What did critics think of Louise Brooks and King of Gamblers (1937)? Opinion of the film was positive, and the film did well enough at the box office. Here is a survey, in the form of a number of quotes, from some of the newspapers and magazines of the time. All sources are American.
“. . . an exciting film dealing with an underworld magnate.” — Boston Post
“This is an excellent crime melodrama on the program level that, without departing radically from established plot elements, progresses by so much fresh and believable episode and builds for such high suspense that it will win general approval.” — Hollywood Reporter
“Entertaining melodrama with an unusual performance for this class of picture.” — Sacramento Union
“A fair but somewhat sordid gangster melodrama.” — Harrison’s Reports
“Unscrupulous editing and the conscienceless substitution of camera angles and mechanical dissolves for ideas and genuine suspense have made a superficially presentable melodrama out of King of Gamblers at the Criterion.” — New York Times
” . . . a grim, yet satisfactory cinematic account of the machinations of slot machine racketeers.” — Wanda Hale, New York Daily News
“This is a strong melodrama that holds the interest from the start.” — Film Daily
“Given the benefit of superior production, this film is meaty but highly entertaining fare.” — Box Office
“Above average racketeer story, this is packed with fast action, suspense.” — Philadelphia Exhibitor
“An excellent crime melodrama. . . . It is brutal and sordid, but convincingly real.” — Motion Picture
” . . . a gangster picture, on a slightly different footing.” — San Francisco News
“In fact, one of the only refreshing aspects of King of Gamblers, otherwise a typical class ‘B’ picture, is the general effectiveness of the entire cast.” – Edward Gaynor, Daily Worker
“”Three personalities who until a short time ago were among the obscurities of filmdom but are now definitely headed for the peaks of stardom, appear in the principal roles in King of Gamblers, the exciting, at times startling and occasionally almost too brutally realistic.” – Hartford Courant
“An unpretentious picture that tops in interest and appeal those which arrive on Broadway with benefit of ballyhoo.” — Nobert Lusk, Los Angeles Times
“Excellent direction of a well chosen cast adds materially to this interesting expose of ‘slot machine’ racketeers.” –– National Council of Jewish Women
” . . . a tense melodrama.” — Leading Motion Pictures
“The plot presents several new angles as well as an expose of the racket and clearly shows that crime does not pay. It is capably acted and directed.” — Selected Motion Pictures