Public Hero No. 1

Topnotch gangster movie finds Chester Morris in the pen, posing as a con so he can be next to Joseph Calleia, the rat who heads "The Purple Gang." The plan is to allow Calleia to break out of jail so that Morris can locate the rest of the mobsters and put the cuffs on them. Jean Arthur's flirtation with Morris causes her brother, Calleia, to get angry (shades of Paul Muni and his sister in SCARFACE). Barrymore is a "crime doctor," a drunken physician who will repair bullet wounds without reporting them if he is plied with enough booze. At one point, Calleia needs blood to live, and the only person whose type matches his is Morris, so he donates the blood, knowing f...