In keeping the morals of large cities on a tight leash, the vice squad broke other laws by turning the division into a racket by hiring stool pigeons to frame young girls who were innocent of any wrong doing. That's the claim of the opening title card, explaining how crime within law enforcement did more harm than good. It's a shame then that this film becomes so odd yet remains intriguing, mainly because in it's efforts to expose rackets like this, it becomes as close to a low budget exploitation film that a major studio like Paramount could put out.Foreign diplomat Paul Lukas is left behind at the scene of a hit and run, blackmailed by a vice cop into becoming a stool pigeon, breaking his engagement to Kay Francis and going into hiding. His disgust with himself leads him to become a lush, and one night, is helped home by the pretty Judith Wood and her pal Esther Howard. The vice cops want to use Wood as one of the falsely accused, but Lukas is disgusted by this and refuses to comply. He returns to Francis and only becomes involved when he discovers that Wood was arrested anyway.Of course, the dashing Lukas gives an excellent performance, and Wood is quite good too. Francis's character is sadly not fully defined, at one point impatient with him and the next moment showing her loyalty. The opening sequence of Compton abandoning Lukas, thus setting him up for blackmail, is never concluded, a jarring flaw. This is a strange film that is completely watchable even if it leaves more questions unanswered than the issues it solves.

Formerly on the VintageFilmBuff label is another Paramount double, this time starring Kay Francis. In The Vice Squad (1931), although second-billed to the noirishly entrapped hero, Paul Lukas, Kay Francis does not play the heroine (that role is beautifully played by Judith Wood) but the girl who is prepared to send her rival to jail. A meaty film noir, The Vice Squad is not even mentioned in most books on this subject even though it has the further noir asset of being decidedly anti-police. This film is absolutely no "tribute" to its title organization, but a trenchant attack on the vice squad and its dealings, incisively directed by John Cromwell. The other 9/10 movie on this DVD, The False Madonna (1931) had all the makings of a superior crime/weepie but is undermined by the weak acting of lackluster Conway Tearle in a small but vital role. Even the editor is aware of his total lack of charisma and tries to cut away from him to reaction shots of Kay Francis, William "Stage" Boyd and John Breeden as often as possible. Stylishly directed (Stuart Walker) and beautifully photographed, the movie is still a must-see.

Now THIS pre-Code movie is a clear and courageous accusation of the wrongs in American society in the early 30s if ever there was one: a DIRECT attack on the 'famous' Vice Squad and its methods for bringing as many 'party girls' (a euphemism for prostitutes) to 'justice' in order to protect American morals. It doesn't hesitate to depict their way of 'working' in detail: they pick men in need, or in trouble with the law, as stool pigeons to trap the unsuspecting girls and catch them 'in flagranti' - in this case, the forced stool pigeon is a former member of a foreign embassy, who got innocently involved in a murder case; and for two years, he's being used by the ruthless police captain to ruin the lives of countless girls, until he literally can't look at himself in the mirror anymore, becomes an alcoholic, and attempts suicide. He's saved by a nice, innocent young girl - but very soon, she becomes a target of the 'Vice Squad' as well; and only he can save her reputation, by telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...With the help of an excellent cast and a first-class script and direction, "Vice Squad" became one of the VERY few movies (and of course, it would under NO circumstances have been granted a seal three years later) that OPENLY, and in NO way humorously, accuses the police methods as well as the overall social odds during the first years of the Great Depression; it will forever remain a time document for everyone to see - just in case history books might be altered over the years and the social evils of the era should be 'whitewashed'...

Intelligent drama benefits from literate script and a sensitive central performance by Paul Lukas, well cast as a diplomat blackmailed by corrupt vice cops into entrapping prostitutes. Lukas nicely balances a shabby gentility with despair as he's driven to drink in lowdown Greenwich Village dives to forget his "dirty" job. Choosing between sleek Kay Francis and blonde Judith Wood presents a romantic dilemma paralleling the moral decision he must make. Esther Howard--a longtime character actress and Preston Sturges favorite--here looks unrecognizably youthful as a salty-tongued artist's model.