Audience Member
Not bad for old cheapo. (Police sirens at end give bad guys time paint house,.)Marginal thumb up = how many star, wonder Blobbo...
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
From The Mill Creek 100 Movie Mystery Classics. Though low-budget and rather predictable, "Parole, Inc." is a fairly good crime story. It moves reasonably quickly, and keeps the viewer's attention most of the time.
Hendricks (Michael O'Shea) is a federal agent investigating widespread abuses of the parole system. Several dangerous criminals have received unjustified paroles, and evidence points to an organized system of bribery. Agent Hendricks has to go undercover and win the confidence of the gang involved. O'Shea does a creditable job in the lead. Turhan Bey plays a suave lawyer who figures in the agent's investigation.
The story that follows is generally predictable, without any real twists or surprises. But it is done well enough to be fairly interesting, is moderately fast-paced, and is usually believable. The characters are mostly stereotypes, but are not overdone.
Overall, this is a watchable movie that should hold some interest for fans of crime films. 4 Stars 6-22-13
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
bill t
Surprisingly entertaining little potboiler about a cop who goes undercover to get down to the bottom of why crooks are getting off on parole so easily. He chums along with local baddies, while putting his story together. Lots of action, good story buildup and fairly good acting make this more passable than others.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Why this is termed a film noir escapes me. Its a black and white crime drama, plain and simple. Most scenes are in daylight. No shadows, no wet streets, no whispered lines. It is badly acted, badly shot, but still.... it is rather captivating. No doubt though, this IS a B film.
See the entire film at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dGX6pXOEQ
Comes off documentary style with our lead actor narrating much of the film. He's undercover on loan from the FBI to discover the underworld's grip on parole boards in general and one state in particular. Of course, money speaks and parole boards walk... to the tune of releasing rather nasty criminals back on the street from prison.
The film opens with a scene of FBI agent Richard Hendricks (Michael O'Shea) bedridden in a hospital bed, dictating the results of his investigation for a report to the California Governor. The dictation scenes are interrupted by long flashbacks scenes showing how the investigation proceeded.
(((( O'Shea does a good job, but he comes off like some sort of momma's boy, not a veteran FBI operative. ))))
Actor Turhan Bey, the lawyer who masterminds all the wrong doing, comes off as some sort of suave English/India speaking character popular with American audiences at the time.
NOTE: (((((( David Niven epitimised the suave, British type that held some sort of grip on US moviegoers. Roger Moore did the same as did the Irish Sean Connery as James Bond. Before both of them James Mason had that accent which seemed to mesmerize US audiences. )))))
Other reviewers of the film wrote:
1 70%
Solid "B" film noir, great pace, snappy dialogue. Good performances. Very entertaining. The screenplay is interesting and effective.
2 "There's nothing like a movie made in the 40s. There is a simplicity of perspective that is utterly refreshing when compared to the rubbish that passes for entertainment these days. The entire cast is excellent, the plot clean and easy to understand. Well before the half point of the film, I was rooting for the undercover agent to succeed. I like the fact that the crooks were't so smarmy as to be stereotypes. They were rotters but somehow still seemed human. The end of the film has a strong build up. I really enjoyed this forgotten movie. I wonder how many other B movies are so good. Working my way down IMDb list of available films online, I may soon know."-------by William James Harper (Los Angeles)
Directed by Alfred Zeisler
Produced by Constantin J. David (producer)
Anthony Z. Landi (associate producer)
Written by Sherman L. Lowe (story) and
Royal K. Cole (story)
Sherman L. Lowe (screenplay)
Cast
Michael O'Shea as Richard Hendricks
Turhan Bey as Barney Rodescu
Evelyn Ankers as Jojo Dumont
Virginia Lee as Glenda Palmer
Charles Bradstreet as Harry Palmer
Lyle Talbot as Police Commissioner Hughes
Michael Whalen as Kid Redmond
Charles Williams[disambiguation needed] as Titus Jones
James Cardwell as Duke Vigili
Paul Bryar as Charley Newton
Noel Cravat as Blackie Olson
Charles Jordan as Monty Cooper
Music by Alexander Laszlo
Cinematography Gilbert Warrenton
Editing by John Faure
Distributed by Eagle-Lion films
Release date(s) 24 November 1948
Running time 71 minutes
/
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Solid "B" film noir, great pace, snappy dialogue. Good performances. Very entertaining. The screenplay is interesting and effective.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
When FBI agent Richard Hendricks (O'Shea) goes under cover to learn who is selling paroles to violent crimonals, and thus corrupting the American justice system, the trail leads to a club owned by beautiful woman racketeer (Ankers), and to her sinister Romanian attorney, Barney (Bey). But just as he is about to close the case, his cover is blown!
"Parole, Inc." is a predictable film, carried mostly along by fine performances by its three principle stars and a script that manages to keep its "crime doesn't pay, and the FBI and the government is there to protect us from rich fat-cats and crooks who would undermine and order" message to a nice, quite background hum. (The film starts out with an announcement about how parole system is being turned into a revolving door for career criminals, thanks to corrupt officials--although today we can celebrate the fact that the revolving door is complete!--so I feared I was in for another lecture ala "[URL=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/journal_view.php?journalid=245672&entryid=360758&view=public]Trapped[/URL]', but the film never got that preachy.
Although predictable, the script moves fast enough that the viewer never has time to get bored. It falls smack-dab in the middle of average, with perhaps the worst performmance of Lyle Talbot's career threatening to pull it down to the lower end, but Ankers, Bey, and O'Shea manage to keep things alfoat, even if O'Shea's face seems to be permanently frozen in a smile--even when he is being beaten up by thugs, there seems to be a half-smile on his lips.
Parole, Inc.
Starring: Michael O'Shea, Evelyn Ankers, Turhan Bey, and Lyle Talbot
Director: Alfred Zeisler
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
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