Lee Tracy has been hailed for his performance as a fiery young Congressman who sets to work in dangerous political territory, pitting himself against the corrupt political boss who literally controls Washington. Despite a certain melodrama of characterization - the Congressman is particularly proud of his claim to be a descendent of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, his enemy an evil genius who fancies himself a dictator on the order of Mussolini or Stalin - the film is not without its political subtleties. The young Don Quixote loses his proof of descendency on the train to Washington, and from then on the film proceeds to touch on the role of Big Business in Washington, logrolling in Congress, American investments abroad, and the role of the Bonus Marchers in the Capitol. It's a tough film in which, as the NY Times diligently notes, “there are two suicides and one murder, the latter being committed with extraordinary sang-froid.”

“Except for the rather curious casting of fast-talking Lee Tracy in a Capra/Stewart role, and for a greater stress on melodrama, this snappy, pre-code movie is something of a forerunner to the same studio's much later Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (though without Capra's sentiment). 1932 was an election year, and Hollywood was quick to cash in on that with a number of melodramas and satires (The Dark Horse was another good one) that were far from kind to the political arena, and took graft and inefficiency pretty much for granted. James Cruze was one of the most successful silent directors...but, in truth, he...seemed far more suited to the sound medium.... He seemed to have a particular affinity to the sharp, sometimes satiric crime melodrama, and had he been added to the Warner stable alongside Wellman, LeRoy, Del Ruth, Curtiz and Dieterle, his talkie career (spiralling to its conclusion with some Republic B movies in 1938) might have been both more prolific and more distinguished.”