Confessions of a Vice Baron

Confessions of a Vice Baron
Directed by S. Roy Luby
William A. O'Connor
Melville Shyer
Herman E. Webber
Produced by Willis Kent (producer)
Written by Marion Candler (writer)
Willis Kent (writer)
Harvey F. Thew (writer)
Starring See below
Cinematography Robert E. Cline
Harvey Gould
Jack Greenhalgh
Marcel Le Picard
Release dates
 1943
Running time
 59 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Confessions of a Vice Baron is a 1943 American film directed by S. Roy Luby, William A. O'Connor, Melville Shyer and Herman E. Webber. The film was edited from footage from Mad Youth (1940), The Wages of Sin (1938), Smashing the Vice Trust (1937), Race Suicide (1937) and The Pace That Kills (1935). Willy Castello appears in each of these films except for The Pace That Kills.

The film is also known as Skid Row (American reissue title).

Plot summary

Notorious mob boss James "Lucky" Lombardi looks back upon his life and career on the night of his execution.

The flashbacks picks up when Lucky, born and raised on the Balkan Peninsula, tries to marry into money and goes to the U.S. to find himself a wealthy bride. He has no luck, despite his name, and instead makes an attempt to bluff his way forward, pretending to be count De Kloven, a rich aristocrat.

As De Kloven, Lucky gets hired to escort the prominent socialite Mrs. Lola Morgan, but quits when she wants him to be her lover. Instead he tries a new disguise, as Rudolph Von Hertsen, and gets involved in another racket with a Dr. J.M. Randall, performing abortions and selling unwanted babies.

When the racket is disclosed, Lucky moves on to the business of pimping young women into prostitution. He goes as far as to trick naive young women into laying their lives in his hands, selling them as sex-slaves, thus entering into the business of white slavery. He soon becomes the head of such an organization.

His right-arm man, Nick goes to lengths to get new merchandise for the business, and kidnaps Dorothy, a young, blonde schoolgirl. The election of a new ambitious district attorney causes Lucky problems, but he refuses to slow down.

Lucky falls in love with a beautiful woman named Lois, but his affections are not returned, and she has to run for her life from his long lawless arms, with the help of one of Lucky's more goodhearted men, Harry. When Lucky discovers what Harry has done he has him killed, and is ultimately arrested and convicted of murder. The new district attorney manages to get him sentenced to death.

We return from the flashbacks to present time, where Lucky has learned his lesson: that crime doesn't pay.[1]

Cast

Soundtrack

References

  1. ↑ "Confessions of a Vice Baron (1943) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
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