The Devil's Party (1938) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★

  "You hired us to do your dirty work. What for, just to play tough?"

  A group of edgy teens form a gang on the city streets, with its headquarters on (I'm not making this up) Death Avenue. They accidentally do a crime, as street urchins left to fend for themselves against the immense structures of the city often do. Years later, they've grown up and gone their separate ways, but every year they get together to throw a sweet party (hence the film's title). But one fateful year, this party reunites them under particularly inauspicious circ*mstances: one of them was inadvertently involved in a recent murder, and two others are investigating it. Are you faithful to your friends, or to…

• Review by Kari ★★★

  I always enjoy Victor McLaglen and William Gargan is a fave, too. Nothing special beyond that.

• Review by Ron Kelland ★★★

  This was a surprisingly decent film, for a B-movie. A bunch of street kids get into trouble growing up in Hell's Kitchen and later grow up, drift apart a bit, but still get together every year to celebrate times past. However, they have taken different paths and end up on different sides of a murder, challenging their friendships. This is s very interesting premise and with a better writer, director, actors and studio, this could have really been something. As it is, it is passable, but entertaining enough. Not as good as it could have been, but better that it should be. I enjoyed it.

• Review by PUNQ ★½

  This might have had the ingredients for a lively gangster drama, but the story was just ridiculous to do anything positive with it. Becomes a mess because of some loose cannon hired men accidentally kill a guy they were supposed to just rough-up. And the ideas just get more stupid after that. Club owner Victor McLaglen gets dragged into this mess with his childhood friends getting involved on both sides. Everything just feels rushed and the end result is not very impressive.

• Review by Yusuf Pişkin ★★★½

  Cult Cinema Classics youtube channel

  Following CCC on letterboxd

• Review by Gary ★★★½

  Marty Malone is a juvenile delinquent who grows up to own a nightclub / casino on Broadway. He also still pals around with his old gang, who have taken different paths in life: a priest, the pretty singer in his club, a couple of cops.

  But then, a couple of Marty's goons kill a guy who didn't pay his losses, and the cops aren't satisfied that it was an accident.

  Things get pretty serious in the middle innings: one of the gang is killed, and the big finale is a little pat but effective.

  We are in "hidden gem" territory here: I really enjoyed this. Victor McLaglen is Marty Malone, with excellent support from William Gargan, John Gallaudet, Paul Kelly, and Beatrice Roberts as the rest of the gang. Frank Jenks is good too, as a reluctant goon.

  Terrible title; pretty good movie.

• Review by Jeff Williams ★★½

  Standard story about a group of friends who grow up together in Hell's Kitchen and take different paths in life. Slightly above average programmer owing to the presence of McLaglen and Kelly but quite predictable.

• Review by Larry Yoshida ★★★ 1

  This reminds me a bit too much of ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. A kid gang (more like the Little Rascals than Dead End Kids) plan to rob a fruit warehouse. Marty starts a fire as diversion, but it gets out of hand and he gets busted. He refuses to rat out the others (including young Helen) and goes to reform school. Naturally Marty (Victor McLaglen, THE INFORMER) becomes a hood, albeit a pretty tame one. He runs the Cigarette Club, a casino. Jerry has become a priest. The O'Mara brothers joined the elite police emergency squad. Helen sings at the club. Marty has a thing for Helen but she loves Mike O'Mara.

  On the night of the gang's annual reunion,…

• Review by NotJayTabb ★★★

  Really good crime drama that sees Victor McLaglen as a former juvenile delinquent turned club owner, who finds himself embroiled in a murder after his debt collectors go too far. McLaglen is excellent as a man clearly trying to make good, giving money to Paul Kelly's priest for a gym in order to stop neighbourhood kids making the same mistakes as him, but who's criminal past never seems to escape him. Good support as well, especially Kelly, and though very short, it packed in a lot of story

• Review by Isaac Williams ★★★

  Five kids in a Hell’s Kitchen gang grow into a priest, a nightclub owner, a singer & two cops. Victor McLaglen (DISHONORED, FORT APACHE) was the leader & stayed closest to crime by connecting gambling to his club. His over-zealous leg-breakers kill a guy, attracting the attention of the two cop friends. A series of blackmail attempts, frame-ups, a heist & some moral dilemmas pad out the rest of this 65-minute crime picture. It’s not at all mindblowing, but far from the worst way to spend an hour. The priest is Paul Kelly from ADVENTURE IN SAHARA, DEAD MAN’S EYES, SIDE STREET & others.

• Review by Michael_Elliott ★★

  Okay, the story here is pretty confusing but I'll try to explain it. Four kids, growing up in Hell's Kitchen, have their lives changed when the oldest pulls a prank, which sets a warehouse on fire. He's sent to reform school but twenty years later he's out on the streets as a gambler/night club owner. Two of the other friends are cops and another is a priest. The gambler sends a couple men to rough a guy up but they eventually kill him and the two cops are put on the case.

  This film only runs 61-minutes but it seems the screenplay was missing around twenty minutes worth of additional footage that might have tied up various plot holes. With that said, I found myself somewhat entertained but there's really nothing going on in the film. I've heard this was an influence on Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA but that connection would be very loose. Victor McLaglen stars.

• Review by Rainey Dawn ★★★

  This one wasn't bad - I expected the film to be far worse so it came as a nice surprise. It's not a great story but kinda fun to watch in a way. It's about the kid's club "Hell's Kitchen"... where a gang of kids, 4 boys and 1 girl, become friends. The oldest boy, Marty Malone, accidentally set fire to a building and was sent to reform school. Then the story fast-forwards to their adulthood where we find them meeting every year, the year we peer into their story there is a murder that leads to another murder - Marty Malone is involved.

  All grown up: A night club owner, a singer, a priest and 2 cops. I found my favorite of the gang to be the Priest Jerry. He was the one trying to keep the others calm and reasonable.

  It's not the grandest of stories but I found this one watchable and enjoyable.

  6.5/10