Framed (1930)

I'm usually up for an early talkie, especially if it's in the crime genre. So I was interested to find one that was new to me, a 1930 film called Framed.

Evelyn Brent is the star here, and at the beginning of the movie we see her in a scene where the director is clearly trying to use the new technology of talking pictures to the benefit of the movie. Brent plays Rose Manning, whose father is a low-level gangster during the prohibition era who gets killed in a robbery. The movie opens just after that robbery, with the police interrogating Rose and trying to get more information about her; it's the sort of scene that really wouldn't have worked in a silent with all those police around her badgering her. Rose thinks the police might have been responsible for killing Dad, particularly Inspector McArthur (the original William Holden; not the one from Sunset Blvd. and a bunch of other classic films.

Fast forward several years. Rose is now working at a nightclub that's run by gangsters, with booze supplied by Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Who should walk into that bar but young Jimmy (Regis Toomey)? That in theory would be no big deal -- except that Jimmy is one Jimmy McArthur, son of the police inspector. It's a very bad look for the son of a policeman to be seen around this sort of joint, but Jimmy doesn't seem to care. Rose, however, realizes that she's now got an in to get back at the elder McArthur, so she starts putting the moves on Jimmy.

But a couple of things complicate Rose's plan. One is that she finds herself falling in love for real with young Jimmy, making her question whether she really wants to destroy him to get back at his father. And then there's Chuck, who thinks Rose should be his girl. He's got an in with Bing, who runs the joint, so he tries to get Bing to help him deal with Jimmy so that, with Jimmy out of the way, Chuck would be free to be with Rose.

Will Framed have the traditional happy ending, and if so, how will it jump through the hoops necessary to get to that happy ending? Or will it be something rather more ambiguous or even downbeat? To get that answer, you going to have to watch Framed for yourself.

Framed is an interesting little early talkie. It's not as good as the sort of gangster movie Warner Bros. was putting out, but then this was RKO, which never had much in the way of a budget. It's also relatively forgotten, which is a bit of a shame. Still, it's absolutely worth a watch, especially for people who are into early sound films.