Night Waitress (1936)
** (out of 4)
Decent crime picture from Lew Landers has Helen Roberts (Margot Grahame) getting a waitress job after being put on probation for a crime the police think she knew about but couldn't really prove. Once working the woman gets involved with a young man (Gordon Jones) but what she doesn't know is that this location is a hot spot for gangster crime and soon she's threatened with going back to jail. There's romance, crime and drama here but none of the three things are exactly done good. For the most part this is just a 57-minute "B" picture that was obviously made to play second tier to something much bigger and as long as you don't take it too serious or expect too much you should at least be slightly entertained. I think Landers does a nice job with what he has to work with as he at least keeps the picture moving at a fast pace and for the most part the seedy locations feel real. Both Grahame and Jones do a nice job in the leads and help carry the picture and we also get to see Billy Gilbert in the role of the restaurant owner. If you look quick you can even spot a very young Anthony Quinn in a few spots. The biggest problem with the picture is that nothing ever really works well enough to make the film a good one. Still, fans who enjoy these forgotten, low-budget pictures will still want to check it out.
** (out of 4)
Decent crime picture from Lew Landers has Helen Roberts (Margot Grahame) getting a waitress job after being put on probation for a crime the police think she knew about but couldn't really prove. Once working the woman gets involved with a young man (Gordon Jones) but what she doesn't know is that this location is a hot spot for gangster crime and soon she's threatened with going back to jail. There's romance, crime and drama here but none of the three things are exactly done good. For the most part this is just a 57-minute "B" picture that was obviously made to play second tier to something much bigger and as long as you don't take it too serious or expect too much you should at least be slightly entertained. I think Landers does a nice job with what he has to work with as he at least keeps the picture moving at a fast pace and for the most part the seedy locations feel real. Both Grahame and Jones do a nice job in the leads and help carry the picture and we also get to see Billy Gilbert in the role of the restaurant owner. If you look quick you can even spot a very young Anthony Quinn in a few spots. The biggest problem with the picture is that nothing ever really works well enough to make the film a good one. Still, fans who enjoy these forgotten, low-budget pictures will still want to check it out.