“Underworld” (1927)

“Underworld” (1927), directed by Joseph von Sternberg, 4 stars

“There was something I had to find out – and that hour was worth more to me than my whole life” – Bull Weed 

Anyone familiar with the cycle of gangster films from the early 1930s will see in this movie much of the familiar iconography of that genre: the fast cars, the self-absorbed, wise-cracking dames, the jesterish sidekick, the gangster with a gimmick (this one bends coins in his bare hands), the macho posturing, the fateful signage (“The City is Yours”), the jaunty nightclub (Dreamland Cafe), the car chase, and, of course, the fatal climactic shootout.  George Bancroft is free-wheeling “Bull” Weed, crime boss, Evelyn Brent is “Feathers,” his sultry moll, and Clive Brook, who gets top billing, is “Rolls Royce,” a drunken, down-and-out ex-lawyer who Bull decides to take under his wing during the aftermath of a robbery.  Except for his aide-de-camp, “Slippy” Lewis (comedian Larry Semon), Bull seems to operate pretty much alone.  This is in distinct contrast to his counterpart in the world of crime, “Buck” Mulligan (Fred Kohler), who is full of bullying bravado when cavorting with his carousing companions.

Unlike many gangster films of the thirties, there is very little interplay between the police and the criminal element.  There is no over-the-top cop, detective, or newspaper reporter fixating on getting his man, as there is in “Little Caesar” (1931), “Scarface” (1932), and, most prominently, in MGM’s reactionary answer to the crime film, “The Beast of the City” (1932).  There is Buck, who though constantly surrounded by compatriots, always feels overshadowed by the larger than life persona exuded by Bull and, thus, overcompensates in ways that invariably backfire.  In a sequence that may have inspired the opening scene of “Rio Bravo,” Buck tosses a $10 bill into a spittoon both to impress Feathers and to demean Rolls Royce, who is is now sweeping floors at the café.  Unlike his kindred spirit in the Howard Hawks oater (Dude, played by Dean Martin), Rolls Royce does not take the bait by (literally) lowering himself to pick up the money.  His response infuriates Buck—especially because his gang finds it amusing.  After demanding that Rolls Royce pick up the bill, in a cleverly constructed subjective shot from the point of view of Rolls Royce, Buck throws a vicious punch to the stomach to which the camera reacts by suddenly panning upward as if being struck by the blow.

All of the deadly sins except, perhaps, gluttony feature prominently at one point or another in the film, and they escalate the violence which ultimately culminates in the killing of Buck Mulligan by Bull Weed.  Despite the laxity of the production code in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hollywood’s rules of the game nearly always mandated that murderers meet their just reward before the house lights came back on.  Bull winds up on death row, and Paramount executives almost sentence the film to the same fate.  The studio wasn't particularly happy with the end product and gave it a very limited release.  Then, something unexpected happened:  the public took the film by storm. Screenwriter Ben Hecht was initially so angry at Director Von Sternberg's modifications to the script that he asked that his credit be removed.  It wasn’t, and Hecht won an Oscar for it at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.  The popularity of crime films has not diminished since that time, and anyone who enjoys the genre should watch this film and see how all the fuss began.