kidboots I thought this was a pretty nifty drama - almost like a feature length "Crime Does Not Pay" entry. "Crime Does Not Pay" was a MGM short subject series that kicked off in 1935 with "Buried Loot". It was a series that not only tried to keep youth on the straight and narrow (the series started when America was in the midst of the "Public Enemy" era) it also gave starts to future Hollywood stars ie Robert Taylor in "Buried Loot".The city is going through the worst heat wave in years and Eddie Lang (Chester Morris), who is counting on his bonus coming through in a couple of weeks, goes to his manager for a $50 loan. He wants to take his family away from the city heat but his boss says no!! He is finally tipped off about a loan company who will be pleased to give him the money - all he has to sign is a "I Promise to Pay" slip. He takes his family on a great holiday, but of course, when he returns, there is no bonus. He is now in the clutches of loan sharks who insist on repayments of $10 a week. He goes to the police but not before he makes the mistake of confiding to his friend, Al, who in reality works for the loan sharks. Ed steals from petty cash and is sacked from his job. The family can't escape from the vicious punks - even in a new town, with a new job, Eddie is tracked down and severely beaten.Chester Morris had the ability to lift up whatever film he was in - even a programmer like this, and give it a touch of class. His finest moment is when he is making his impassioned speech to the "little guys" - all the victims of loan sharks, who have been too afraid to come forward. Interestingly Henry Brandon, who played the educated foreman and victim of the "Black Legion", in this movie was on the wrong side of the law playing one of Farra's henchmen - "Fancyface". The one person who didn't ring true was Leo Carrillo as loan shark kingpin Farra - his giggling didn't really instill fear - it made me think he must have yearned to be in a comedy. Marc Lawrence more than made up for Carrillo's shortcomings. Was there ever a badder bad guy than Lawrence - here he played a very evil henchman, "Whitehat", who wants to take little Judy and her brother "for a ride". Helen Mack was also excellent as Eddie's helpful wife.Highly, Highly Recommended.

samhill5215 I think I watched this film for Helen Mack. I had just seen her in "Girls of the Road" and her performance stood out in that mediocre attempt. What struck me was the chemistry between her and her co-star, Chester Morris. Their portrayal of a married couple still in love after eight years was so genuine I felt drawn in to their lives, felt their misery and disappointments, and sympathized with the gut wrenching decisions they had to make on a daily basis regarding the basic necessities of life. Yet in spite of their hard lives, or perhaps because of them, they stayed devoted to each other and very much connected. Whenever they were on screen the chemistry between them was unmistakable. They made me believe they really loved each other and that's what I found unusual. The rest of the movie is OK. Leo Carillo is a standout as the loan shark but the plot follows a more or less predictable path to a predictable ending. If it weren't for the scenes with Mack and Morris it would be entirely forgettable.

ksf-2 Chester Morris started as a teenager in the silent films, and by the 1940s had the role of "Boston Blackie" locked up. This film "I Promise to Pay" was a couple years before he got the Boston Blackie gig. The film opens by showing us how hot the city is, and Morris is Eddie Lang, who is short on money for his wife and kid. Keep an eye out for Thomas Mitchell, the only other big name in here that I recognize - he was in about half the movies made in the 1930s, usually the father or the president of the company. In this one, he plays the D.A. Leo Carillo is the big mob boss "Farra" on the take, squeezing folks for money when they take out loans, and of course, our hero Lang becomes one of his "customers". Lang and his family go off on vacation to a lodge on a lake, but as of today, the filming locations aren't listed - too bad. Pretty good, for a Columbia Pictures shortie, at only 68 minutes. It's almost like a long episode of Dragnet. Good way to kill an hour.

sol **SPOILERS** With a major heatwave hitting the city office worker Eddie Lang, Chester Morris, want's to take his wife Mary, Helen Mack, and two young children to the country for the week vacation that's coming him from his employer Rushmore inc.Needing a cash advance Eddie is steered to this loan shark Richard Farra, Leo Corrillo, by one of his friends Al Anslie, John Gallaudet, who secretly works for Farra in getting him new suckers or customers. As things turn out the $50,00 that Farra, through a local candy store owner, loaned Eddie had a 20% interest-or vig-thatched on to it! The 20% vig was not just annually or even monthly but weekly! This means by the end of the year with Eddie paying $10.00 a week in paying off Farra's loan he'll end up paying an astounding $520.00! That amounts to some 1,000% over what Farra loaned him!Realizing he's way over his head in paying his entire weekly saleary,$10.00, to Farra just to keep it above water Eddie tries to pay just $2.00 weekly until the loan is paid off. This leads to Eddie and his family getting threatened with psychical violence by Farra's hoods if he doesn't pay up! Desperate Eddie robs his office to make his weekly loan payment which has him being fired, or laid off, from his job after confessing his crime, and paying back the stolen money, to his very understanding boss B.G Wilson, Willis Clark. Moving to a cheaper apartment and getting a new job at the US Government sponsored W.P.A. Eddie finally thought he was through with Farra and his debt collectors! As things turned out Eddie troubles with the loan shark was just beginning!***SPOILERS*** Shocking expose of the brutal loan shark racket and how it turns decent and law abiding citizens like Eddie Lang into desperate criminals! Eddie finally realizes that the only way to get Farra off his and his family's backs is go to the D.A's office and turn evidence against him. The trouble is that to get Farra Eddie and the D.A. will have to find a link in the Farra crime syndicate that's close enough to both finger and turn states evidence against him! Eddie who doesn't consider himself to be any kind hero becomes one by, with Farra ordering a hit on him, setting himself up as a target for Farra's hoods. Who in the end warn't that loyal to their boss to go to the eclectic chair for a murder he ordered them to commit!