What Price Vengeance (1937)

Sadly Over-hyped

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Back in the 1930s, Lyle Talbot was a well respected actor who appeared as a leading man in quite a few B-movies. Sadly, later in life he had the distinction of appearing in Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space"! Talk about a decline in his marketability! "What Price Vengeance" is from the period where Talbot was about at his most famous and in demand. The overall results are okay, but Talbot's performance is quite nice.Tom (Talbot) is a cop and a crack shot. However, when a group of bank robbers strike, Tom freezes...and as a result, someone he cared about is hurt...and Tom quits the police force. Soon he ties up with some of the same bandits who committed the robbery...and the results are pretty much what I expected...and you probably will as well!The plot is a bit cliched because it's been used to death. So there aren't a lot of surprises in this one...but it is entertaining. Not brilliant but not bad....and watchable. By the way, in one scene early in the film, little Sandy (who appears to be about 8) is outside shooting a rifle with no adult supervision. My, how times have changed!!

Always a possibility in crime dramas, and this one requires patience to deal with the unnecessary vengeance. B leafing man Lyle Talbot goes from gun shy cop to crook, apparently out of guilt for indirectly causing a neighborhood boy's blindness because he couldn't shoot the bank robber who abducted the kid. Failing on that level has him resign, and before long, he's hiding out in bars conspiring crimes to happen, pretty much forgetting about his dedication to the law and safety of his neighborhood. This makes absolutely no sense plot wise, and pretty much lost my respect from the start even though weak attempts were made to give motives which I just couldn't buy. A few outdoor chase scenes bring a bit of excitement, but for the most part, all I could do to keep my eyes rolling ended up giving me a quick headache. Lovely Wendy Barrie adds some visual attention, but that's just not enough. For a film that started off with a pretty interesting prison escape (without Talbot involved) left me cold when the plot took off.

This film was part of the British Quota Law that existed in the 1930's that basically said in order for films produced in the U.S. by U.S. producers and companies to be shown in Great Britain or any of the colonies, a certain number of films shot somewhere in the British Empire, with the majority of the cast and crew British subjects, had to be shown in the U.S.A. This posed no problems for the major studios who either had production facilities in England or working agreements with the major British producers, but Columbia had neither. In order to comply with the British Quota, so Columbia films could be shown in England and its far-flung outposts, Columbia entered into an agreement with Commonwealth Studios, headed by Canadian-producer Kenneth J. Bishop, in Willows Park, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to finance and shoot films there for distribution through Columbia's film exchanges. Most of these films starred imported Columbia contract players such as Rita Hayworth, Charles Quigley, Rosalind Keith, Charles Starrett and others, but the vast majority of cast and crew was made up of subjects of the Crown. As such, there were a couple of dozen B-features or westerns shot in Canada with the cast filled with names such as Finis Barton, Robert Rideout, Arthur Kerr, Reginald Hincks, Edgar Edwards, others, directed or written by people such as Del Lord (Canadian-born), J. P. McGowan (Australian-born) or Kenneth/Kenne Duncan (Canadian born). There were a couple of Charles Starrett westerns filmed there and the only American citizens on either side of the camera were Starrett and his double/stunt man Ted Mapes. "Vengeance, 1937" (Canada title) and "What Price Vengeance?,1937" (U.S. title), and there is no re-issue title in 1937 in spite of some source that thinks so (but some uninformed sources also show re-issue titles as being used in the same year the film was originally released, which may have happened only twice in the history of films), has "Dynamite" Hogan as a young policeman who is a crack pistol shot on the firing range, but lets some bank robbers get away because he hasn't the nerve to fire at human targets. Following a fake resignation from the force, he poses as a crook and gets himself accepted as a member of the gang. Before long, with time out for romancing Polly Moore, he soon engages the entire mob in a gun battle. - Written by Les Adams