers would often portray from the gangster's point of view, while linking a life of crime to such elements as poverty, drug use or alcoholism. This picture uses a similar tack from the side of the law, and what happens when a cop's brother decides he prefers to bypass a slow career path as a detective. Jim Fitzpatrick's (Huston) brother Ed (Wallace Ford) gets in too deep with the Sam Belmonte (Jean Hersholt) gang when his loose lips reveal a bank money transfer about to take place. It didn't help that Ed found solace in the arms of Belmonte's moll Nora Beaumont/Daisy Stephens (Jean Harlow). The credits list here on IMDb calls her Daisy, but I can't recall anyone using that name after it was acknowledged as an alias.As a pre-Code film, the story contains elements you wouldn't get to see when the industry began enforcing The Production Code in 1934. Almost all of Harlow's scenes cross that line, doing her hoochie-koochie number and seducing Ed Fitzpatrick after plying him with liquor while on the job. There's even a chase scene in which one of the outlaw Gorman Brothers shoots and kills a young kid with an errant bullet, leaving her to die on the street. Stuff like this just wouldn't pass muster with the Hays folks.There's one thing about that courtroom scene that bothered me a bit, when the prosecuting attorney was questioning the reluctant witness about the identity of the Gorman's. The intimidated witness states that "just seeing them AGAIN makes me think I'm wrong". With that single word 'AGAIN", the prosecutor should have jumped on the slip of the tongue to pursue a follow up. Instead, the defense attorney Michaels (Tully Marshall) launches into that well orchestrated, over the top summation to the jury that really piles on the emotion should the jury finds his clients guilty. It worked, though it was unusual to hear the judge come back admonishing the jury for their bad decision. That's something you don't get to see too often.As far as the resolution to the story, I'd have to agree with other posters for the film that it was done just a bit too heavy handedly. Looking like the showdown at the OK Corral, the cops descend on the gangster hideout and have it out face to face within feet of each other. One can't help questioning the logistics involved in the dying Jim Fitzpatrick's grasp of his brother's hand as both go down for the count.

Antonius Block This is a film that is for the most part mundane, tedious, and pretentious, and the only reason to watch it is to see the Jean Harlow, who is anything but those things.Walter Huston plays a police officer who is Ivory Soap pure, and who vows to clean up the city after he's promoted to chief of police. Unfortunately, a major problem with the film is there is no effective counterbalance to his role. There are 'bad guys' of course, and a few requisite chase and shootout scenes, but their presence is tepid, and there certainly is no 'beast of the city' that the title would suggest.Harlow, on the other hand, is sensational in the roll of the gangsters' moll who seduces the brother of Huston's character, who is also a cop. The scenes of her reclining back on a chaise lounge, and later swaying her body in an eastern style dance are absolutely electric. In a prelude to 'The Red-Headed Woman' which would appear later in the same year, when he grabs her by the arm and says "You don't like to be hurt, do ya?", she slowly drawls, "Oh I don't know … it's kinda fun sometimes if it's done in the right spirit." Unfortunately, that's just about it. There's police procedure, we see Huston at home, we see him lecturing fellow officers (zzzz), and we have a typical courtroom trial near the end. Oh, if you're a Mickey Rooney fan, you may like to see him in a small part at age 11; that was somewhat cute.I won't spoil the ending but have to say it's horrible, not just because of what happens, but because of how illogical and inconsistent it is. It's also highly melodramatic, and a bookend to the beginning of the film, which has a quote from President Herbert Hoover extolling the virtues of the police and their need for better support. If you think about the actions of the police in the film however, you may find yourself a little puzzled. It's just a bad movie with one bright spot, Harlow.

mukava991 Unlike most gangster films of the early 30s, this Hearst-produced item was fiercely on the side of the law (with a supporting quote by President Herbert Hoover directly following the opening credits), as personified by Walter Huston, as a charming "everyman" Irish cop with a weak-willed younger brother (Wallace Ford). Huston is a charming family man (extended scenes with his wife and children underscore this point, to distraction) who dedicates himself to wiping out crime in a generic, unnamed American city during Prohibition when bootleggers were the scourge of the nation. Ford, lured by gang moll Jean Harlow, gets mixed up with a crime syndicate (led by German-accented Jean Hersholt uncharacteristically cast as a loathsome Italian gangster). Harlow gets the best lines and is easily the most engaging element of the story. The resolution is earnest if technically clumsy and obvious, but with Harlow, Huston, Hersholt and Tully Marshall, who delivers a rousing courtroom monologue (not to mention a supporting role played by an 11-year-old Mickey Rooney), it's worth a look.

jbacks3-1 I love pre-code gangster movies! While Warner's is the indisputable king, MGM threw out all the stops in what appears as an attempt to go head to head with Warner's in making a crime drama. The results are remarkable. The stars here are the cops, something WB didn't focus on until 3 years later with G-Men. Walter Huston does a remarkable job as a police captain whose badge is on the rise but whose not afraid to get his hands dirty. His career is endangered by his reckless, irresponsible younger brother (well played by Wallace Ford, very early in his career), also a cop, who's got an eye for hard-bitten gangland moll Jean Harlow. There's several fantastic scenes: Harlow's memorable line-up, Harlow's hoochie koochie dance, running outdoor gun battles and an outrageous final face-to-face confrontation between the cops and Hersholt's gang in a restaurant. Judging by the 1930's police tactics depicted, it'd be a miracle if anyone on the force survived till retirement. Cops continuously run fearlessly headlong into hails of lead without a thought to taking cover. Look for a young Mickey Rooney and those twin girls (the 14-year old Crane twins) that briefly announced Hal Roach's opening Our Gang credits as Huston's kids. Huston probably drew upon this role for the extremely weird Gabriel Over the White House the following year. Seeing Jean Hersholt (by all accounts one of the most lovable guys in Hollywood--- yeesh, he's got a humanitarian award named in his honor) playing a greasy Capone-esquire crime lord stretches disbelief, but at this point in his career he was considered a 'heavy,' and image that would drastically change over the next decade when he became synonymous with kindly Dr. Gillespie. Beast of the City gives you all this plus creative pre-Miranda police interviewing techniques--- it's cool to see those great 1929-31 Lincoln police cars racing around chasing bad guys with their blaring one-way radios. Beast of the City ranks with the best of the genre and thanks to TCM and TiVo I've seen it a dozen times... this is excellent! Rates a 10!