Strange B crime picture from Warner Bros. starring Wayne Morris as a cocky reporter out to bring down Gilbert Roland, a gangster who runs a floating casino. The weird thing about this one is that Roland's character seems like a pretty OK guy, as far as murdering gangsters go. We only see him kill or even threaten people who threaten him first, and he is pretty nice to those who are nice to him. This includes our rat hero, who has a smug grin plastered on his face throughout the picture that made me root for him to fail at every turn. Basically the whole film is Roland being nice to Morris while Morris plots his demise behind his back. Some hero. Oh and Jane Wyman is around counting the minutes until her inevitable kidnapping and rescue. She's a rat, too, so the whole thing just feels weird, you know? We have a picture where the gangster is a pleasant enough fellow if you don't cross him and the hero is an unsavory rat gleefully plotting the downfall of a guy who, at least by what we're shown on screen, is not that bad. Strange but worth a look.

"Kid Nightingale" director George Amy doesn't squander a second in his crime reporter melodrama "Gambling on the High Seas" with Wayne Morris as the tireless journalist and Jane Wyman as his girlfriend. Gilbert Roland is cast as the suave but ruthless crime boss with his signature pencil mustache who operates a gambling ship beyond the three-mile limit. The authorities cannot touch Morella unless they can prove that his gambling equipment is rigged because that would constitute piracy. Morella is a pretty shrewd criminal. He exposes rats in his own employment who have cooked the books and tried to steal from him. More interestingly, he deals with gambler that might create grief for him. One example is a stockbroker who Morella's minions suspect has been losing heavily with funds taken from his employers. Morella orders his men to let the broker win back what he lost and then rob him once he goes back ashore. Morella feared that the stockbroker might try to create bad publicity for him and draw in the police. The local District Attorney (Frank Ferguson) and U.S. District Attorney (John Litel)repeatedly arrest him but they cannot get him for any crimes. One of Morella's men gives the local D.A. a signed confession, but a rat in the D.A.'s office steals the confession and gives it to Morella. Every time that either tries to bring in a witness against Greg Morella (Gilbert Roland of "Any Gun Can Play"), the mobster has his hit men silence them. Eventually, newspaperman Jim Carver (Wayne Morris of "Brother Rat") shoots photographs of Morella's rigged gambling tables and Morella's secretary Laurie Ogden (Jane Wyman) takes them to the authorities. Morella appears in court, and the D.A. is about to summon Laurie as a witness who can authenticate the photos when Morella's out-of-town muscle kidnaps. Carver visits Laurie on Morella's ship, and Morella plans to dispose of them, but the authorities muster three patrol boats with armed agents and they waylay Morella's boat. Clocking at a brisk 55 minutes, "Gambling on the High Seas" is obviously a B-picture, but Amy handles this Warner Brothers film with competence. The Robert E. Kent & Martin Mooney screenplay and story is pretty sharp, and the characters are robust. At one point, Morella says that he doesn't trust anybody, but his lowers his guard for wisecracking reporter Carver and it costs him.

Found out that Jane Wyman's 30's and early 40 pictures were interesting, so caught this dark horse recently. She does that snappy dialog like no other. There was a lot more of it in some of the detective venues she did for a while ("Crime by Night," "Private Detective"). Old story of an actress/actor getting started in a type, doing it well, and then getting stuck there. It's a wonder they break out, but we know she did. After being featured in this type of picture, Ms. Wyman moved up to better ones, playing the female star's girlfriend and similar for a while. Always strong, more energetic and assertive than her later starring dramatic roles. Of course, there are others of interest in the subject picture. It's a programmer actually, with some good actors on their way up. Those can be a bit of a find at times. The Gilbert Roland character was a change from what we have gotten used to seeing from him. Low key, understated performance. Kind of a relief from the more typical volatile crime boss type. Interesting picture to me for these reasons.

Usually when going over the TV schedule I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this kind of movie but with some time to kill it was viewed.Although the plot was almost as simple as it gets..the law wanting to get evidence on the gangster so to put him in prison this movie was very good.It gets a high score even with the expected 1940's snappy talk and the unlikely semi-friendly relationship between the scoop reporter(Wayne morris)and the head gangster(Gilbert Roland).Most of the movies nice atmosphere takes place on a swanky gambling boat.State of the art,it's equipped with a bar,offices and telephones.Roland is a calm speaking crime boss but knows how to take care of business.He sends his boys out to take care of a squealer,they get this done despite a policeman being on each arm of the target.The shooter is able to do this from a distance because his gun has a special light on it.When the gun is fired there is no escaping for the person caught in the light beam,state of the art again.Greg Morella(Roland)has his act together all the way to city hall. When one of the employees from there shows Morella an important paper he took he gives him $10,000 without batting an eyelash.He then sends some of his efficient men to city hall to ransack the place so as to cover for the missing paper.In the next minute he informs his secretary to make a note of $10,000 spent for publicity.He does this so casually the viewer may not even be aware of his claiming an expense for the $10,000 pay-off.To my recollection this was my first time seeing the actor Roger Pryor, he has the part of Max Gates.For Morella he's a staff member/enforcer and a sharp cookie himself.Pryor's performance may of been the best in the movie.With a smooth voice and sometimes cocky manner it was entertaining to hear him refer to the customers as suckers and fish.He was equally talented to show fear when found in a tight spot,impressive.While watching this movie I found entertainment sources coming at me from different directions.The same Jane Wyman that was a proper lady hosting her own TV show and played innocent Johnny Belinda is a young blonde in this movie.Despite her goody-goody name-Laurie Ogden she plays Morella's secretary.She's not tough acting but does do her share of 1940's snappy talk.That along with the blonde hair is enough to keep the viewers attention, as in.."that's Jane Wyman?"Then there's Frank Ferguson doing a good part as the d.a. Not a houshold name he has many credits,I'll always remember him as the owner of the chamber of horrors in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein's.He was very worried how a&c handled the crates that contained Frankenstein's and Dracula.The acting in this movie merits more compliments but I have to stop,entertaining,give it a chance.