Sergeant Madden
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Josef Von Sternberg
Wallace Beery
Tom Brown
Alan Curtis
Laraine Day
Fay Holden
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Officer Shaun Madden upholds the proud traditions of the New York City police force, planning for the day that his son Dennis and adopted son Al Boylan, Jr. will also join the force. As a boy, Dennis is a belligerent troublemaker, a trait that follows him to the police academy. Upon graduation, Dennis proposes to Eileen Daly, the Irish lass whom his father rescued from the streets as a foundling. The ambitious Dennis believes that the fastest route to promotion is brute force, and this leads him to gun down a juvenile for stealing a fur pelt. The shooting earns Dennis the enmity of gangster "Piggy" Ceders, because the boy was the brother of his moll. In revenge, Piggy frames Dennis for bribery, and Dennis is sent to Sing Sing. Just as Shaun convinces Piggy to exonerate his son, Dennis escapes from the prison-bound train and goes into hiding with Eileen. Eileen, now pregnant and growing terrified of her crazed husband, returns to the Madden house, where she tells Al the location of Dennis' hideout. As Shaun goes to tell his son that Piggy has agreed to clear him, the police, alerted by the neighborhood druggist, arrive at the scene. Cornered, Dennis kills an officer and escapes, causing his father to resign from the force in disgrace. Turning into a paranoid criminal, Dennis robs a bank and then kills Piggy. Soon afterward, Eileen goes into labor, and Shaun sets a trap to lure Dennis to the hospital. Shaun's plan works but Dennis, caught between his father and a police dragnet, perishes in a hail of bullets.
Director
Josef Von Sternberg
Cast
Wallace Beery
Tom Brown
Alan Curtis
Laraine Day
Fay Holden
Marc Lawrence
Marion Martin
David Gorcey
Donald Haines
Ben Welden
Etta Mcdaniel
John Kelly
Horace Macmahon
Neil Fitzgerald
Dickie Jones
Drew Roddy
Charles Trowbridge
George Irving
Donald Douglas
Michelette Burani
Ivan "dusty" Miller
Ralph Dunn
Monte Vandergrift
James Flavin
Lee Phelps
Harry Strang
Al Ferguson
Richard Cramer
Ben Taggart
James G. Blaine
Art Belasco
Heinie Conklin
Mitchell Lewis
Gertrude Simpson
Esther Dale
Freddie Walburn
James C. Morton
Arthur Housman
Chic Collins
Jack Woody
Adrian Morris
Spike Mason
Wade Boteler
Janice Chambers
Michael Visaroff
Davison Clark
Robert E. O'connor
Reed Hadley
Harold Minjir
Larry Mcgrath
Edward Hearn
E. Alyn Warren
Pietro Sosso
Milton Kibbee
Buddy Messinger
Dick Rich
David Thursby
Jack Pennick
Charles Sullivan
Al Hill
Jay Novello
Alonzo Price
Edmund Mortimer
Jack Carlton
Bill Lally
Claire Rochelle
John Whitehead
Lynn Bailey
Jack Daley
Estelle Etterre
Claire Dubrey
Jenifer Gray
Fay Helm
Frances Morris
Barbara Bedford
Sherry Hall
Bess Flowers
Nell Craig
Paul Mcvey
Mary Mclaren
Nick Copeland
Arthur Hoyt
Pat O'malley
John Webb Dillion
Crew
Dr. William Axt
Peter Ballbusch
Hugh Boswell
Randall Duell
Cedric Gibbons
Conrad A. Nervig
Val O'toole
Wells Root
J. Walter Ruben
John Seitz
Douglas Shearer
William A. Ulman Jr.
Edwin B. Willis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Charles Trowbridge replaced 'Irving, George' as the Commissioner for the retakes.
Notes
The title of William A. Ulman, Jr.'s unpublished story was A Gun in His Hand. This was Josef von Sternberg's first credit as a director in the United States since the 1936 Columbia film The King Steps Out. In 1938, Sternberg began directing the M-G-M film I Take This Woman, but was removed before he could finish the film (see entry above). According to modern sources, Sternberg also directed portions of the M-G-M 1938 film The Great Waltz. The Film Daily review refers to actress Laraine Day as Laraine Johnson, a name that she used earlier in her career but had changed after signing her M-G-M contract. When this film was released in 1939, it was her first official billing as Laraine Day. She was also billed as Laraine Day in I Take This Woman, which began production in 1938, but was not released until 1940. According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter, Charles Trowbridge replaced George Irving in the role of the Police Commissioner when retakes were required.
