kidboots 1929 was a big year for Carole Lombard. Amid heavy accents and stars with poor diction her breezy, lilting voice made her a natural for talkies and this movie really showed up her naturalistic style. Unfortunately Pathe was too involved with the careers of Ann Harding and Constance Bennett to care about her future. It is quite surprising as her notices for "The Racketeer" were very positive.The ever reliable Robert Armstrong is Mahlon Keane, the racketeer, whose life becomes entwined with Tony (Roland Drew), a drunken violinist who collapses in front of him in the street and also Rhoda Philbrooke (Carol Lombard), a beautiful girl who is now a social outcast because of her commitment to Tony. She and Mal meet at a charity benefit when he recognises the $50 bill she uses for a poker game as the one he put in the violinist's coat. Mal catches Rhoda cheating but backs her up. "Just because I cheated, I suppose I've put myself in the bargain basement" - I know it's a creaky, early talkie but I can't help thinking Carole would have shrieked with laughter at the ripe dialogue she had to utter. "Don't ever ask a woman why she wants to cry" - is another example, all said with appropriate melodramatic inflection!!Mal, in his love for Rhoda, gets Tony off the booze and organises a violin recital for him. Tony is grateful (sort of) - actually he is a whiney complainer and why Rhoda wants to stand by him instead of the more manly Mal (I have a soft spot for Robert Armstrong) is completely amazing. The title was obviously designed to appeal to people who had thrilled to "Underworld" and "The Racket" but this movie was very low on thrills.Jeanette Loff had a small part as Millie Chapman. She was know for her beautiful long blonde hair and at this point big things were expected of her. She had a big role in "King of Jazz" where she sang "It Happened in Monterey", "Bridal Veil", and "A Bench in the Park" but after a lead role in the exploitation movie "Party Girl" (1930) she just faded away.

dbborroughs Time has not been kind to this film from the transition days of sound from silent. The plot has a gangster falling for a socialite who wants to help the down on his luck violinist she loves. There are of course complications. The problem with the film for me is that it hasn't aged well. Performances are all over the place with some emotional scenes seeming so over the top as to be laughable. One late exchange where Carol Lombard throws someone out of her room had me howling with its sing song delivery. There are other times when the film becomes static, a sign of the limitations of the microphones. Its not a bad film, its just that the technical limitations of the film get in the way of real enjoyment. Normally I'm forgiving, but this time out I just couldn't go with the flow (Then again the copy I saw was absolutely horrible). Worth a shot in a forgiving mood (and to be reminded that Robert Armstrong actually did more than play Carl Denham in King Kong)

Space_Mafune A beautiful, down and out former social débutante named Rhoda Philbrooke (Carol Lombard), who fell out of favor when she left her wealthy husband for a musician, is helped by a racketeer/mob boss named Mahlon Keane (Robert Armstrong), a man who seems to find his only real happiness in helping others with his ill gotten gain. Rhoda needs help to cure her musician Tony Vaughan (Roland Drew)'s alcohol addiction.Not surprisingly the story soon turns into something of a romantic triangle cliché as Keane falls in love with Rhoda too. As early talkies go, this movie is better done than most. It moves pretty briskly and is an interesting curio in that it shows so much sympathy to the plight of a divorced débutante and an unhappy, unsatisfied gangster boss. Overall though, it's never credible enough to be fully satisfying but still its story makes for some good melodrama.

boblipton Well mounted, interesting story about suave racketeer Armstrong falling for impoverished deb Lombard, hampered a bit by the declamatory style of speaking any speech longer than three words and apparent immobility of microphones.