PAROLE, INC. (1948)

Right off the bat, we are given a thesis sentence, if you will, concerning the "growing menace of unwisely given or fraudulently obtained paroles." Next we see a man with multiple injuries in a hospital bed. This is Richard Hendricks, a federal agent who is recording his testimony to be used in court. We flashback to the beginning of his case, when he is tasked by the governor to root out corruption on the state parole board. When we see one of the board meetings, it's not hard to figure out that the head of the board, Holliday, is involved, as whenever there's a tie vote, he breaks the tie by voting for the parole of a shady character. Hendricks goes undercover as convict Rick Carson, a parole violator, and infiltrates the gang of Harry Palmer, a recent parolee freed by the corrupt Holliday. Palmer's wife Glenda works at the Pastime Club, a place frequented by crooks, and when Hendricks (as Carson) starts making contacts there, he flirts with the owner, Jojo Dumont, who runs an illegal gaming racket. Hendricks tries to arrange for help in getting his crime partner, Cooper, freed via crooked parole. Soon, all roads lead towards Jojo's lover Barney, a crooked lawyer who, for a fee, gets Holliday and a couple other parole board members, to rig up paroles for unworthy convicts. Double crosses, a murder, and secret recordings ensue until Hendricks is exposed and gets the shit kicked out of him. But as we know from the opening, he is saved in the nick of time by the cops and recovers to give the testimony that will put the bad guys behind bars.

Short B-film second features of the era often had either too much or not enough plot. This 70-minute movie has too much, and things get a little convoluted, though generally I was able to follow the basics. The biggest problem, however, is the lead actor, Michael O'Shea, as Hendricks. He is charisma-free and alternates between trying too hard and not trying hard enough. Virtually every other male actor in the movie outshines him. Charles Bradstreet, as Palmer, is quite good but vanishes too early. Harry Lauter, James Cardwell, and Lyle Talbot, in small roles, are good. The usually reliable Turhan Bey (Barney) has little to do compared with how important he is to the plot. The two females, Evelyn Ankers (Jojo) and Virginia Lee (Glenda) are both fine. (There is literally only one other woman in the movie, Hendrick's nurse, played by Bess Flowers, the queen of bit part players of the classic era.) Much of the narrative winds up told, not shown, the sets are cheap and the direction is lackluster. I stuck with it largely for the novelty of the semi-propaganda topic of parole cheating, but you can give this a miss. Pictured is Charles Bradstreet. [YouTube]