Frisco Waterfront

Ben Lyons and Helen Twelvetrees get married, but he can't get his professional life started. He wants to become a lawyer, but he can't even raise the money to get his one suit patched. Rod LaRoque, his old friend and Miss Twelvetrees former suitor, offers him a job on his newspaper, but Lyons turns it down angrily. Finally, Lyons gets a job as a dock walloper. He's content, but Miss Twelvetrees thinks she's just holding him back. She divorces Lyons and married LaRoque, thinking that hatred will drive him to success. She's right.

Unfortunately, this movie plays are like a synopsis of a movie than the movie itself. There's little in it of any interest, besides a single dock fight halfway through. Other than that, it's people talking about the situation, with occasional newspaper headlines describing Lyons' rise as a crusading Assistant District Attorney. While Lyons and Miss Twelvetrees put some emotion into their lines, LaRoque talks like a man in a trance.

There's one decent performance of any size in this movie. It's James Burke as a political boss. He gives Lyons his start in the District Attorney's office, uttering some well-meaning platitudes spoken with a cynical air. It's not enough to save this movie.