The Public Pays (1936) Review - Milk, Mobsters, and Melodrama

If you have twenty minutes to spare and love old-school crime shorts, The Public Pays is absolutely worth a quick watch today. 🥛 Anyone who enjoys fast-talking gangsters and guys in oversized suits will have a blast, but if you want a deep artistic masterpiece, you will probably hate it within two minutes.

It is basically a warning tape from MGM about the dangers of the "milk racket." Yes, you read that right. Milk.

Some thugs decide they want to tax every bottle of milk in the city, which apparently was a real thing that happened back then. The main bad guy, played by Cy Kendall with a face like a grumpy bulldog, is incredibly fun to watch.

The movie moves so fast it almost gives you whiplash. One second a dairy owner is refusing to pay, and the next second his trucks are being run off the road and milk is splashing everywhere in glorious black and white.

There is this one shot of a spilled milk puddle that the camera just stares at for way too long. It is like the director wanted us to mourn the lost dairy.

The acting is delightfully woodden in places, especially the police officers who speak like they are reading off a grocery list. But honestly, that just adds to the charm.

It reminds me a bit of the fast-paced newsroom energy in The Big Scoop, though this one has way more threats of violence over pasteurized beverages.

My favorite part is when the honest businessman decides he has had enough and goes to the cops. The sheer amount of dramatic nodding in that office is legendary. 🕵️‍♂️

Here are a few things I wrote down while watching:

• The narrator sounds like he is announcing the end of the world.
• I counted at least twelve fedoras in one small office scene.
• The bad guys are surprisingly bad at actually hiding their crimes.
• A dramatic phone call ends with someone literally slamming the receiver down so hard I thought the desk would break.

It does not try to be art. It just wants to tell you that crime is bad and milk is good, and honestly, we need more simple messages like that today.

If you are in the mood for some vintage melodrama that does not overstay its welcome, give this one a spin.