Pre-Code Blogathon Special: Little Caesar

Little Caesar 

Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr., Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Ince, Thomas E. Jackson, Stanley Fields, Maurice Black, George E. Stone, Armand Kaliz, Nicholas Bela, Ferike Boros, Lucille La Verne,  Noel Madison, Tom McGuire, Henry Sedley, Landers Stevens

Director: Mervyn LeRoy 

First National Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., USA. 1931. 

This is my contribution to the Pre-Code blogathon event (March 31- April 3 2015) hosted by Shadows and Satin  and pre-code.com . Visit their sites for great articles on movies made between 1930 and 1934!

The movie is based on the book "Little Caesar" by William R. Burnett.

Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello (Edward G. Robinson) and Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are two street criminals making gas station robberies. Rico wants to be a real gangster boss like Diamond Pete Montana. Joe is more interested about dancing and girls. Rico and Joe head for east looking for greener pastures.

Rico "Little Caesar"

Joe Massara

Rico joins Vettori's (Stanley Fields) crime gang. Joe meets dancer Olga (Glenda Farrell) who arranges him a job at dance hall Bronze Peacock managed by De Voss (Armand Kaliz). Olga wants Joe to leave the criminal life behind, but Joe does not know it is possible anymore. Once a gang member always a gang member.

Rico joins Vettori's gang

Olga gets Joe a legal job

In Little Arnie Lorch's gambling house Vettori, Little Arnie Lorch (Maurice Black) and Pete Montana (Ralph Ince) negotiate about keeping gang wars and violent crime down for a while because the new head of Crime Commision McClure (Landers Stevens, uncredited) is tough on crime and incorruptible. Rico is always ready to shoot his way out, so Pete must give hotheaded Rico a warning.

Diamond Pete Montana

Vettori's gang uses Joe as legal front for preparing robberies. As they are rivals of Lorch, they want to rob Bronze Peacock that is in protection by Lorch. Rico forces reluctant Joe to attend the robbery. During the robbery Rico shoots McClure. Rico's recklessness puts him against Vettori. Vettori is weak so Rico takes the true leadership of his gang with Otero (George E. Stone) as his right-hand man. Gang's driver Tony (William Collier Jr.) cracks under pressure. There is a touching scene where Tony's mother (Ferike Boros) contemplates how Tony used to be a good boy before. Rico kills Tony on the steps of a church.

Planning the heist

Olga is worried about Joe

Tony and his mother

Sergeant Flaherty (Thomas E. Jackson) becomes Rico's nemesis, watching as Rico rises from foot soldier to gangster boss. Rico even gets into favour with "the Don of Dons" Big Boy (Sidney Blackmer). However Rico gets too ambitious and his downfall comes fast. His arrogant pride becomes the final nail in his coffin.

Sergeant Flaherty

Things are getting dangerous

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?

In the 1930s atmosphere of Great Depression, Prohibition Era and the rise of Al Capone, Hollywood became interested in hard-boiled crime stories. Being one of the first feature length gangster movies, Edward G. Robinson (along with James Cagney and Paul Muni) was one of the actors who created the archetype of silver screen mob boss, later imitated and parodied by everyone and their dog.

The acting in the movie is overall good, but what makes this movie a true classic is the magnificent performance of Edward G. Robinson. Rico is a brawler who shoots first and asks questions later. He is vain and over-ambitious. Like Al Capone, Rico is not afraid to appear in newspapers. Rico enjoys luxury life but he is also an absolutist. After his downfall Rico is stripped of his wealth and fame, he is forced to live in homeless shelters and he even starts drinking. Joe on the other hand goes straight, testifies against the gang and becomes a musical star with Olga.

Rico is not afraid to show his face in the newspapers

This movie has several points that would not have been accepted under the Hays Code. Although not as violent as Howard Hawks' "Scarface" (1932) there are plenty of murders and cop killings for a 1930s movie. The gangster way of life is also shown to be glamorous. Olga's dresses are more revealing than was later acceptable. Joe and Olga seem to live together without being married (scandalous!). Also one of the controversial aspect of the movie was the hinted homosexuality of Rico. This is shown in Rico's distaste for women, his jealousy over Joe and in the scenes of Rico and Otero together. The writer of the original story William R. Burnett was annoyed by this adaptation and he wrote a complaint to the film studio.

Otero admiring his boss

For a modern viewer to movie may seem bare-boned and overly talkative at times. Still it is the prototype of Mafia films, having everything that is essential to the genre: hotheaded antihero, protagonist who tries to leave crime behind, gang wars, drive by shootings, lavish mob funerals and slowly progressing incorruptible police detectives. It is essential watching for those who want to learn about the roots of gangster movies.

Drive by shooting Mafia style

Rating: Very good