Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.
Acting
Sidney Fox's unraveling—watch her eyes go from defiant to dead.
Direction
Erskine milks that midnight deadline for every sweaty second.
Production
Electric chair as setpiece—pre-code Hollywood went there.
Director
Chester Erskine
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bogart fought for this role after being typecast as rich dopes; it's his first gangster, four years before he owned the archetype in 'Dead End'.
This dropped during the Code's enforcement limbo—notice how the adultery, implied sex work, and execution spectacle all vanish after 1934.
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