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      King of the Underworld

      1939 1h 9m Crime Drama List
      Reviews 42% Audience Score 50+ Ratings Dr. Niles Nelson (John Eldredge) works in private practice as the on-call doctor for ruthless crime kingpin Joe Gurney (Humphrey Bogart). In the midst of a shoot-out that leads to Gurney's arrest, an errant bullet kills Nelson as he treats the wounded. When the police begin investigating his wife, Dr. Carole Nelson (Kay Francis), the attention ruins her career. Desperate to reclaim her life, Carole skips town and struggles both to clear her name and to avenge her husband's death. Read More Read Less

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      Critics Reviews

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      Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's not a very good melodrama, but it was nevertheless enjoyable. Rated: C+ Sep 22, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Steve D Exciting, well acted and a lot of fun. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/15/24 Full Review ashley h King of the Underworld is a decent film. It is about Dr. Niles Nelson who works in private practice as the on-call doctor for ruthless crime kingpin Joe Gurney. Kay Francis and Humphrey Bogart give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Lewis Seiler did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the romance. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Impoverished husband-and-wife surgeons, and an impoverished author, get caught up in organized crime. But they're all caught up in and impoverished by the crude characterizations in this movie. Strangely, although organized crime is the cause of their escape from poverty, it's portrayed very unsympathetically and easily outsmarted. Organized crime here is nothing but a means used to achieve bourgeois success (though not for the gangsters). But what was the cause of their failure to be successfully bourgeois, the cause of their impoverishment, in the first place? Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Gats, Gangsters, Doctors, & Feminine Guile - & Bogart to boot--A film with a conclusion one has to see to believe!! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member One of Humphrey Bogart's pre-Maltese Falcon roles, before he broke out as a major Hollywood star, when he still primarily played dirty mugs. This time Bogey is a gangster who an innocent doctor, Kay Francis, gets linked to, and then sets out to clear her name. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member It's not a very good melodrama, but it was nevertheless enjoyable. a role that bogart made famous. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      King of the Underworld

      King of the Underworld (1939) King of the Underworld (1939) King of the Underworld (1939) King of the Underworld (1939) King of the Underworld (1939) King of the Underworld (1939) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Dr. Niles Nelson (John Eldredge) works in private practice as the on-call doctor for ruthless crime kingpin Joe Gurney (Humphrey Bogart). In the midst of a shoot-out that leads to Gurney's arrest, an errant bullet kills Nelson as he treats the wounded. When the police begin investigating his wife, Dr. Carole Nelson (Kay Francis), the attention ruins her career. Desperate to reclaim her life, Carole skips town and struggles both to clear her name and to avenge her husband's death.
      Director
      Lewis Seiler
      Screenwriter
      Vincent Sherman, George Bricker
      Production Co
      Warner Bros.
      Genre
      Crime, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Nov 17, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 9m
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