Spencer Tracy: bootlegger turned kidnapper hunter. Prohibition ended, crime evolved.
Bootlegger Ed Carson is sent to prison. His old gang turns from liquor (now legal) to kidnapping. When they nab the son and daughter-in-law of the judge who sent Carson to prison, he is paroled to help in the capture.
Acting
Tracy's simmering rage before his stardom solidified.
Direction
Cummings compresses an entire genre into 73 tight minutes.
Director
Irving Cummings
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Spencer Tracy made six films in 1933 alone; this was his only pre-Code crime programmer before Fox elevated him to prestige pictures.
Released months after Prohibition's repeal, the film literalizes national anxiety about what organized crime would do next—kidnapping became the logical successor industry.
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