''The Devil's Party'' is a 1938 American crime film directed by

Ray McCarey Raymond Benedict McCarey (September 6, 1904 – December 1, 1948) was an American film director, brother of director Leo McCarey. Biography McCarey began working at Hal Roach Studios, where he did work on short films with Our Gang and L ...

based on the Borden Chase novel ''Hell's Kitchen Has a Pantry''.

Plot

Marty Malone is a member of a street gang called the "

Death Avenue "Death Avenue" was a nickname given to both Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on the west side of Manhattan, New York City in the 19th century. In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues ...

Cowboys", consisting of poor children in Hell's Kitchen, New York. As the gang try to steal fruit from a fruit warehouse, Marty starts a fire to distract the watchmen, unfortunately it turns into a real blaze and he is caught by the police. Even though the police give him a rough time in questioning, he refuses to say the names of any other gang members, thus saving his friends and accomplices from capture. Marty is sent to a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

for delinquents. Many years go by after that, and now Marty is the proud owner of the Cigarette Club, which is a cabaret and casino in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In tending to his business, he sends men to strong-arm a customer reluctant to pay a gambling debt. The goons, Sam and Frank Diamond, beat the customer up, accidentally killing him. They try to make his death look as if a neon sign fell on him. The police emergency squad investigating the death includes brothers Joe and Mike O'Mara, who graduated from Marty's childhood gang. Authorities dismiss the death as an accident, but Joe, eager to become a police detective, believes it was murder when he finds evidence that the support that gave way allowing the sign to fall was clearly cut rather than breaking with age. That evening there is a reunion dinner at Marty's Cigarette Club, with the boyhood friends attending, including the O'Mara's. Jerry Donovan is now a priest, and Helen McCoy has become a performer at the club. Helen has spurned Marty's many proposals because she loves Mike O'Mara. Mike dances with Helen all evening. Brother Joe, striking out with the ladies, exits the dinner, returns to the scene of the murder, impatient to solve the crime he believes was committed. Diamond and Sam, having realized he may expose them, corner him and push him off the roof to his death. Later that evening, Marty arrives on the scene and is upset his incompetent thugs have perpetrated the murders. The homicide bureau dismisses Joe's case as an accident, but Mike is unconvinced, and believes Joe's death is connected to the previous one. He is also guilt stricken he didn't accompany his brother to investigate his hunch on the incident that brought his death. Diamond and Sam rob a jewelry store, set off a bomb next to Marty's club, and send notes to Mike incriminating Marty. Mike takes the bait, loses control and tries to kill Marty, but Jerry stops him, and Mike is arrested. Marty refuses to press charges, and also confesses his involvement to Jerry. He explains to Jerry that he never intended any deaths to occur. Diamond and Sam plan to rob the Polar Gardensa popular ice skating ring, and force Marty to participate through kidnapping Helen who wisely informs Jerry of where she is going. Diamond and Sam alert Mike of the plan who they hope will kill Marty. Mike again goes berserk, but Jerry again prevents Mike from killing Marty. In a shootout with the criminals, Marty dies taking a bullet intended for Mike. His death brings Mike and Helen together, and as Marty had requested, there is a playground built at Jerry's boys club in Marty's name.

Cast

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made sev ...

as Marty Malone *

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

as Mike O'Mara * Paul Kelly as Jerry Donovan *

Beatrice Roberts Alice Beatrice Roberts (March 7, 1905 – July 24, 1970) was an American film actress. Early years Roberts was born on March 7, 1905, in New York City. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Colin M. Roberts, and she attended Winthrop High ...

as Helen McCoy *

Frank Jenks Frank Jenks (November 4, 1902 – May 13, 1962) was an acid-voiced American supporting actor of stage and films. Biography Early years Jenks was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and his mother gave him a trombone when he was 9 years old. By his ...

as Sam *

John Gallaudet John Beury Gallaudet (August 23, 1903 – November 5, 1983) was an American film and television actor. Career Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia and attended Williams College. His Broadway credits included ''Good Men and True'' (1935), ''Lost ...

as Joe O'Mara *

Samuel S. Hinds Samuel Southey Hinds (April 4, 1875 – October 13, 1948) was an American actor and former lawyer. He was often cast as kindly authority figures and appeared in more than 200 films until his death. Early years Hinds was born in Brooklyn, New Y ...

as Judge Harrison *

Joe Downing Joe Downing (June 26, 1903 in New York City, New York – October 16, 1975 in Canoga Park, California) was an American stage, TV and B-movie actor who made more than 70 appearances. Downing's early acting experience included work with the Thea ...

as Frank Diamond *

Arthur Hoyt Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films. Career Born in Georgetown, Colorado, in 1874, Hoyt mad ...

as Webster * Jerry Tucker as Child (uncredited)

Opening

The film opens with the following: "Hell's Kitchen – a section of New York, where, not so many years ago, the children of the slums made their playground in that grim street ... DEATH AVENUE." A later

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

reads: "An enduring friendship moves with the years to Hell's Kitchen's other boundary ... BROADWAY."

References

Sources *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Party 1938 films 1938 crime drama films American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films American crime drama films Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan 1930s English-language films 1930s American films