With a criminal mastermind straight out of one of their horror movies, Universal pictures had one of their better B films. Irving Pichel, after playing aide to female vampire Gloria Holden, doubles the creepiness as the head of a hijacking ring, with a young Cesar Romero preparing for his "joker" days as Pichel's suave right hand man. Agent Robert Wilcox goes undercover as one of the gang, gaining Romero's trust while preparing to crack their racket wide open. His girl, Judith Barrett, is the daughter of one of the hijacked company's employees (the lovable Harry Davenport) and is equally important to the story, not just some random female standing by for romance.
This crackles and pops from the start, showing that the B movie could be often more inventive than the A top billed feature. Moments of comedy with Wilcox, Barrett, Davenport and character comics such as Tom Kennedy makes this a lot of fun. Barrett and Wilcox play a practical joke on Davenport that has a hysterical climax due to the circumstances involved. The commaradarie between Wilcox and his young pals is very much like a college fraternity. This also lacks the normal clichés that overload many of these crime programmers with subtle nuances concerning young Romero that makes him a unique villain. This one ranks a winner!
This crackles and pops from the start, showing that the B movie could be often more inventive than the A top billed feature. Moments of comedy with Wilcox, Barrett, Davenport and character comics such as Tom Kennedy makes this a lot of fun. Barrett and Wilcox play a practical joke on Davenport that has a hysterical climax due to the circumstances involved. The commaradarie between Wilcox and his young pals is very much like a college fraternity. This also lacks the normal clichés that overload many of these crime programmers with subtle nuances concerning young Romero that makes him a unique villain. This one ranks a winner!