This film's yet another example of wayyyyy under appreciated Warner's in house director, Lloyd Bacon. Why do people ignore this guy??? He was really good! Look at how he handled Cagney and O'Brien if you need convincing. As usual Eddie G steals the show.....How did he do it? I have yet to see him in a bad performance. This is a great little film that just builds and builds... Everything seems to be going well until Anthony Quinn shows up and throws a monkey wrench into the whole works and the "gang" have to go (reluctantly) legit. Jack Carson, as usual, plays a bumbling but earnest character, a-la his cop "playwright" done the same year in "Arsenic and Old Lace"( released oddly in '44.) Another film made the same year (again, on the eve of Pearl Harbor) was Bogie's "All Through the Night" that also included Gleason and a young Phil Silvers.....All in the same vein! Jeezus, why can't they make 'em like this anymore??