Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3 (Smart Money / Picture Snatcher / The Mayor of Hell / Lady Killer / Black Legion / Brother Orchid)
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney Brand: Warner Brothers Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled) Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 DVD Release Date: 2008-03-25 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Warner Home Video |
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Movie Reviews of Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3 (Smart Money / Picture Snatcher / The Mayor of Hell / Lady Killer / Black Legion / Brother Orchid)
Movie Review: Lesser gangster films are still great pre-code viewing
Summary: 5 Stars
Volume 1 of the gangster series focused on Warner's premiere gangster movie properties. Volume 2 focused on how Warner's handled the gangster picture in the era of the code. Volume 3, although it does consist of the second tier of Warner's gangster films, still has first-rate films and actually a better look at the pre-code era than volume 1 did. In that first package only two of the films were pre-code. This set has four very good examples of pre-code films of the gangster genre.
1933's "Picture Snatcher" is one I've waited to come out on DVD for some time. It's about a gangster (James Cagney) who decides to go straight and become a photographer for a scandal sheet. In the end he gets the girl and a photo of an execution to boot. The film is fast paced and full of the energy that only Cagney could lend to such a role.
1931's "Smart Money" is the only time Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were paired in a film. Robinson is definitely in the lead here, though. Although it's impossible to really describe Cagney as "subdued" in anything he ever did, he is toned down a bit. Robinson is a barber who gets 10K together to gamble in one of the syndicate's big games. This turns out the way you'd expect when a small time guy goes up against the mob and expects them to play on the level. Robinson's character vows revenge as a result of this double-cross. Not the best pre-code, but a good example of what Robinson could do.
1933's "Mayor of Hell" is one of Warner's depression-era message films. They made many of these in the precode era. Here James Cagney is Patsy Gargan, a reformed gangster who is sent to a boy's reform school as a political favor. The current warden is corrupt and merciless. He fears Gargan will discover and expose how he's been using his position for personal gain, and thus must cook up some way of toppling Gargan before he discovers the truth of the situation.
1933's "Lady Killer" reteams James Cagney with Mae Clarke. Cagney plays Dan Quigley, a movie usher who gets fired and then falls in with a gang of hoodlums to make ends meet. However, when a robbery at a mansion goes wrong Quigley leaves town and heads for California. There he does well in the movies until his old gang hears about his success and his past deeds come back to haunt him. Here poor Mae Clarke gets slapped around again, just as she had been in "Public Enemy". No wonder that she looks so worriedly at that grapefruit in the California travel brochure. For those of you who have seen "Public Enemy" you know what I mean.
Now on to the code-era films...
1937's "Black Legion" tells a story of a man's involvement with what amounts to the Klan without coming out and calling it that. Humphrey Bogart stars as Frank Taylor, a working man who loses a bid to become foreman when a foreign-born man gets the job instead. The Legion is right up Taylor's alley, reinforcing his belief that his woes are all the fault of the foreign-born. He gradually gets more immune to the violence as he gets in deeper and deeper with the Black Legion.
1940's "Brother Orchid" is the lightest of the films in the bunch. Here Edward G. Robinson plays Johnny Sarto, a rival to gangster Jack Buck, played by Humphrey Bogart. Buck convinces Sarto's girl (Ann Sothern) to lure Sarto to a nightspot, and there Buck's gang ambushes him and leaves him for dead. He is nursed back to health by a group of monks. After he recovers he finds he likes the life the monks lead, but when he learns his girl is about to marry someone else he has to choose between two different lifestyles. This film has some good comic turns by Robinson.
I won't mention the extra features since another reviewer has already pointed them out.