dougdoepke Pretty good thick-ear. Four Hell's Kitchen kids keep up their friendship into adulthood even though one has become a gambler (McLaglen), one a priest (Kelly), two are cops (Gargan & Gallaudet), and the girl (Roberts) a singer. Now their lives intertwine in problematic ways as crime confronts the law.Looks like the plot's a variation on a familiar theme of the time (1930's)—kids growing up on opposite sides of the law only to confront one another later on. The concept creates a rich mine for conflicting emotions and loyalties. Here McLaglen has to navigate between gambling interests and loyalty to boyhood friends. The narrative sticks pretty closely to this line with its complications. The acting's okay, though emotions never build to an intensity. Instead, we're pulled along more by plot than characters. Certainly, McLaglen is capable of an intensity when so called upon, but not here. Oddly, there's not much action or violence despite the loaded title. I guess the two fires and smoke are supposed to justify the hellish expectations.All in all, the hour seldom rises above programmer status, but might serve old movie fans on a slow evening.

bkoganbing Elements of Manhattan Melodrama and Angels With Dirty Faces are to be found in The Devil's Party. Though the two cited are better films The Devil's Party can certainly hold its own.Back in the day four boys and the tomboy girl that tagged along with them who grew up to be Victor McLaglen, Paul Kelly, John Gallaudet, William Gargan and Beatrice Roberts commit a robbery in which a fire is started. The boy grows up to be McLaglen takes the rap for the rest and goes to reform school.Fast forward several years and the grownups are now the owner of a swank gambling club and the girl singer attraction in same which would be McLaglen and Roberts. Paul Kelly has become a priest who runs a settlement house and Gargan and Gallaudet who are brothers are cops with ambitions to become detectives.It's that ambition and the fact that McLaglen sends a pair of enforcers played by Joe Downing and Frank Jenks to collect a gambling debt and they kill the debtor sets in motion a whole string of events that pits the former pals from Hell's Kitchen against each other and it results in tragedy.Some nice performances all around by the principal players make this B programmer from Universal something special. The Devil's Party is a real cinema diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered.

Michael_Elliott Devil's Party, The (1938) ** (out of 4) Okay, the story here is pretty confusing but I'll try to explain it. Four kids, growing up in Hell's Kitchen, have their lives changed when the oldest pulls a prank, which sets a warehouse on fire. He's sent to reform school but twenty years later he's out on the streets as a gambler/night club owner. Two of the other friends are cops and another is a priest. The gambler sends a couple men to rough a guy up but they eventually kill him and the two cops are put on the case. This film only runs 61-minutes but it seems the screenplay was missing around twenty minutes worth of additional footage that might have tied up various plot holes. With that said, I found myself somewhat entertained but there's really nothing going on in the film. I've heard this was an influence on Leone's Once Upon a Time in America but that connection would be very loose. Victor McLaglen stars.

classicsoncall The parallels to the same year's "Angels With Dirty Faces" is unmistakable, right down to the character of Father Jerry, portrayed in this picture by Paul Kelly. I'm a bit curious about the opening scene in which the street sign marking 35th Street and 11th Avenue also states Hell's Kitchen; I wonder if that was really the case. Or if it's the case today, I'll check the next time I'm in the City.This was actually a fairly compelling gangster/crime drama, centering on five friends who palled together as the Death Avenue Cowboys. Growing up on different sides of the law, they collide in a series of events triggered by Marty Malone's (Victor McLaglen) insistence on collecting a gambling debt. Events quickly spiral out of control when one of the O'Mara Brothers suspects foul play in the death of a gambler connected to Malone. Mike O'Mara (William Gargan) learns the truth behind his boyhood friend's connection to brother Joe's (John Gallaudet) death, culminating in dire consequences for each of the principals. The female member of the 'Cowboys' is played by Beatrice Roberts, the adult Helen McCoy.I've seen Victor McLaglen in a few leading roles (1937's "Sea Devils" comes immediately to mind), and this might be his best effort as a headliner. Actually, he pretty much carries the picture, with William Gargan in a decent supporting role as policeman Mike O'Mara, attempting to get to the bottom of Joe's death. McLaglen's death scene doesn't evoke the same tear jerk response that Cagney's did in 'Angels', but it's still effective within the confines of his former childhood gang.For followers of the Little Rascals/Our Gang flicks, the opening scene will be reminiscent, but with a little harder edge, as Death Avenue Cowboys might suggest. The surprise in the film credits, for me at least, was seeing Wild Bill Elliott listed as gambler Brewster who welshed on his debt with Malone. The other puzzler involved the gang roster engraved in the wooden plaque at the beginning of the story; why was Marty Malone, the leader of the 'Cowboys' and the oldest member, listed last?