Back to browse
70% Critic Match
Sleepers East
“FIND THIS WOMAN! Hold her for the police! For her lips hold the fate of six people! Murder! Suspense! Mystery! Intrigue! Romance!”
7.0 / 10• 1934• 1h 9m•NR• English
ComedyCrimeMystery
Storyline
No good deed goes unpunished for Lena Karelson (Wynne Gibson), hooker with a heart of gold trying to go straight in the big city. Covering a bachelor party for a friend in need, Lena winds up at a gambling house where she is the sole witness when Mayor Wentworth's drunken lout of a son shoots the owner. Wentworth's political machine wants Lena to falsely incriminate mob boss Callahan to bolster their re-election campaign. Callahan's mouthpiece nabs Lena first, conveying her stealthily by train from Toledo to New York to prevent her from testifying against the big boss. A midnight special smash-up, a tense courtroom finale and true love triumphant round out this typical Fox pre-Code programmer, released just before the Legion of Decency dropped the hammer in 1934.
Cast & Crew
Wynne Gibson
Lena Karelson
Lead
Preston Foster
Jason Everett
Mona Barrie
Ada Robillard
Harvey Stephens
Martin Knox
Roger Imhof
MacGowan
J. Carrol Naish
Carl Izzard
Suzanne Kaaren
Dixie
HL
Howard Lally
Jack Wentworth
What People Are Saying
4.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Kenneth MacKenna's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
4.0
“Every frame feels alive. Sleepers East is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
