I, the jury, pardon all the usual suspects for this interesting expose of an illegal parole racket where the narrative hooks you right away. The sound of a man's voice closes in on the speaker who is revealed to be the badly bruised Michael O'Shea, a federal investigator telling his story of exposing the racket, headed by ruthless Turhan Hey and aided by sassy same Evelyn Ankers, giving up her title as scream queen to go down Ann Savage/Barbara Payton territory. Smartly written, this exposes what is right about the parole system and what is definitely wrong with it. Starting off with the allegation that parolees are likely to commit more crimes when out, it uses that hook to make you mad enough to see what it has to say. As O'Shea is warned, he has a lot to watch out for, considering that his predecessors were either found filled with bullets, or not found period.Ankers makes a fine vixen, pretending to get drunk on a date with O'Shea to find out who he really is, while Virginia Lee is quite good as the wife if a decent man paroled who pays for betraying the racket. Tight editing and fast pacing make this one of the better racket films that has enough elements of film noir to be lightly categorized in that genre.

It's a talkie movie that is watchable.Not a great film.One of these low budget moral films made in the 40s and 50s.Some familiar character actors in it.Don't expect any suspense.When several notorious criminals are unjustifiably released on parole, the Federal Government smells a rat and sends ace agent Richard Hendricks to investigate. Hendricks infiltrates the gang, responsible for the parole racket by posing as a much-wanted convict Rick Carson. However, the wily Barney Rodescu, who is the brain behind the racket, soon finds out Carson's true identity. Carson's life is now in grave danger.

This was an interesting little mystery/crime thriller dealing with criminal conspiracy in the parole system. Plotted rather well with a wide cast of characters, you really had to concentrate on the players to keep it all in focus. Undercover detective Richard Hendricks (Michael O'Shea) has three names in the story, recruited by the Governor and State Attorney General to try and find out how a string of recent paroles occurred to put nasty gangsters back on the street. It was rather comical to see Hendricks in an opening scene in a hospital bed with his face crudely bandaged up with gobs of tape. He proceeds to tell his story in somewhat of a flashback style, and it works pretty well as he comes in contact with various mobsters and henchmen in the employ of Jojo Dumont (Evelyn Ankers), owner of the Pastime Club. She's in league with her shady lawyer boyfriend, Barney Rodescu (Turhan Bey), who has contacts on the parole board that line their pockets as he calls the shots.I would like to have seen a darker and seedier atmosphere for the picture given the subject matter. Everything seemed to take place in the bright light of day, and I didn't get the impression that the Pastime Club was the sleazy gin mill and cheap cafe that it was described to be. Glenda Palmer (Virginia Lee) had a rather nice and spacious apartment on waitress wages, and though you could say she was bankrolled by her convict husband Harry (Charles Bradstreet), he was still doing time when the story opened. Too bad Harry tried to do an end run around Jojo; he seemed like a decent enough guy otherwise, for a criminal.The best part about the picture is the way Hendricks infiltrates himself into the set up with Charley Newton (Paul Bryar) and the boys. You can tell some thought was put into the story when you have Hendricks leaving clues he was a hood back in his hotel room. A lot of stories of the era would have glossed over small details like that and would have assumed the viewer would take it for granted. It was touches like that, that place the film a notch above similar flicks of the era, like 1947's "Big Town After Dark". There was enough credibility in the characters and situations to play out effectively, and you didn't have to scratch your head over a bunch of goofy stuff that a lot of these programmers came up with.

There have been a lot of paroles. The board is corrupt. O'Shea is sent to infiltrate those suspected of being on the take. He is able to sweet talk his way into the confidences of the ring, but eventually, he must face the real leader, played by Turhan Bay (What a name). Anyway, the plot thickens and one of his confidantes gets killed. It bothers me a bit that even though the guy was a criminal, he had a nice human quality to him. There is some slipshod police work and O'Shea, who looks a little like the mummy in a hospital room, narrates into a giant microphone, telling what happened. I guess a movie in the forties isn't going to have anyone think that the good guys are vulnerable, though he does take quite a beating. This is one of those little films that one barely pays any attention to.