A pretty good hour crank out from the usually reliable Columbia Studios. Fred Farth is running a highly profitable phone racket operation that's really drawin' in the bucks, but things suddenly take a strange turn when baby brother Bruce comes back after graduatin' stool only he ain't a lawyer like was planned, but a G-Man tryin' to put exactly these kinda phonus balonus operations outta biz fer good! Farth (Don Terry) isn't sweatin' it up too much considerin' how the guy has the brains to keep the rackets goin' and placate his still inna-dark brother, but when situations arise and Bruce gets a few more hints (and evidence scammed from trashbins) things obviously come to a tension-packing head.
Can't complain a bit as this type of moom pitcher satisfies me here in the dawn of the boring twenties (or thereabouts in case I decide to post this 'un a li'l earlier) as it did my grandparents when it was aired onna local UHF station some Sunday afternoon in 1963. Like in most Columbia pix the acting and looks is low-budget cool (about the same as big budget cool a la Warner Brothers which was better'n big budget a la MGM) with a quick get-to-it plot and storyline that doesn't let you down. The gal portion of this 'un ain't much inna way of deviating from the action (the usual bit---she's unaware that Fred is using her to seek out new dummies so you're not supposed to hate her) so you don't have to worry about any of those slobberin' scenes that usually detract from wild crime dramas such as this.
And it 's got a good cast too from DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY star Don Terry as the rackets head and Robert Paige as the snooperoo brother while I gotta say that Julie Bishop/Jacqueline Wells is just one of those everyday pretties that could slip into any of these thirties B-flicks w/o causing much of an outta-the-way uproar. If you're a real anal retentive type watch out for future tee-vee faves Paul Fix from THE RIFLEMAN as Fred's oft-abused partner who turns on the guy as well as NAKED CITY's own Horace McMahon, and if you don't blink you'll even find THREE STOOGES regulars Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent somewhere inna mix!
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