The People's Enemy (April 29, 1935)
Released on April 29, 1935: A gangster escapes from prison seeking revenge on his lawyer and the society man who were paid to keep him out of jail.
Directed by Crane Wilbur
Written by Edward Dean Sullivan and Gordon Kahn.
The Actors: Preston Foster (Vince Falcone), Lila Lee (Catherine Carr), Melvyn Douglas (George 'Traps' Stuart), Charles Coburn (Judge Hays), Shirley Grey (Ann Griffin), Roscoe Ates (Slip Laflin), William Collier Jr. (Tony Falcone), Sybil Elaine (Mary Carr, Vince's daughter), Herbert Rawlinson (Philip Francis Duke Ware), William Harrigan (henchman), Sheldon Leonard (third Department of Justice representative), Robert Shayne (first Department of Justice representative), Philip Wood (unknown).
Who can a gangster trust when the chips are down? Wealthy gangster Vince Falcone is sent to Federal prison for nine years for income tax evasion. He has paid a lot of money to his criminal lawyer over the years, and just before being sent to prison he paid a hundred thousand dollars to a high society businessman who promised him that he could fix things with the judge. Neither his lawyer nor the high society businessman could keep him from jail, so the next goal is to get out of prison with an early parole. While in prison he starts to brood about these two men . . . and circumstances arrange themselves so that the gangster believes that his lawyer is working to keep him in prison and the society businessman is working to help him get out of jail. Of course, the opposite is true, but our gangster won't discover this until he escapes from prison and goes hunting for revenge. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with warm melted butter on it and munch your way to the final gun battle with shots flying through the air . . . and pray tell . . . who will the bullets hit?
 Charles Coburn in The People's Enemy |  Charles Coburn as Judge Hays |
 Herbert Rawlinson and Melvyn Douglas |  William Collier Jr. puts the squeeze on Herbert Rawlinson |
 Herbert Rawlinson in The People's Enemy |  Melvyn Douglas |
 Melvyn Douglas and Shirley Grey | |
 Melvyn Douglas faces the Judge |  Melvyn Douglas in 1935 |
 Preston Foster and Melvyn Douglas await the Judge's sentencing |  Preston Foster and Roscoe Ates in prison |
 Preston Foster learns that the Judge will sentence him to hard time in Federal Prison. |  Roscoe Ates in The People's Enemy |
 Shirley Grey as Ann Griffin, the lawyer's secretary |  picture of Sybil Elaine as the gangster's daughter |
 William Collier Jr. and William Harrigan | |
 William Collier Jr. as Tony Falcone, the gangsters kid brother |  William Collier Jr. in The People's Enemy |