Based on a story by W. R. Burnett, one of the most prolific writers of gangster novels and scenarios, The Beast of the City begins with a spiel by President Hoover and ends with a police mow-down of gangland racketeers. In between, a tough, tense story is given added impetus by an interesting play of character types and an unusually detailed depiction of police methods. Walter Huston portrays an honest cop who angers some important people in his attempts to put a suave, powerful racketeer (Jean Hersholt) in the clink. Further obstructions encountered in the line of duty come from his own crooked brother (Wallace Ford) and his brother's girlfriend (Jean Harlow), who has intimate connections in high places. In The Great Gangster Films, authors Parish and Pitts note, “The Beast of the City never attained the public popularity of Metro's earlier The Secret Six or Dance, Fools, Dance (both 1931), for it was too uncompromising in its study of gangland versus law enforcer practices, without the usual overdose of romantic interest.”