The Lawless Woman: Just another night at the mob office

Is it worth the time?

If you have a soft spot for grainy, old-school crime dramas where the reporter is always too persistent for his own good, then sure. It's a quick watch for people who like movies that feel like a Sunday afternoon cable discovery. But if you’re looking for something that reinvents the wheel, keep moving. The pacing is a bit like a car with a shaky transmission—it gets there, but it rattles the whole way.

The whole setup with June Page being the center of a mob takeover feels like it was ripped from a dozen better scripts, but that doesn't make it totally boring. There’s a specific kind of grime to these old movies that I actually dig. It isn't polished, and half the time the actors look like they’re just waiting for the lunch bell to ring.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Lawless Woman (1931) through its definitive frames.

The Reporter Problem

Allan Perry is the kind of guy who would annoy you in real life. He’s that cub reporter trope—poking his nose where it doesn't belong and thinking he's the smartest guy in the room. When he starts trying to woo June, you just want to tell him to sit down. The romance happens at warp speed, which is pretty funny considering he’s mostly just trying to get a front-page story out of her.

There's this moment in the apartment where they go from arguing to being in love in about three seconds flat. It’s not believable, but maybe that’s the point? It felt like the writers just wanted to get to the next shootout.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Lawless Woman (1931) through its definitive frames.

Odd Little Details

• The way Wilson’s men just stand around looking mean in the background. It’s like they’re holding up the walls.
• The gun in the coat pocket trick. Honestly, it’s a classic, but it’s still ridiculous.
• The lighting in the apartment scenes. Sometimes you can barely tell who is in the room.

It’s not quite as weird as Savitri Satyavan, but it has that same feeling of a production that had a limited budget and a lot of ambition. Sometimes the movie reminded me of the frantic energy in Dummies, though here everything is played way more straight. It doesn't have the same punch as the heavy hitters of its era, but it’s not trying to be a masterpiece.

Honestly, the ending is a bit of a mess. Reardon just shows up, shots are fired, and everyone is suddenly okay with everything. It’s a total wrap-up-the-story-in-five-minutes ending. You can tell they were running out of film stock. 🎬