The World Gone Mad [PG]

When the District Attorney is murdered, an investigative journalist and personal friend of his takes it upon himself to solve the mystery, not believing one word that has been printed in the papers. Before too long he uncovers that the current D.A., following in the footsteps of his predecessor, is about to present a white-collar crime case against a group of well-respected Wall Street investors and suddenly a web of corruption, deceit, and assassination comes into view. With the odds against him, the journalist races to prevent a second D.A. from dying and helps bring the guilty party to justice. 

This is a solid little white-collar noir movie, though I have to admit that I sometimes found myself completely lost as to what was going and who everybody was. One weakness of mine with regards to movies is if there are too many characters, I become monumentally confused and I really do struggle to keep up with everything that’s going on in the plot and what role each character has in it. I’m sure there are heaps of other people out there like me who suffer from that issue right? Anyway, aside from an abundance of characters, The World Gone Mad is actually quite a good little noir thriller just with upstanding businessmen instead of gangsters. 

In a weird sort of a way, everything that makes up this movie: the plot, the characters, the editing, etc are all very reflective of its title. As I mentioned before, there are a lot of characters featured and the most annoying thing about that is that they all seem to have crucial roles they play in the central plot. Even more annoying is that they all seem to be dual characters as well: being both friends and enemies of each other. As a result, it is really hard to keep up with the central plot of the murder of one D.A. and the planned murder of another. I’m still actually unsure as to what, in black and white, the whole ‘white-collar crime’ actually was and what the motive for the murders really were, but it has to be said that there are just films like this out there I guess. So, with the various twists of the plot and abundance of characters that we are expected to keep up with, the central story of this movie is pretty damned mad. 

Then we have the editing. In one way, I actually liked the jaggedness and really fast-paced, slightly chaotic way that this was put together because it is very reflective of the title: completely gone mad. But in another way, I really don’t like when scene transitions happen so fast and blatantly and obviously and then the next load of action or information dump is rammed through our stomachs like a battering ram and there’s no room left for us breathe in. This kind of editing works for some movies and to a certain degree, but I do have admit that whilst I did sort of like how it reflected the title and was in keeping with the chaos there already was in the characters and central plot, I would have preferred a space in which to breathe and get my head around all that I had seen so far. At times it got a little bit too mad and overwhelming. 

Starring Pat O’Brien (who gives a good performance actually), Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish, Buster Phelps, Richard Tucker, John St. Polis, Geneva Mitchell, Wallis Clark, and Huntley Gordon, The World Gone Mad is a confusing, but entertaining noir thriller. Filled with murder, conspiracy, drama, betrayal, organised crime, romance, and comedy, I enjoyed it fine, but did have a bit of trouble keeping up, In all honesty, I’m amazed I’ve really been able to write a review of it!