***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***<br /><br />This story had great potential (young salesclerk wrongfully convicted of stealing gets sentenced to 3 years in prison, then emerges from prison seeking revenge on her boss and the prosecutor who sent her to prison). However, the execution of this story fell far from reaching its potential.<br /><br />Mary shows up at her prison pal, Aggie's, place. Aggie, too, is freshly out of prison, but based on her clothing and surroundings we see she is doing well. Aggie has a couple of other "gang" members with her (including Joe Garson, head of the gang). Mary shows up, looking like a skinny wet kitten in need of taking in. Thus begins Mary's association with this "gang". Joe takes Mary to his place and it's pretty clear that he's willing to take her in and take care of her in return for her providing him with sex. He realizes while trying to kiss her that she's a virgin, then respectfully backs off and gives her some money for a cab. This is just the first of many implausible scenes between Mary and Joe.<br /><br />Unbelievably, Mary goes from scared little waif to implied head of the gang in a matter of scenes. Also, somehow the apartment she showed up at when looking for Aggie has turned into "Mary Turner's apartment", as one of Joe's goons says when he answers the phone. Later in the movie, the police refer to the gang as the "Mary Turner Mob", but I'm getting ahead of myself. <br /><br />The first scam we see Mary, Aggie and Joe pull is extorting $20,000 from an old man for writing love letters to "14 year old" Aggie (right - Aggie looks about as much as a 14-year-old as I do!). The old man's lawyer drops $20,000 on the coffee table and turns to leave. "Oh no, take your marked money with you. We'll see you at 4:00 in the lawyer's office and do this all legal-like" Mary says. We see Joe's eyes bug out when Mary says "marked money" ... incredibly this naive virgin waif is all of a sudden more street-smart than longtime hoodlum and gang-head Joe?! I just had to roll my eyes! It's never explained how Mary got so savvy, and why Joe turns operations over to her ... I guess we are to assume she "wised up" during her 3 years in the Big House and Joe, still full of admiration for Mary for her virginity as well as her smarts, willingly lets her start calling the shots. Who knows -- that's the best explanation I can come up with based on this poorly developed script.<br /><br />In another scene, we see fur-drenched, sophisticated Mary show up with a young man at his apartment. The young man brought Mary to his lair with the intent of pouncing on her and getting a little piece of her. She's still a frigid little virgin, as he suddenly realizes when he tries to kiss her (just as Joe had earlier in the movie). All of a sudden, Little Lech Junior turns into Mister "I'm Soooo in Love With You" when his virgin Mary grabs her coat and heads for the door.<br /><br />As a little aside, Little Lech Junior (who we only later learn is Robert Gilder, son of Mary's ex-employer and the man responsible for sending her to prison) treats his Asian servant like something other than human, even referring to him as "yellow peril" at one point. I know there was no such thing as political correctness in 1930, and I have little patience for most things PC myself, but come on! Even in 1930, that had to have been distasteful! <br /><br />I'm probably running close to my 1000-word limit, so let me just wrap it up by saying the ending was schmaltzy and improbable and left me bitter at wasting over 1 hour watching this dreck. Mary and Robert Gilder (now man and wife) are at the police station, being questioned for the murder of a police stoolie. Joe Garson did it, but with his long criminal record, if he gets arrested one more time he's going to the chair. Mary and Robert try to protect Joe by claiming Robert shot the man in self-defense. Joe, seeing how much Mary loves Robert, doesn't want to ruin HER life so he confesses to the police that he did it, knowing full well he's going to the chair (riiight!). Mary is crying, upset that Joe is going to fry. Joe and the police lieutenant share a knowing look and nod, as if Joe is saying "tell her I'm not going to the chair, so she won't be upset" and the cop nods in assent. "Aw, don't worry Mary, Joe's not gonna fry", or words to that effect. Mary is still crying, but clearly relieved. Of course we know full well that Joe *IS* gonna fry. Fade out, "The End".<br /><br />Puh-leeeze.<br /><br />Good performance by Joan (a little hammy at times, but what JC performance isn't?), as well as Marie Prevost who played Aggie. You might want to watch it once, if you don't mind wasting 1.5 hours of your life. Otherwise, stay away.<br /><br />My rating: 3/10