StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

SanEat 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."

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

JohnHowardReid A fascinating variant on the Biblical story of Joseph, as told in the book of Genesis. The favorite of his community, and revered and only son of his mother (his father is dead), is sold into slavery in a foreign land by his brother lawyers, where through sheer weight of his brains he works himself up to a position as right-hand man of the local big wheel. Muni is most adept in the Joseph role, whilst Eugene Pallette has one of his meatiest parts ever as the chief of the gambling tables. His wife of necessity makes an extremely late entrance, but when she does come on, Davis rivets the attention - partly through her supreme acting charisma, partly through the incredibly slinky costumes Orry-Kelly has designed for her here. Of the support players, Samuel S. Hinds as the initial trial judge and William B. Davidson as an opportunistic dentist make the most impression. Other cameos we enjoyed were Willie Fung as Wong ("I no cleep, walkie same alla time!"), Oscar Apfel as the sententious Barnswell, and Frank Puglia as the police captain. I hope you spot Chris-Pin Martin as a policeman, Jack Norton as the first man in Roark's casino, and Hobart Cavanaugh as an easily-led drunk (the reverse of his fighting part in Rose of Washington Square). Assisted by Tony Gaudio's superlative camerawork, Archie L. Mayo's direction reveals a skill and a flair that we don't usually associate with his work. The camera is often on the move, with sweeping tracking shots making light of what would otherwise be dull dialogue scenes. Although Muni is undoubtedly the star, the script gives all the sharpest, wittiest and most colorful lines - as well as the best bits of business - to other players, particularly Davis who has a wonderful stooge in Pallette. In fact, the Muni character emerges as less colorful even than Roberts, the butler, played by Arthur Treacher. Sincere and earnest enough, Muni is full of fighting words, but inclined to be dull. The art direction is incredibly lavish. The interior of the re-designed casino will knock your eyes out.

utgard14 Young Mexican-American lawyer Johnny Ramirez (Paul Muni) is disbarred after punching out a lawyer who beat him in court! Embittered, he heads to Mexico where he goes to work in a border town casino. There Johnny falls for a stuck-up socialite (Margaret Lindsay) while he becomes the object of infatuation for the boss' crazy wife (Bette Davis).Good WB drama with broad but enjoyable performances from Muni and Davis. Margaret Lindsay is always lovely. Nice supporting cast includes Eugene Palette, Robert Barrat, and Samuel S. Hinds. Well-intentioned social messages seem slightly embarrassing today. And yes, the movie is politically incorrect, for those who are bothered by that. Elements of this story were later used in the superior They Drive By Night with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart. A good movie, especially for Bette Davis fans.

vincentlynch-moonoi One thing bothers a lot about the Warner Brothers of this era was their beating to death of the gangster film genre. This isn't a gangster film, although I almost didn't watch it, since I thought it probably was. That would have been a shame, because it is a very interesting film.A second that bothers me is not the film, but so many of the reviews here on IMDb. Is the film racist, or is is portraying the reality of the time? I'm not sure...I wasn't born until 14 years after this film was made. And unless you're in your 80s, you weren't alive yet to know the tenor of race relations in the 1930s in L.A. Stop making so assumptions based on today's trends. My guess is that it's just portraying the reality of that era.One thing I like very much about this film is that quite a few scenes -- far more than you would see in most films of the era -- were filmed on-locations; very interesting! Here we have a young Latino fellow in Los Angeles who has graduated from night school for a degree in law, but then gets in a fight in the court room during his first case and is disbarred. He heads back south of the border and becomes a bouncer in a cheap casino owned by an American with a surprisingly young and attractive wife. The Latino fellow transforms the low-grade casino into a top notch nightclub and becomes a partner. But then, the lovely wife gets angry when she can't get an affair started with the young Latino, so she kills her husband and begins a slow descent into madness. When that still doesn't get the affair going, she accuses the Latino fellow of planning the murder, but she goes nuts on the stand and the case is thrown out of court. Meanwhile, the White woman he has fallen in love with rejects him due to his ethnicity, and during a quarrel she runs into the road and is hit by a car and is killed. The Latino fellow decides to return to his L.A. roots and sells his nightclub to endow a law school. Okay, it all works pretty well, but the ultimate message seems to be that Latinos in southern California can never really "make it". Of course, at that time, that may have been true.Paul Muni -- as the young Latino fellow -- is excellent here, and other than his most famous bio pic, this is the first film of his I have seen. You might think this was one of Bette Davis' earliest roles, but actually it was her 25th film...and a humdinger of a role for her! Margaret Lindsay is wonderful as the woman who ultimately spurns Muni. Eugene Palette is a hoot -- as usual -- in his role as the partner in the casino. Robert Barrat looks slightly out of place as the padre, but does nicely with the role. And, I should make mention of Soledad Jiminez, who plays Muni's mother; I can't say she was a wonderful actress, but she looked the part and played many such roles in her career.Highly recommended, this is a very interesting film, both plot-wise and in terms of cultural history.

tomgillespie2002 Former crook Juan 'Johnny' Ramirez (Paul Muni) manages to work himself out of his Hispanic slum and become a lawyer. Encouraged by his mother, he sets up his own office and faces his first court case after wealthy socialite Dale Elwell (Margaret Lindsay) crashes her car into the cart of one of Johnny's poor neighbourhood friends. Crushed and embarrassed by Dale's white, costly lawyer Brooke Manville (Gavin Gordon), Johnny attacks him, getting himself disbarred. Vowing to make something of himself in the world, Johnny hitches a ride over the Mexican border, becoming a bouncer and adviser for club owner Charles Roark (Eugene Palette), eventually earning himself a partnership through his wits and business know-how. But Roarke's bored wife Marie (Bette Davis) has other ideas and sets her sights on running her own club, and seducing Johnny to her cause.This Warner Brothers vehicle for star Paul Muni uses racial stereotypes - of which would be highly condemned nowadays - to portray a damning indictment of the American system and the idea of 'The American Dream'. When Muni is humiliated in court by Manville, he resorts to his fists, something that ethnic minorities back in 1935 no doubt had to do to survive in their slums. It is common knowledge that America, self- declared land of the free, has a brutal history of racial oppression, and Bordertown is impressive in its bravery to tackle a subject when the Hollywood system itself was guilty of neglecting black or ethnic actors. It also dawns on Johnny that America is ultimately ruled by money, and if you rely on honesty and simply doing the right thing, you'll ultimately left licking the shoes of the rich man.Yet for all it's promise, Bordertown is ultimately rather dull. Muni, one of the finest actors of his generation (and an actor now unfairly left in the shadows of the likes of Cagney and Bogart), is thoroughly unconvincing as Johnny, wildly over-acting and never looking comfortable in make-up and with a dodgy accent (Muni was Jewish). Davis, however, is a revelation in what is perhaps a smaller role than the poster and billing would suggest, puffing smoke through her nostrils like a dragon in one of her early scenes, embodying the icon she would later become. But Bordertown tends to shuffle along aimlessly, passing over a late plot development and fizzling out into nothing, arriving far too late in the day for me to really care.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com