Grit on AllMovie

F. Scott Fitzgerald was commissioned to write the story to this low budget crime drama for actor Glenn Hughes. In spite of this, the finished film was poor and did nothing for anyone's career -- except Hughes' co-star, a fresh young thing named Clara Bow. As she did in nearly all her early motion pictures, Bow just about steals the show away. Here, as a street urchin, she plays close to her real life persona. When Houdini Hart (Roland Young) tries to go straight, he is killed for his efforts. His wife Annie (Helena Adamowska) dies in childbirth and she transfers her fear onto her son. Although Kid Hart (Hughes) grows up to be a gang member, he's not a very effective one since he's a coward. A girl member of the gang, Orchid McGonigle (Bow) returns from the reformatory (obviously not reformed!) and takes a liking to the timid Hart, which angers gang leader Boris Smith (Osgood Perkins). When Smith kidnaps a boy and takes him to a Chinese opium den, Orchid tries to intervene and winds up in trouble. The Kid learns of her peril and finds the necessary courage to save her. Smith is killed and the Kid gets his girl.