1938 - Warner Brothers
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
SYNOPSIS
Prohibition is over and people are happy they will never have to drink Remy Marco's beer again! So Remy (Edward G. Robinson,) decides to turn his illegal business legit. He faces one major problem... his beer tastes like crap, and he's not a drinker so he's never tried it. 4 years later and his business is about to be repossessed by the bank, and he's forced to withdraw his daughter (Jane Bryan) from her ritzy European prep school. The family heads to their summer home. His daughter falls in love with a cop (Willard Parker,) who tries to meet Marco and his wife (Ruth Donnelly) after he adopts a troubled punk (Bobby Jordan) from an orphanage. Before the Marcos arrive, Remy's thugs find 4 of 5 members of a former rival gang dead in the home. The gang just pulled a big armored car job... and the 5th member is still in the house. On the eve of his repossession, Remy throws a big party even though the dead gangsters are stashed in a closet in the home... and the dough is stashed elsewhere.
MY THOUGHTS
I'm biased. I believe this is Hollywood's greatest comedy of the 30's, apart from the Marx Brothers in 'A Night at the Opera' and a few screwball comedies. As a gangster movie fan, I see many of the subtle plot devices and cliches that the film plays with and subverts. And as each one comes up it makes me laugh harder.
The script is based on a play co-written by Damon Runyon. The classic Broadway musical/film 'Guys and Dolls' was based on several of his short stories and feature many similar larger-than-life lowlifes, and this film is just as fun or even more fun to watch. The script is filled with so many one liners it's hard to keep up.
Robinson is even better at comedy that as a straight tough guy, like his classic turn in 'Little Caesar.' This is one of several gangster comedies about his tough-guy persona 'seeking class,' and is the best of the bunch. He's got great comedic timing and plays a buffoon very well. His beer tasting scene is hilarious. He doesn't need to spit the beer out all over the camera to lets us know it tastes like sewer water.
His thugs, played by Allen Jenkins and Edward Brophy, among others, are even funnier than the dozens of goofy characters they played during their long careers. They can make me laugh without opening their mouths.
Other supporting characters like Ruth Donnelly and Bobby Jordan are also at their top game and generate many laughs. Donnelly is one tough moll, remembering she's has to be a high class society dame. She's like Mae West forced to transform mid-scene into Margaret Dumont's character from many of the Marx Brothers films... and is never short of hilarious.
Any scene in the film that pits Bobby Jordan versus Allen Jenkins is comedy dynamite.
Any fan of gangster films or classic comedies would be a fool to miss this one, see?
or featured in the great box set for only a few bucks more:
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