Graft (1931) User Reviews (12)

Toomey is supposed to be playing the stooge in this one

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 11 September 2010]

Regis Toomey, as the eager but not necessarily able reporter Dustin Hotchkiss, is playing this one somewhat slow-witted on purpose, much like any film role you'd see Don Knotts in some thirty years later. Hotchkiss' boss, tired of him whining about wanting a real story, sends him out to interview the head of the local machine and crime syndicate, certain that the threats and general unpleasantness he'll meet when he gets there will shut him up for awhile and keep him happy writing obituaries and wedding announcements. Unfortunately, what does happen is Hotchkiss becomes the witness to the aftermath of the murder of the D.A by a hit-man for the syndicate (Karloff as Terry), and he draws all of the wrong conclusions. Seeing the daughter of the reform candidate standing over the body, he rushes back to his paper and implicates her in the story he writes. When the police investigate, they determine the girl (Sue Carol) could not have done it since the bullets came from outside of the D.A.'s home. However, the papers claiming she's involved have already gone out for sale to the public. Embarrassed by the mess he's made for the reform candidate by getting his daughter wrongfully caught up in a scandal, Hotchkiss embarks on a crusade to find the real killer, although he has only two days to do so before the election in which the reform candidate is pitted against a candidate that is the puppet of the crime syndicate.

If Hotchkiss has a chance against these guys it is only because the syndicate's reasoning skills seem to be as bone-headed as Hotchkiss'. For example, Pearl, the ex-girlfriend of the crime machine's boss who has all the dirt on the mob, threatens to talk to the D.A - and does. Instead of taking her for a ride the old-fashioned way they decide to lock her up in a comfy compartment on a yacht until after the election. However, they shoot the D.A. dead in his own home when he threatens to indict, which is an empty threat without Pearl's testimony. Any mobster would tell you that the killing of honest public officials in their own middle-class neighborhoods can't be good for business.

Karloff is outstanding as Terry, the muscle and hit-man of the syndicate. He's smooth yet menacing and the perfect sociopath. He isn't angry at his victims, it's just all in a day's work. This would be an OK but rather unremarkable crime drama without his performance.

A quick and entertaining (though formulaic) B-movie.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 27 November 2016]

This is a very typical sort of B-movie plot. And, like all true Bs, this one clocks in at about an hour, as B-movies were intended as a short film to accompany the main feature.

When the film begins, Dustin Hotchkiss (Regis Toomey) is seeking a job as a reporter. However, no one wants to talk to him so he does what any spunky B-movie reporter does--he takes someone else's story and runs with it. He is surprised, however, when this phone call leads to him being at the scene of a murder! At first the police think the DA's daughter killed the DA but it turns out he was shot from outside...and Dustin probably saw the assailant. What follows is very familiar-- with the reporter not only being smarter than the police but solving the crime practically by himself!

While there's nothing bad about the film there also isn't all that much great about it either. Entertaining but familiar and unsophisticated viewing. The only really remarkable thing is seeing Boris Karloff playing one of the baddies just before he shot to international fame as the Frankenstein monster.

Crusading Reporters

[boblipton · 5/10 · 6 February 2006]

Every Poverty Row producer's favorite lead actor, Regis Toomey, is the world's most clueless cub reporter in this comedy-action newspaper romp about the events around a crusading District Attorney killed by Boris Karloff, two days before the election on the orders of his corrupt machine boss -- although the laughs are few and weak, alas. Toomey, as always, is up to his role, plenty of energy. Female lead, Sue Carol, however, cannot manage much in the way of an emotional register.

This is the sort of movie that has been done better before and afterward, but director Christy Cabanne plays with some interesting traveling shots. They must have been expensive as anything to achieve in this poverty row second feature, but Christy was not giving up a moving camera just because it was difficult. Unfortunately, he was not much of a dialogue director at this point, and Sue Carol's performance suffers. Also, I was rather taken aback by a flight of stairs into a cabin on board a yacht -- no handrails and the stairs are open. I wouldn't want to be going belowdecks that way on a rough sea.

On net, this is not a movie to seek out unless you are a Karloff fan, a Regis Toomey fan -- there may be one or two of those around -- or so mad for Sue Carol that you don't care if she's in black and white. Her career didn't go much further -- a few years later, she became an agent, married Alan Ladd and promoted him into a major star.

Why watch this movie? Three words: William Henry Pratt

[wmorrow59 · 4/10 · 6 February 2006]

In 1928 a new play about fast-talking newspapermen took Broadway by storm: "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur packed the stage with jaded reporters, mean cops, corrupt politicians, and hard-bitten dames. And when the talkie revolution swept Hollywood soon afterward a new movie genre was born: the city room saga. Several popular comedy-dramas set wholly or partly in newspaper offices were produced in the early '30s, including Five Star Final, Platinum Blonde, Blessed Event and the first film version of The Front Page itself. Following the Hecht-MacArthur prototype, hallmarks of the genre tended to be rat-a-tat pacing, violent action, and a deeply cynical attitude that presaged the Noir classics of the '40s.

Graft is an example of this sort of movie, but it's far from the best of the lot. As film-making goes it's little more than competent. We wait in vain for colorful types to deliver snappy wisecracks or spit out underworld slang; instead, the simpletons who comprise this film's characters dutifully deliver their pedestrian dialog through scene after scene, and when the movie's over not a single line stands out as memorable. Christy Cabanne's direction is as uninspired as the script, and at no point does he attempt to enliven the proceedings with any creative flourishes. Cabanne tells this routine crime story of political corruption and murder at a deliberate pace, which feels slower because of the lack of background music, and without much humor, although the plot takes such a ludicrous turn at the finale that some viewers may chuckle anyhow. Perhaps the movie's biggest drawback is the personality of our hero Dusty Hotchkiss, played by Regis Toomey. Toomey was always a dependable actor and sometimes an excellent one (as in the first-rate melodrama Kick In, where he held his own opposite Clara Bow), but here he is stuck playing the most exasperating "hero" imaginable. Dusty Hotchkiss is an eager beaver cub reporter who forgets the name of a key witness, can't describe a suspect's face, writes a story implicating the wrong person in a murder, and allows the actual killer to slip away with ease. Harry Langdon would have been a more formidable leading man than this guy, and at least he's funny.

Still and all, however, there is one reason to watch this film. The crime kingpin's creepy henchman -- a character named "Terry," all of things -- is played by Boris Karloff, and although his dialog is just as dull as everyone else's Karloff at least brings an air of menace to his role, and lends the movie some much-needed color. Terry is a thug of a decidedly misogynistic bent: when he isn't kidnapping or killing people he's warning his boss (who is having problems with Pearl, his moll) that dames are all double-crossers who aren't worth the trouble. Hearing these words delivered in that inimitable voice, matched by the sight of those dark, hollow eyes and strikingly gaunt features, gives these moments considerably more juice than anything in the other scenes. My favorite bit comes when Terry has to lure Pearl onto a yacht where she will presumably be rubbed out, and his manner changes: suddenly, the killer oozes sinister sweetness and phony cheer. I was reminded of the Grinch promising Cindy Lou Who that he'd return her Christmas tree just as soon as its broken light was repaired.

Karloff fans willing to watch him in anything will be impressed at the way this still unknown character actor deftly steals the show from the other players, although this particular show was hardly worth stealing. Regis Toomey, for his part, would get another shot at playing a reporter in a vastly superior example of a city room comedy-drama, perhaps the best of them all: His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks' 1940 remake of the Hecht-MacArthur play that launched the whole cycle.

Graft (1931) *1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 4/10 · 8 February 2006]

A cheap and rather unremarkable film about a zany wannabe reporter (Regis Toomey) who tries to earn his wings by trailing a crooked politician and his murdering henchman (played by Boris Karloff). Though the movie is nothing much, it runs only 58 minutes and Karloff is at least featured steadily throughout. It's interesting to watch him strut his stuff if you're a fan of his (and he does get to say some funny lines).

This is supposedly the pre-FRANKENSTEIN feature where director James Whale noticed Boris in the Universal commissary and convinced him that Karloff had the perfect look to play the Monster. *1/2 out of ****

"Gee, she's all kind of perturbed isn't she?"

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 12 July 2017]

Pre-code crime picture with a little comedy, starring Regis Toomey as a reporter looking for his big break, which comes when a district attorney is killed. Forgettable B movie, notable today only because of Boris Karloff in a supporting part as one of the bad guys. This was released just a couple of months before Karloff's breakthrough role in Frankenstein. Toomey's kind of annoying in this with his nasally voice and whiny "gee whiz" manner. His character's name is Dustin. I don't claim to have seen all or even most movies from this period but I've seen a lot. I think this might be the first Dustin I've come across in a movie from this time. Playing the girl tied up in it all is Sue Carol, who would go on to greater success as an agent and eventually wife to Alan Ladd.

This would have been so much better if reporter Toomey had been removed

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 4 June 2009]

Once thought lost early film with a solid supporting role by Boris Karloff pre- Frankenstein. The plot has a crook trying to fix the up coming mayoral election. .When the DA gets evidence of whats going on he's killed and through circumstance, actually the misidentification of an idiot reporter, the daughter of the clean candidate is suspected. Regis Toomey single handedly wrecks an otherwise excellent little thriller. Toomey plays a moron of a reporter who always does and says the wrong thing. While it does help to move the plot along no one could really be that dumb. Its an unfortunate thing since other than Toomey this is well acted and well made film with Karloff super as an evil henchman. If you can get past Toomey's moronic behavior (which no doubt was supposed to be funny rather than stupid) you'll enjoy this. I let Toomey's character act in a vacuum and I had a good time. Recommended if you can do the same.

7 out of 10 assuming you can forget Toomey

Boris Karloff the only standout

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 31 March 2021]

"Graft" was the film being shot at Universal in late June 1931, the time when director James Whale had taken over preproduction reins of the upcoming "Frankenstein," spotted actor Boris Karloff dining in the commissary, and remembered his powerful presence in Howard Hawks' "The Criminal Code." Karloff is very much the sole reason for bothering to watch this fleeting programmer from director Christy Cabanne, whose only genre titles both starred George Zucco, "The Mummy's Hand" in 1940 and "Scared to Death" in 1946, plus the very first Crime Club entry from 1937, "The Westland Case." Screenwriter Barry Barringer certainly did better, with Lugosi's "The Death Kiss" and "The Return of Chandu," and one of the first starring roles for future Wolf Man Creighton Chaney, Monogram's outdoor effort "Sixteen Fathoms Deep." "Graft" looks like a small scale newspaper comedy/drama in the wake of "The Front Page" and "Five Star Final," so unambitious that it runs a meager 54 minutes but offers a rare lead for longtime utility man Regis Toomey, admittedly well cast as a dimwitted would be reporter, Dustin Hotchkiss, tiring of scripting ad copy but unable to secure the major gigs scored by Herold Goodwin's Speed Hansen (not Scoop Hanlon from "The Missing Guest"), so unlike his nickname that he never brings himself to bother leaving the bleeping office! News editor E. T. Scudder (Willard Robertson) offers Hotchkiss an opportunity to interview contractor M. H. Thomas (William B. Davidson), which explodes into a major scandal once Thomas' girlfriend, Pearl Vaughan (Dorothy Revier, later reuniting with Boris in "Night World"), emerges with the determination to spill the beans about his corrupt activities on the eve of certain electoral victory. She threatens to come clean with the D. A. but top henchman Terry (Karloff) not only prevents her from keeping the appointment at his home, he himself shoots the D. A. from outside his window, bumping into the inept Hotchkiss on his way to notifying the police (inexplicably, the unwitting newshound never considers him to be the killer). With a corpse unable to prosecute and Pearl safely being transported dockside for an intended watery grave, who else but Hotchkiss should predictably come to the rescue, but only if the villains act with supreme overconfidence and utter incompetence. Even Karloff's presence isn't enough to convey any sense of danger for the protagonist, who really takes the law into his own hands by spiriting the murderer away from the cops to lead them on a merry chase to his waiting editor, welcomed as some kind of hero instead of being arrested for reckless driving and endangerment! Thankfully, the days when smarmy, clueless reporters were the norm are long gone, making this extremely dated and exasperating save for the gravitas of Boris Karloff, who would not start shooting "Frankenstein" until after a quartet of small parts in "Business and Pleasure," "Scarface," "The Yellow Ticket," and "The Guilty Generation" (this was not the beginning of his career, merely the end of a 12 year screen apprenticeship).

Graft review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 16 April 2020]

A young reporter investigates the murder of a District Attorney on the eve of a big election. The film Boris Karloff was making when he was awarded the career changing role of Frankenstein's monster suffers from one of those relentlessly chirpy heroes (Regis Toomey) you feel like strangling by the third reel. Given his gangling frame, it's odd that Karloff was repeatedly cast in these criminal sidekick roles, but he's inarguably the best thing about an otherwise routine crime thriller that's ably directed by the prolific Christy Cabanne

Karloff on the brink of stardom.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 8/10 · 6 February 2006]

'Graft' is a peculiar film. It's a straightforward crime drama, except that the actor in the central role -- Regis Toomey -- plays his character as a comic-relief stumblebum. He plays a reporter named Dustin Hotchkiss, a name that's nearly as funny as "Regis Toomey". At one point, Hotchkiss sees the D.A. shot dead by an unknown assailant. As Hotchkiss hurries away, he bumps into another man fleeing the same scene ... and it doesn't occur to him that this might be the gunman, as indeed it is.

Nor is Toomey's character the only one slow on the uptake. Dorothy Revier plays a ward-heeler's floozy who threatens to shop him to the D.A. The ward-heeler's toady promptly abducts her, holds her hostage for several days, then tells her she's going on a trip. He hustles her to the quay, drags her aboard a yacht, puts her in a cabin and locks the door. This is when she begins to suspect she's in trouble.

We get several of the crusading-newspaper clichés here. Willard Robertson is extremely impressive as the newspaper's overworked editor, juggling incoming calls on a row of candlestick telephones. Hotchkiss's rival is a reporter cried Speed Hansen, but Speed doesn't seem to be in a hurry. Sue Carol is annoyingly twee and crumple-faced as the daughter of the reform candidate. George Irving is good in that brief role ... but please note that his character is named Robert Hall, not the punning "M.T. Hall" that's shown on IMDb's cast list. Carmelita Geraghty, whom I've never liked, has one very peculiar scene as a receptionist who shows up at the office dressed in elaborate chinoiserie.

Christy Cabanne's direction is brisk throughout, although with a bit too much undercranking in the action sequences, and some of the rear projection is more obvious than it needs to be. This story takes place in an unnamed city, but the street photography makes it clear we're in Los Angeles.

'Graft' is (rightly) best known for featuring Boris Karloff in one of his last roles pre-'Frankenstein'. (James Whale discovered him while he was shooting this film on the Universal lot.) Although Karloff has only a supporting role, Cabanne seems to be aware of Karloff's star quality, and gives him every opportunity to shine. Karloff makes his first entrance with his back to the camera (anticipating 'Frankenstein'), and he's thoroughly menacing throughout the film. There are several good points in 'Graft', but Karloff's performance is far and away the best reason for seeing this film. Almost entirely on the strength of his performance and Cabanne's direction, I'll rate 'Graft' 8 out of 10.

Dorothy Reiver Is a Great "Bad Girl"!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 4 September 2013]

Regis Toomey was firmly entrenched in the public's mind as an eager beaver reporter. He had made a dazzling debut as an undercover policeman in "Alibi" but had never been able to capitalize on it and was now only a stone's throw away from second leads etc. "Graft" was also one of the movies Sue Carol made on her comeback trail. She was one of Fox's leading ingénues of the late 1920s but over exposure almost killed off her career. Together they made a nice romantic team in this nifty Universal programmer with quite unusual (for it's time) use of outdoor locations showing a more pleasant and innocent Los Angeles - 1931 vintage.

Cub reporter Dusty Hotchkiss (Toomey) wants to be more than just a "gofor" and finally feels a break coming his way when he walks into a confrontation between crooked politician, M. H. Thomas (William B. Davidson) and his discarded mistress, Pearl (Dorothy Reiver) who threatens to blow his "good guy" image sky high - henchman Terry (Boris Karloff) is told to see she goes on a nice holiday!! Unfortunately that's the last you see of Reiver for a while, her character was proving to be the most dynamic in the movie. Before long, the out going D.A. is murdered and Dusty, prowling around the grounds, is convinced that the girl he sees through the window, Constance Hall (Carol), daughter of the reform candidate is the guilty one. He forgets all about the man, Terry, he runs into on the lawn, the one who says he is racing for the police. Carol, with glycerine tears at the ready, can't keep up the drama for long (although I do question one reviewer's comments that it is a comedy crime movie) and it isn't long before she and Dusty team up, determined to track down Pearl and deliver her to to the editor so she can spill the beans on the front page!!

Reiver was always a great "bad girl" and to see her and Karloff paired in a really ripping story I would recommend "Nightworld" (1932). Karloff plays nightclub owner "Happy" whose nasty wife (Reiver) is playing him fast and loose with besotted Russell Hopton. Anyway it's a treat to find that Pearl hasn't been bumped off but is being held in an suburban house (more great location scenes) from where she is soon taken to a moored yacht where the rest of the action takes place.

It finishes all too soon - a lot shorter (55 minutes but a lovely clear print) than I thought it would be!! Karloff is the character you remember even though he is only henchman Terry, his imposing figure and diction make him a more believable boss than William B. Davidson!!

Boris Karloff Just Starting His Career

[whpratt1 · 9/10 · 24 April 2003]

Viewed this picture on late, late, late night TV in the mid 1950's and taped this hard to view picture,"Graft". Boris Karloff was beginning to get the breaks he needed, this film was made before "Frankenstein" and it was also around the time he made,"Criminal Code" which launched his career as the KING OF HORROR. In this picture, Dusty (Regis Toomey), a young cub reporter on a big-city newspaper, wants to have a huge story by-line. A crooked politician learns Pearl (Dorothy Revier), his former mistress, is going to reveal their affair to the District Attorney. Afraid of an indictment, the politician orders the D.A. to be killed and Pearl kidnapped. Dusty gets involved with the murder and accuses Constance,(Sue Carol,wife of Alan Ladd of "Shane"), the reformed candidate's daughter, of the murder. The story appears in the paper and the editor fires Dusty. Dusty still continues to follow the crooks and Pearl to a yacht, where she is being held prisoner. After a big fight, Dusty captures Terry, the leading Crime Boss, (Boris Karloff) and frees Pearl as the police arrive. The young reporter gets back to the newspaper in time to give them his story. Dusty eventually gets his position on the newspaper back and also wins the heart of Constance. This is a newspaper story revolving around the City Desk. "GRAFT" is like "FIVE STAR FINAL" 1931. This movie is so crazy and unrealistic, it would really make a good COMEDY with lots of laughs. (This film is rare and is not for sale or a gift)