The Drag-Net (1936)

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Not one, not two, but three stand-out performances enliven this otherwise turgid tale from the studios of Edgar Rice Burroughs. A filmed stage play with a great deal of talk and somewhat less of action, The Drag-Net is further burdened by the insufferably arch "acting" of Rod La Rocque who strolls through his role like a stupefied mummy. Miss Nixon, although attractively photographed and a bit more animated than the sleepwalking Rocque, also seems a liability as her part could be eliminated from the picture altogether without any loss of comprehension. In fact, the picture would not only move a whole lot faster for her absence but might even get by as a passable thriller. Whilst we're about it, we could scissor out all of Mr Le Saint's sequence as well and half of Mr Girard's. This leaves us with all the good nightclub stuff and all the wonderfully fraught-with-menace sequences involving John Dilson as a Jekyll-Hyde lawyer (his best performance ever), Jack Adair as an especially greasy nightclub manager (his best performance ever) and Edward Keane as a gloriously malfeasant assistant district attorney (his best performance ever). Nicely photographed by director/cinematographer Edward New Adventures of Tarzan Kull, this picture, despite carrying the burden of a mummified Rocque, certainly makes a fascinating addition to Burroughs/Tarzan lore.

Son of a prominent attorney is shipped off to the DA's office in the hopes that it will stop his all night partying. It doesn't stop, and he soon finds himself in trouble when he's found to be nearby to two separate murders. Okay crime drama/potboiler. It's a typically upper crust mingling with the bad guys tales as our hero mixes with the show girls and gangsters who seem to frequent every Hollywood night club. Its an over done tale that seems to be often on the verge of silliness. The acting is wildly uneven with good performances coming from some and other that cross well into the over done realm (some of the crooks are just awful). It's a mixed bag sort a film. Its fine to sit through once but its not something you'll need see a second time.