Elements of Manhattan Melodrama and Angels With Dirty Faces are to be found in The Devil's Party. Though the two cited are better films The Devil's Party can certainly hold its own.Back in the day four boys and the tomboy girl that tagged along with them who grew up to be Victor McLaglen, Paul Kelly, John Gallaudet, William Gargan and Beatrice Roberts commit a robbery in which a fire is started. The boy grows up to be McLaglen takes the rap for the rest and goes to reform school.Fast forward several years and the grownups are now the owner of a swank gambling club and the girl singer attraction in same which would be McLaglen and Roberts. Paul Kelly has become a priest who runs a settlement house and Gargan and Gallaudet who are brothers are cops with ambitions to become detectives.It's that ambition and the fact that McLaglen sends a pair of enforcers played by Joe Downing and Frank Jenks to collect a gambling debt and they kill the debtor sets in motion a whole string of events that pits the former pals from Hell's Kitchen against each other and it results in tragedy.Some nice performances all around by the principal players make this B programmer from Universal something special. The Devil's Party is a real cinema diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered.

Taken from the book "Hell's Kitchen Has a Pantry" by Borden Chase (who was originally a mobster's chauffeur, so knew his way around the mean streets) it seems to have more than a passing resemblance to "Angels With Dirty Faces" which was released earlier the same year. I also wondered if the producers of "Sleepers" (1996) had seen it as well, as both had a very similar start - a group of slum kids are involved in a bigger crime while trying to steal a fruit wagon.Only the ring leader Marty (Mickey Rentschler) is caught and goes to reform school, but the next scene has him as jovial Victor McLauglin, head of a Broadway casino and preparing to host a dinner for his old pals. Helen, the only girl member of the gang (initially played by Juanita Quigley) of course is the club's resident singer. Two of the gang have become firemen and while on a call out realise that the electric sign that has killed a known gambler (Bill Elliot in an early non Western appearance) has been deliberately severed. Joe is eager to report it to the police and leaves Mike (William Gargan) dancing with Helen while he returns to the scene of the crime. He is later found dead after falling from the roof.Mike has now become a one man vigilante team determined to avenge his brother's death, specifically targeting Marty (who was indirectly the cause). Add Father Jerry to the plot and you have a poor man's "Angels With Dirty Faces". I thought Paul Kelly and William Gargan gave the best performances - Victor McLauglin was okay but too much the lovable lug to be convincing as an ambitious hoodlum. And Dickie Jones, Sonny Bupp, Scotty Beckett and Juanita Quigley were four of the cutest street kids ever to come out of Hell's Kitchen - only Mickey Rentschler rang true!! Where were the Dead End Kids when you needed them? They would have added authenticity.

Devil's Party, The (1938) ** (out of 4) Okay, the story here is pretty confusing but I'll try to explain it. Four kids, growing up in Hell's Kitchen, have their lives changed when the oldest pulls a prank, which sets a warehouse on fire. He's sent to reform school but twenty years later he's out on the streets as a gambler/night club owner. Two of the other friends are cops and another is a priest. The gambler sends a couple men to rough a guy up but they eventually kill him and the two cops are put on the case. This film only runs 61-minutes but it seems the screenplay was missing around twenty minutes worth of additional footage that might have tied up various plot holes. With that said, I found myself somewhat entertained but there's really nothing going on in the film. I've heard this was an influence on Leone's Once Upon a Time in America but that connection would be very loose. Victor McLaglen stars.

A group of young kids growing up in Hell's Kitchen form a lifelong bond. Because one refused to rat the others out, he goes to the reformatory. As adults they find their way to conflicting positions in society. Two cops, a priest, and a nightclub owner. The latter is mixed up in some shady dealings, mostly related to gambling. He hires a couple guys to rough a "client" up but they don't heed his limitations and kill the guy. This sets of a series of events where he is now under suspicion and brings about the death of one of his lifelong buddies. The film looks pretty good and it has that cool black and white element. Of course, honor is at the center, but that honor is not respected by the "really" bad guys. Victor McLaglan's character must confront his own miscues and face the music for his actions. It's not a bad movie, but there are absolutely no surprises and the characters actions are frequently pretty hard to swallow.