Steineded
How sad is this?
Moustroll
Good movie but grossly overrated
Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
drjgardner
"Public Hero No. 1" is part of the FBI public relations program to make G-men into heroes and replace the gangster as the box office attraction (e.g., "G-Men" with Jimmy Cagney, "Bullets or Ballots" with Edward G. Robinson). After all, in the early 30s, it's the gangster who got the big box office bucks – "Little Caesar", "Public Enemy", etc.Chester Morris plays the undercover G-man who infiltrates the notorious Midwest Purple Gang by breaking the gang leader (Joseph Calleia) out of prison. Along the way he meets the mob doctor (Lionel Barrymore) and falls in love with the mobster's sister (Jean Arthur).The first third of the film is a standard prison film with a pretty exciting prison break sequence, although it wouldn't make my top 10 list ("Cool Hand Luke", "Each Dawn I Die", "Papillion", "Midnight Express", "The Shawshank Redemption", "The Escapist", "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", "Escape from New York", "Stalag 17", "The Great Escape"). No sooner do we get comfortable with the prison genre, the film dramatically changes tone and becomes a classic 30s screwball comedy with Jean Arthur exchanging verbal bullets with fast talking Chester Morris, and a very animated Lionel Barrymore overplaying his role as a drunken physician. When it returns to the crime drama with star crossed lovers, the film begins to wobble a bit, but eventually it moves to the happy ending expected in the mid 30s, with a Dillinger-esque shootout to cap it off.It's a fast paced film, but there are far better crime films and screwball comedies from this era. Still, the performances are uniformly good, so if you're a fan of Morris, Callelia, Barrymore, George E. Stone, Paul Kelly, et al you'll enjoy the film
MartinHafer
I liked the first portion of this film--it was a bit clichéd but very entertaining. You see a very brash crook (Chester Morris) having difficulty adjusting to being locked up in prison. He can't help but be noticed by everyone, as he leads prison riots and makes a nuisance of himself. Eventually, he and his cell-mate (Joseph Calleia) manage to escape and Calleia is badly injured in the process. So, it's up to Morris to get a doctor--and unfortunately the only one who will treat him without informing the police is a drunkard (Lionel Barrymore--in a very vivid and atypical sort of role). Along the way, Morris just happens to pick up a girl (Jean Arthur) who just happens to turn out to be Calleia's sister! Little does she or Calleia know that Morris is actually a government agent--sent to infiltrate the Purple Gang (of which Calleia is the boss).Up to this point, it's a highly improbable but entertaining film. However, making Arthur and Morris fall in love just seemed a bit too much--as did making Morris throw away the MONTHS and MONTHS of undercover work for her. This tended to slow down the film but despite this, it was still fun to watch. Not great but fun--in a mindless sort of way. Also, note the theater ending--obviously an attempt to cash in on the way they caught up with John Dillinger the previous year.By the way, this is a very, very close remake of "The Getaway" (1941). If you've seen either, it probably isn't worth seeing the other. Also, it's pretty ironic that Chester Morris plays this undercover agent, as one of the gang members that he betrays (and gets killed at the end) is George E. Stone--the same guy who played Morris' best-friend and sidekick in the Boston Blackie film series!!
classicsoncall
I debated watching this one on Turner Classics this morning, but after fifteen minutes into the picture I was hooked. A pre-Boston Blackie Chester Morris makes his mark in a dual role as an undercover detective working a mob connection from inside prison. He's trying to learn the whereabouts of Sonny Black's (Joseph Calleia) headquarters and the rest of the Purple Gang. The reason for that name was never explained, so I was left wondering about it the rest of the story.You generally don't think of a gangster picture as having comedy relief elements, but Lionel Barrymore worked effectively here as the inebriated doctor of choice for the mobsters. Leaving his medical kit at a local gin mill as collateral, Doc Glass had about the finest nose for liquor in film history. On top of that, he always seemed to have a back up stash of the hard stuff in convenient locations just in case the glass he was working on got pinched.Jean Arthur is effective as the good girl who falls for Jeff Crane (Morris), and of course the twist with her character is that she's convict Black's sister. She makes a continuous running play for Crane in the early going, even after she learns he broke out of prison with her brother. That sets up the film's emotional conflict for the finale, as Terry (Arthur) must resolve her feelings for the man who wants to bring her brother to justice.The other performance of note in the picture is Paul Kelly's portrayal of Special Agent Duff, laying it out right on the line for Crane before he gets in too deep with Sonny Black's sister. Fortunately, that tug of war ends on a harmonious note at the closing bell, as Crane and Terry end the picture in a clinch, presumably on the way to the altar. On the way there though, you have a climactic shoot 'em up that leaves all the mobsters on the short end of staccato machine gun fire, courtesy of the era's penchant for closing out such stories with a healthy dose of law and order.
Dr. Ed
stars in this quirky yet unsuccessful comedy-drama about an undercover cop (Chester Morris) and the plot to capture a gang leader (Joseph Calleia) who happens to be Jean Arthur's brother. Lionel Barrymore is along for the ride as a drunken doctor (a nice comic turn). But it doesn't all come together; even Miss Arthur's beauty and fine comic timing can't save this one.
