In what seems like something that Warner Brothers may have filmed, viewed then sold to a poverty row studio just to get their names off of it comes this mystery with a long-winded screenplay and stereotypical characters that did its starry cast no good. When the most memorable scene is a competition over a toy train set between a D.A. father and his young son (Buster Phelps), you know you've got troubles. The D.A. is murdered for threatening to expose fraud and it is up to good guys Pat O'Brien and Neil Hamilton to uncover the killer and the mastermind behind the crime ring.J. Carroll Naish is a stereotypical Spanish villain with Louis Calhern also pretty bad here, typecast all throughout the 1930's in similar roles. He would do much better years later in lively grandfather roles where his only crime was looking too much at the pretty girls. But here, the one dimensional villains makes for a predictable and boring script, and even if the movie covers up its cheapness with an expensive looking set, it can't escape the fact that it creaks loudly in its efforts to tell its pedestrian story. O'Brien's fast-talking performance is the major highlight of the adult actors, but the majority of the film is insipid and deadly dull.

Only in an obscure poverty rower (Majestic Pictures, who are not above promoting possibly their most famous production with "The Vampire Bat" posters outside a cinema where two of the stars just happen to be talking), could you find a wealth of names to warm the cockles of a pre-code lovers heart. There is beautiful Geneva Mitchell, a Follies beauty who made a career of walk through parts in early talkies, slinky Evelyn Brent (who looks absolutely stunning in this movie), sweet Mary Brian who had been a star but was now falling on leaner times, matinée idol Neil Hamilton who had been a silent star for D.W. Griffith, had co-starred with Norma Shearer and was soon to settle into character parts and cute little Buster Phelps who had played the little boy in "Three on a Match". Even annoying Inez Courtney who seemed to be in every other early talkie musical had an unbilled part as, what else? - an annoying telephonist!!!But wait - there's more!!! Louis Calhern (wrongly spelled in the credits) is the first to appear as Christopher Bruno, President of Continental Importers/Exporters, but really a racketeer who is in the middle of planning the demise of pesky D.A. Henderson, who is on the brink of exposing a giant stock market fraud. Henderson leaves behind a beautiful wife (Mitchell), a cute kid (Phelps) and a crime fighting buddy, Andy (Pat O'Brien), determined to clear Henderson's name. In the great tradition of pre-code political exposes Henderson has been shown as leading a double life but of course it's not true. Another person wanting to clear things up is new D.A. Lionel Houston (Hamilton) but unfortunately his fiancée is Diane Cromwell (Mary Brian looking far more fetching as a brunette than as a blonde) and her father, unknowingly, is in it up to his neck thanks to his greedy partners.With phrases like "the public be damned" this was a film "plucked from the headlines" and the stock market crash of 1929 was still vivid in the memories of the movie going public. This was a movie worthy of the fast paced, topical Warners studios. Meanwhile Andy is looking up assorted cronies including Salvatore (J. Carroll Naish) who was in the apartment where Henderson was killed but claims he wasn't the killer. Andy is then led to Carlotta Lamont (sultry Brent) where he starts to weave his charm (?) even though she is Salvatore's girl, Bruno's girl - actually anybody's girl!!!With all these top stars giving their all, especially Calhern with a very natural performance, this definitely doesn't have the look of a cheap movie. Majestic had a short life, finishing up in 1935 and also being responsible for 1933's ahead of it's time "stream of consciousness movie "The Sin of Norah Moran". Definitely worth a look regardless whether you find it in the "Horror Classics" pack.Highly Recommended.

I got this as part of a collection of horror movies. I can't for the life of me figure out how it even remotely fits in the package. This is a pretty good drama about the results of corruption, much like the Enron scandal, where a group of businessmen steal from the company, and invest in stocks, hoping ot raise even more. It backfires, of course, and a series of people need to be shut up for them to stay anonymous. The first district attorney is killed and then implicated in a scandal. The new, young attorney, swears to get to the bottom of it, putting himself and others in danger. It all plays out quite nicely. It's a nicely done film with pretty strong performances, especially for its time.

Just about sixty years before the Enron scandal, "The World Gone Mad" appears to be a strangely prophetic film of personal scandal and corporate greed. When a District Attorney is murdered and discovered in a "love nest", the front page headlines leave all those close to him bewildered and doubtful of the circumstances surrounding his death. In short order, a new D.A. is assigned, and Lionel Houston (Neil Hamilton) is determined to get to the bottom of a tangled financial scheme. Unfortunately, the investigation involves the father of his fiancée, the head of the Cromwell Investment Corporation (John St. Polis). Pat O'Brien heads the bill here, as a less than scrupulous newspaper reporter, who's not above a bit of gambling, drinking and womanizing himself. In a darkened scene meant to be highly suggestive, his character Andy Terrell finds himself in a very compromising position with the mob connected Carlotta Lamont (Evelyn Brent). It's done very much tongue in cheek, but for 1933, let's say it was risqué beyond belief. How about crass commercialism. There's a great scene at a newspaper stand, in the background is a poster for the same year's film, "The Vampire Bat" starring Lionell Atwill and Fay Wray. At a run time of about eighty minutes, there are moments that seem to drag, but overall, the film brings it's victims to justice admirably. It will help to keep a scorecard though, there are a lot of characters introduced in a short time, and it would be easy to lose track of things otherwise. And was it just me, or did the widow of D.A. Henderson (Geneva Mitchell) look the spitting image of Seinfeld gal pal Julia Louis Dreyfus?