Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

MartinHafer I liked the first portion of this film--it was a bit clichéd but very entertaining. You see a very brash crook (Chester Morris) having difficulty adjusting to being locked up in prison. He can't help but be noticed by everyone, as he leads prison riots and makes a nuisance of himself. Eventually, he and his cell-mate (Joseph Calleia) manage to escape and Calleia is badly injured in the process. So, it's up to Morris to get a doctor--and unfortunately the only one who will treat him without informing the police is a drunkard (Lionel Barrymore--in a very vivid and atypical sort of role). Along the way, Morris just happens to pick up a girl (Jean Arthur) who just happens to turn out to be Calleia's sister! Little does she or Calleia know that Morris is actually a government agent--sent to infiltrate the Purple Gang (of which Calleia is the boss).Up to this point, it's a highly improbable but entertaining film. However, making Arthur and Morris fall in love just seemed a bit too much--as did making Morris throw away the MONTHS and MONTHS of undercover work for her. This tended to slow down the film but despite this, it was still fun to watch. Not great but fun--in a mindless sort of way. Also, note the theater ending--obviously an attempt to cash in on the way they caught up with John Dillinger the previous year.By the way, this is a very, very close remake of "The Getaway" (1941). If you've seen either, it probably isn't worth seeing the other. Also, it's pretty ironic that Chester Morris plays this undercover agent, as one of the gang members that he betrays (and gets killed at the end) is George E. Stone--the same guy who played Morris' best-friend and sidekick in the Boston Blackie film series!!

aimless-46 Is a fine Irish-American girl whose strangely Italian (?) brother (named Sonny "Dinkie" Black) runs Detroit's Purple Gang. At least they are both Catholic. Beginning inside a prison, the film introduces the immortal Chester Morris as an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the gang and falls for Terry (played by Jean Arthur). They have a slick prison break sequence and a fair amount of action, romantic comedy, and Hollywood's on-going campaign to make G-Men public heroes. John Dillinger had been killed a few months before "Public Hero #1" went into production, they change the names and the city but recreate the events of his apprehension outside a theater. Forgotten actor Joseph Calleia plays the gang boss and brother. He has the most challenging role and does a fine job portraying a multi-dimensional character. Lionel Barrymore gets to overact nicely as a perpetually drunk mob doctor. "Public Hero #1" is a surprisingly good film. It's mix of genres is as strange as it sounds but that works in its favor if you like to get away from standard formula stories. While it lacks overall unity, the disparate pieces are quite well done and are very entertaining inside their own little compartments.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

mukava991 Public Hero #1 starts out as a conventional prison yarn, then switches to sophisticated screwball comedy, then back to shoot 'em up melodrama. Perhaps it is the way the cast handles the crackling dialogue by J Walter Reuben and Wells Root that makes this mixed-genre film so entertaining. It never sinks into torpidity, thanks in part to the introduction of Jean Arthur and Lionel Barrymore well into the proceedings. Until then it is up to Chester Morris to hold our interest, which he does robustly, as an undercover federal agent posing as a convict to trap bad guy Joseph Calleia and his gang. Barrymore, however, steals the show as a pickled-to-the-gills alcoholic mob doctor - the great ham at his hammiest. Calleia contributes a nicely textured portrait of a hardened but still human criminal. All in all, an energetic if contrived gangster story spiked with laughs, fun plot twists and colorful characters. The final moment is interesting. It's as if Chester Morris was itching to wrap and go home that day, didn't like the way the fade out was written, so he recklessly improvised the last line and the last blocking bit and then the director gave in and allowed it. See for yourself!

Dr. Ed stars in this quirky yet unsuccessful comedy-drama about an undercover cop (Chester Morris) and the plot to capture a gang leader (Joseph Calleia) who happens to be Jean Arthur's brother. Lionel Barrymore is along for the ride as a drunken doctor (a nice comic turn). But it doesn't all come together; even Miss Arthur's beauty and fine comic timing can't save this one.