Coffins on Wheels

I was pretty happy as I watched "Coffins on Wheels", as several of the Crime Does Not Pay shorts preceding this one were pretty dull and preachy. This is because the great series took a bit of a nosedive when WWII began, as MGM began focusing less on organized crime and violence and more on topics like civic duty and patriotism. Yet, somehow, the series avoided these preachy topics and got back to their roots with "Coffins on Wheels".

This film is about unscrupulous used car dealers who buy unsafe cars and give them cosmetic changes to make them seem road-worthy. The jerks in this one have no trouble selling a teenager a car with faulty brakes and it ends up leading to a thrilling and bloody accident. But, as you'd expect with the series, the baddies get theirs in the end! It makes for a very exciting film--one that won't disappoint.

A few folks to look for in this one are a very young Darryl Hickman, the cowboy star Allan 'Rocky' Lane and Roy Gordon. Who is Gordon? Well in the films in this series, the films are introduced by some important government official. In this particular film, it's supposed to be Mr. Blake from the Department of Motor Vehicles, but like ALL the films he's just an actor!