Thursday, April 18, 2019

Movie review - "Under Cover Man" (1932) ** (warning spoilers)

George Raft spent a lot of his career being unhappy at being cast as gangsters, even though that was the one type of role he was good at. He was forever wanting to soften the characters he played - he turned down Double Indemnity for instance because the character didn't turn out to secretly be a cop.

No doubt he was pleased by this early star vehicle, which has him as a crook who goes undercover to get the guy who shot his dad. He's helped by Nancy Carroll, whose brother was killed by the same bad guys.

There's not a lot of action - mostly at the end and beginning. Most of this is Raft and Carroll talking to each other and/or other people. In particular both flirt, him with a moll, she with a gangster Lew Cody.

There's a neat twist at the end where Roscoe Karns, a gunman is revealed to be another undercover agent.  Raft is awkward mostly but has some good moments, as does Carroll. Gregory Ratoff is in this. It isn't very well directed.

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