King of the Underworld (1939)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Quickly Made Gangster Movie with Kay Francis vs Humphrey Bogart Central to the Thin Plot. Bogey is a Stereotypical Bully with a Moronic Sense of Humor and an Ego to Match His Hero "Napoleon". Kay Francis, on the other hand is Anything but Stereotypical for the Era. She Plays a Strong Female Doctor having to use Her Wits and Wiles to Save Her Career and Her Determination and Intelligence is a Refreshing Role for Her Gender in the 1930's. She is Totally Believable in the Part and Matching Her is Bogey's Goofy Gangster and somehow the Bogart Character comes across as a Likable, Brainless Thug like something in a Cartoon.Overall, some Side Characters like Kay's Mother tend to Grate the Nerves and a couple of Bogart's Gang are very Dated Stock Gangsters. The Film is Entertaining and Enjoyable while Not in the same League as the Best WB Crime Films of the Thirties.It's a Short, Fast Paced and Compact Movie with enough Playful Panache to Pass as a Lighter than Usual Look at some of the Clichés of the Genre.

The central role in this low-budget crime melodrama really belongs to KAY FRANCIS, and she makes her lady doctor pretty believable. But it's HUMPHREY BOGART who walks off with the show, which is no more than a programmer made on the cheap, by playing up the comic elements of his character.Bogart is an illiterate man who wants his "genius" to be known. He kidnaps a man (James Stephenson) with a reputation as a writer in order to tell him his life story and make him the "king of the underworld." But Kay Francis spoils all his plans when she has to prove herself innocent of criminal charges pending against her due to a prior event. She fools the hoods into believing they will go blind if they don't let her help them.The story has several implausible script problems and never really comes off as credible. Interesting only to see that Bogart was far more worthy of his early material than the studio realized. And Kay Francis has one of her more believable roles in this crime melodrama.

King of the Underworld features an early role for Humphery Bogart in one of his many gangster roles.He plays Joe Gurney who uses a female doctor to treat his men and pays her for it. He follows her when she goes to live with her Auntie after one of Gurney's men kills her doctor husband who also worked for him. Gurney kidnaps an author on his way to find the female doctor and gets him to write his life story and he then plans to kill him. He finally meets up with the doctor and after she gives Gurney and his men a substance that makes them temporarily blind, she and the author, who have now fallen in love manage to escape just as police arrive...Joing the excellent Bogie in the cast are Kay Francis, James Stephenson and John Eldredge.Watching King of the Underworld is a good way to spend just over an hour one evening.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

This was almost as bad as return of Dr. X. Bogart made some pretty crappy films in the late 30's, but he also made some good ones. The only thing worth saying is that Bogart kept talking about napoleon. Don't waste your time, watch dead end or marked woman instead.