Johnny Quinlan is so desperate for a job that he takes a gig as a "bag man" for the mob. Meanwhile, his beleaguered wife has to deal with her bizarre, unemployed, wise-cracking brother and various neighbors while keeping house in their Brooklyn tenement.
Acting
Ned Sparks' perpetually annoyed brother-in-law steals every scene.
Production
Authentic Brooklyn tenement sets, cramped and chaotic.
Writing
Abbott-Gleason stage dialogue zips faster than the camera can follow.
Director
Leslie Pearce
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pre-Code Hollywood let criminals prosper and marriages crack—this was normal for 18 months before the Code clamped down in 1934.
Mae Clarke would later scream about roses in 'The Public Enemy'—here she's already perfected the long-suffering wife before James Cagney ever shoved grapefruit in her face.
US
