Back in the 1930s, Jean Harlow became a major star via “bad girl” roles. For another of these, we go to 1932’s The Beast of the City.

Police Captain Jim Fitzpatrick (Walter Huston) doesn’t shy away from violent means to battle crime. This gets him demoted until the public demands more forceful methods against rising gangster influence.

In the battle against mob boss Sam Belmonte (Jean Herscholt), Jim’s detective brother Ed (Wallace Ford) becomes romantically involved with “gang moll” Daisy Stevens (Harlow). This allows Ed to go undercover as part of the operation to negate Belmonte’s operation.

Perhaps it becomes a mistake to try to understand the tastes of an era that existed nearly a century ago. That said, I admit I find it perplexing that Harlow became such a sex symbol because I don’t think she was an especially attractive woman.

Of course, success as a movie star doesn’t rely solely on physical attributes. As seen here, Harlow creates a sassy and masochistic bad girl.

I guess that was enough for movie audiences of the 1930s, as I can’t find much sizzle in Harlow otherwise. Indeed, she delivers arguably the least erotic “alluring dance” committed to film.

With or without Harlow’s appeal as a sex symbol, Beast falters too much of the time, though it starts strong. As the film introduces us to its settings, it shows a cynical side that I find appealing.

However, after that it tends to meander. Beast largely wanders semi-aimlessly for its first 40 minutes or so, and this means the main plot doesn’t start to kick into gear until its second half.

If Beast created a vivid crime drama, I wouldn’t mind these sluggish moments as much. However, it continues to lack much urgency or real drama the rest of the way as well.

Granted, we get some lively moments along the way, mainly when they paint corruption and sleaze. Still, an awful lot of the film just lacks much bite.

We do get an 11-year-old Mickey Rooney in only his second feature film. Rooney debuted as a six-year-old and starred in a slew of “Mickey McGuire” shorts through the 1920s but he didn’t move to full-length flicks full-force until after Beast.

Beyond that trivia question, I don’t find a lot to like about Beast. While it shows sparks on occasion, too much of the movie struggles to find drama.

The Beast of the City appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though it showed its age, the movie usually looked good.

For the most part, sharpness seemed fine. Some softness popped up along the way but those instances never created substantial concerns and I felt the film usually exhibited fairly positive delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Grain appeared appropriate and the film lacked print flaws.

Blacks showed solid depth, and shadows also exhibited positive clarity. Contrast didn’t excel and left us with a more gray vibe than I’d prefer, but those remained acceptable. Overall, this was a perfectly satisfactory image for a nearly 100-year-old film.

I felt the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Beast largely matched age-related expectations. Speech tended to sound somewhat metallic and sibilant, but only occasional edginess appeared, and the lines remained perfectly intelligible.

Music came without a lot of range, but the score also seemed reasonably concise. Effects veered toward the bright side of the street, but they also remained fine given their age. Given its age, this became a more than satisfactory track.

The disc includes two animated shorts. We find Goopy Geer (6:50) and Bosko and Bruno (6:52).

The first reel features a musical performance from the canine title character and related antics in the crowd. The second shows Mickey Mouse-clone Bosko and his dog Bruno as they wander along a train track and deal with various issues.

Early WB cartoons tended to seem cute more than funny, and that trend continued with these. I find them interesting as early shorts but they don’t deliver much actual entertainment.

As a look at the battles between cops and gangsters, Beast of the City occasionally displays glimmers of life. However, too much of it lacks real thrust or purpose. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio but it includes only minor supplements. This turns into a mediocre crime drama.