Police Patrol (1933) On DVD

As partners on the police force, detectives Bob Larkin and Mac McCue have much in common, but lately they have too much in common - in the curvaceous form of Lil Daley, an alluring femme fatale secretly in league with the city's crime syndicate, headed by "Diamonds" Jarecki. Bob and Mac's rivalry over Lil culminates in a full-scale street brawl in broad daylight. They're then demoted to uniform officers and assigned to the Riot Squad. Soon after, Jarecki kidnaps a judge's daughter. Investigating the girl's disappearance, Mac is also nabbed by Jarecki's thugs. With lives hanging in the balance, Lil has a change of heart and tries to help Bob crack the case, but will it be too late to save Mac?

Madge Bellamy (1899-1990) starred in the silent films Lorna Doone (1922), The Iron Horse (1924) and Mother Knows Best (1928), which was Fox Studio's first talkie feature, and was Bela Lugosi's leading lady in the 1932 horror classic White Zombie. Pat O'Malley (1890-1966) appeared in such silent classics as My Wild Irish Rose (1922) and King Vidor's Happiness (1924). Years later he played a small role in the 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and his television appearances included "The Twilight Zone," "The Lone Ranger" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." James Flavin (1906-'76) also appeared in such classics as You Only Live Once (1936), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), Each Dawn I Die (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Laura (1944), Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Mister Roberts (1955).

Veteran matinee-idol James Kirkwood starred in this low-budget melodrama from poverty row organization Gotham Productions as Officer Jim Ryan, whose girlfriend, Alice (Edna Murphy), proves a dead-ringer for noted criminal Dorothy Stone. When Jim refuses to arrest Alice for a crime actually committed by Dorothy (also Edna Murphy), Jim faces suspension from the police force. In order to find evidence to clear herself, Alice impersonates Dorothy but the ploy fails and she is kidnapped by gang. She is saved in the nick of time by Jim, who proves once and for all that Dorothy and not Alice is the head of the crime ring. Brunette Edna Murphy was one of the many also-ran "flappers" appearing in the wake of Colleen Moore and Clara Bow. She was at one point married to director Mervyn LeRoy.