Parole, Inc. (1948)

Pretty Good

Fantastic!

Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I really didn't expect much from this film, I thought it would be a cute film since Turhan Bey and Evelyn Ankers was in it but I never thought it would be as serious and good of a film as it turned out to be.Lyle Talbot is FBI agent Richard Hendricks- one of the Feds. He out to bust a parole ring. It's up to Hendricks alone to keep from getting caught as he is surrounded by a gang of criminals while trying to find out how they are doing it, which gang members are involved and which parole board members are involved.The film actually engrossed me from the very start - there are a couple of cute moments as the film is in it's conclusion but it is a drama - a good crime drama.8/10

***SPOILERS*** Far fetched movie about violations in the state parole board that has convicts, in many cases convicted of first degree murder, sprung after a few years behind bars by them or their associates paying off the members of the board up to $2,000.00 in under the table cash. It's that fine and splendid red headed Irish lad Michael O'Shea, who incidentally was actually born on Saint Patrick Day, who stars in the film playing three different roles as Government Agent Richard Hendricks as well as on the lamb hoodlum Richard Murdock who at the same time is using the fake name Rick Carson. We first see Hendricks/Carson/Murdock in traction at a local hospital after being worked over by the Barney Rodescu, Turhan Bey, gang who caught him red handed trying to record their conversions with a hidden wire, tape wasn't available then to the public, recorder. This spoiled the entire suspense in the film by knowing that Hendricks was to survive whatever deadly obstacles he was to confront in the movie.Were then subjected to a long and boring flashback from Hendricks, who looks like Boris Karloff in "The Mummy", about how he got that way in trying to uncover the state parole system and the criminals that run it. It turns out that the two top members of the board are accepting bribe money to let dangerous convicts off on their promises that they go straight which in reality is straight back to their life in crime. Hendricks at first wins the confidence of the corrupt board members and their #1 shyster or mouthpiece Barney Rodescu until the partner of Murduck whom Hendricks is impersonating shows up at their hideout, known as "The Farm", and exposes him as a fraud.***SPOILERS*** Beaten up and shot as well as slated to be whacked Hendricks is saved by the bell by a squad of leather jacketed state police lead by Police Commissioner Hughes, Lyle Talbot, just in the nick of time to put an end to their plans to murder him and thus keep from releasing, for under the table cash of course, dozens of dangerous criminals into the public. There's also the beautiful Evelyn Anker as JoJo Dumont who runs the notorious Past-time café that's a front for shyster Rodescu's gang. It's JoJo who later gets second thoughts, when Rodesco & Co. plan to murder Hendricks, and switches sides, from the bad to the good guys, just before the action or police raid begins.

It's a talkie movie that is watchable.Not a great film.One of these low budget moral films made in the 40s and 50s.Some familiar character actors in it.Don't expect any suspense.When several notorious criminals are unjustifiably released on parole, the Federal Government smells a rat and sends ace agent Richard Hendricks to investigate. Hendricks infiltrates the gang, responsible for the parole racket by posing as a much-wanted convict Rick Carson. However, the wily Barney Rodescu, who is the brain behind the racket, soon finds out Carson's true identity. Carson's life is now in grave danger.

This was an interesting little mystery/crime thriller dealing with criminal conspiracy in the parole system. Plotted rather well with a wide cast of characters, you really had to concentrate on the players to keep it all in focus. Undercover detective Richard Hendricks (Michael O'Shea) has three names in the story, recruited by the Governor and State Attorney General to try and find out how a string of recent paroles occurred to put nasty gangsters back on the street. It was rather comical to see Hendricks in an opening scene in a hospital bed with his face crudely bandaged up with gobs of tape. He proceeds to tell his story in somewhat of a flashback style, and it works pretty well as he comes in contact with various mobsters and henchmen in the employ of Jojo Dumont (Evelyn Ankers), owner of the Pastime Club. She's in league with her shady lawyer boyfriend, Barney Rodescu (Turhan Bey), who has contacts on the parole board that line their pockets as he calls the shots.I would like to have seen a darker and seedier atmosphere for the picture given the subject matter. Everything seemed to take place in the bright light of day, and I didn't get the impression that the Pastime Club was the sleazy gin mill and cheap cafe that it was described to be. Glenda Palmer (Virginia Lee) had a rather nice and spacious apartment on waitress wages, and though you could say she was bankrolled by her convict husband Harry (Charles Bradstreet), he was still doing time when the story opened. Too bad Harry tried to do an end run around Jojo; he seemed like a decent enough guy otherwise, for a criminal.The best part about the picture is the way Hendricks infiltrates himself into the set up with Charley Newton (Paul Bryar) and the boys. You can tell some thought was put into the story when you have Hendricks leaving clues he was a hood back in his hotel room. A lot of stories of the era would have glossed over small details like that and would have assumed the viewer would take it for granted. It was touches like that, that place the film a notch above similar flicks of the era, like 1947's "Big Town After Dark". There was enough credibility in the characters and situations to play out effectively, and you didn't have to scratch your head over a bunch of goofy stuff that a lot of these programmers came up with.