The stringent censorship imposed upon Hollywood of the mid-1930s dictated that gangsters could no longer be the "heroes" in any crime film. Public Hero No. 1 reflects this restriction. G-Man Chester Morris poses as a crook to infiltrate the notorious Purple Gang, a band of hoodlums which preys upon other hoodlums. Orchestrating the jailbreak of the Gang's leader (Joseph Calleia), Morris joins him in a Dillinger-like flight across the country. The bloody denouement, which occurs in a vaudeville theatre, is likewise drawn from the Dillinger saga (that particular gentleman was of course killed in front of a movie house). Also featured in Public Hero No. 1 is Jean Arthur as the heroine (a comic role) and Lionel Barrymore as a drunken gang doctor. The film was remade as The Getaway in 1942.

Starring:

Al Hill, Anderson Lawler, Arthur Housman, Bert Moorhouse, Bert Roach, Bill Wolfe, Billy Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Brooks Benedict, Carl Stockdale, Chester Morris, Cora Sue Collins, Dorothy Vernon, Ed Brady, Eddie Hart, Edward Hearn, Frank Bruno, Frank Darien, Frank McGlynn Jr, Frank Moran, Frank Rice, George E Stone, Gladden James, Greta Meyer, Helene C

Genre:

Crime, Drama