Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Mayerling]

Mayer do erg n Karloff have any scenes together in smart money? I forget. Karloff is so good in scarface in the scene after valentines day massacre

I never saw "Smart Money" (better known as Robinson's only film with Jimmy Cagney), but I checked the IMDb site and discovered I was wrong - apparently both Robinson and Karloff appeared in this film too. But I don't know if they were in any scenes together (Karloff was not listed in the movie credits in the movie itself).

"Scarface" starred Paul Muni and George Raft and Osgood Perkins (the real life father of the better remembered Tony Perkins). The scene of Karloff's death in the bowling alley was based on an actual killing of a Chicago gangster in such a locale in 1930 or so.

Jeff

[RockySullivan]

Mayer do erg n Karloff have any scenes together in smart money? I forget. Karloff is so good in scarface in the scene after valentines day massacre

[Robert]

Thanks Jeff. Yes, that's the one.

[Mayerling]

Can anyone tell me the name of the film where an anti-capital punishment guy, with the help of a friend, deliberately frames himself for a murder? The plan is for the friend to prove him innocent just before he goes to the chair. Unfortunately, the friend dies....

Hi Robert,

If I'm not mistaken the film is from the 1950s and starred Dana Andrews.

There is also another Andrews film from that period (I think it's "Where the Sidewalk Ends") about a crooked cop who accidentally kills someone and tries to cover it up.

I thought of a few other interesting Robinson titles to consider.

1) Five Star Final - one of Eddie's personal favorites, because it gave him a terrific script (about "yellow journalism") and he is not a gangster but the newspaper editor. Eddie is hired by a sanctimonious hypocrite who owns a rag that prints tabloid stories to boost circulation. They don't care who is run over to get the good story for the rag. Robinson does his best but as time passes he really sickens at what damage the paper does - especially when it dredges up a 20 year old violent death story and ruins a small family as a result. Interesting once-in-a-while casting of two Hollywood "golden age" legends together: one of the creatures used to get stories by worming into the good graces of the victims of the stories is a defrocked religious student played by Boris Karloff - the only time Karloff and Robinson were sharing celluloid scenes.

2) Unholy Partners - Eddie again in a newspaper role, only this time sharing the story and screen time with one of the few actors in Hollywood who is as fascinating to watch all the time as he was, Edward Arnold. Based on the story of the creation (by Philip Payne) of the "New York Daily Mirror" in the 1920s, this time Eddie is the driving force in making a tabloid as it's owner and editor, but he needs financing. He makes a devil's deal with Arnold, whose role is patterned on that of the 1920s New York gangster kingpin, Arnold Rothstein. As the newspaper circulation grows, so does Arnold's increased interest in how to properly use this feat (i.e., influence local, state, and Federal elections perhaps). Here Robinson begins balking, and the trouble starts. Like Robinson's one time appearance with Karloff in "Five Star Final", this was Robinson's only appearance with Arnold.

3) The Sea Wolf - Eddie as "Captain Wolf Larsen", in the 1943 riff on Jack London's novel about a brutal sea captain with a brain and the people he terrorizes (Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Alexander Knox, Gene Lockhart - in a really memorable suicide scene, Barry Fitzgerald) on board. It is a first rate sea film, but just misses London's dissection, in the actual novel, of Larsen's belief in Herbert Spencer's once overly popular theory of "social Darwinism".

Jeff

[Robert]

Thanks Joshua. I'm sure that's it.

I had completely forgotten the twist at the end, which I won't go into in case I spoil it for others.

[Joshua Rogan]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?

[Robert]

Can anyone tell me the name of the film where an anti-capital punishment guy, with the help of a friend, deliberately frames himself for a murder? The plan is for the friend to prove him innocent just before he goes to the chair. Unfortunately, the friend dies....

[GUT]

I don't think I've seen anything by Edward G that i didn't like.

[RockySullivan]

Unfairly Obscure movies about gangsters or gangster warfare:

01. The Earl of Chicago (Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold) - interesting take on the idea of a mob boss from the states turning out to be the heir for an English Earldom. The film, by the way, borrows an actual 18th Century criminal case for it's resolution.

02. Ride the Pink Horse (Montgomery, Thomas Gomez, Wanda Hendrix, Fred Clark) - small time punk crook tries to blackmail big time crime boss. One of the films Montgomery starred in and directed. Gomez is a good guy in this.

03. Brighton Rock - (Richard Attenborough, William Hartnell). Excellent film (based on a terrific Graham Greene novel) about a teenage hood with big ideas in taking over the criminal underworld in Brighton, England. The novel is a little different in the conclusion, but this still packs a terrific wallop.

04. A Slight Case of Murder (Edward G. Robinson, Harold Huber, Allan Jenkins). One of three or four comedies about gangsters (especially those trying to turn legitimate) Robinson did in the 1930s and 1940s. As Remy Marko he is trying to save his crumbling illegal prohibition empire with the coming of repeal! In the process he has to deal with his only child (a daughter) falling for a blue blood in the state police, a juvenile delinquent he is taking to his home for the weekend to experience the better life that could be his if he reformed (catch his phrase, "When you see a man in woe, go to him and say "Hello!"."), and four corpses deposited on his house grounds that he has to hide from his prospective son-in-law's dubious father (Paul Harvey, in a very funny performance).

05. The Whole Town Is Talking (Robinson, Jean Arthur, Ed Brophy, Donald Meek) - the first film Robinson ever made with John Ford (he would not make another one with Ford until the 1960s with "Cheyenne Autumn"). This too is a comedy, wherein Robinson is "public enemy number 1" looking to get out of the limelight and retire with his ill-gotten gains, and a milquetoast clerk (who works with Arthur) that the crime boss discovers is a twin, and a potential dead substitute for the cops. The movie did not do well at the box office (it was sort of off Robinson's usual tough guys and Ford's work in westerns and Irish based films) but it is good. Meek, as a greedy third party out for the reward for the crime boss is very good.

06. Crisscross (Burt Lancaster, Dan Duryea, Yvonne DeCarlo). I was watching this last night and it still stands up. DeCarlo has been married to Lancaster, but their temperments clashed and the marriage ended. Now she is hooked up to Duryea, a gang leader. Lancaster has started seeing DeCarlo again, but tells Duryea he has a plan for a major armor car robbery heist (Lancaster works for the armor car company). The tensions between the three leads keep the film hopping, and the robbery itself is well done, including a gun battle in an atmosphere of tear gas. Directed by Jules Daissin, who would now start looking at films of clever robberies that are ruined by personality clashes (think of "Rififi" and "Topkapi"). Note the retired brain hired to plan the robbery - we know him as "Alfred Pennyworth", Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s show "Batman (Alan Napier).

07. Breakout (William Bendix, William Talmadge, Arthur Kennedy) - a bunch of hardened criminals, prison lifers, break out of a maximum security prison to get their freedom. Bendix, the meanest of the bunch, planned and led the escape, but has been wounded in the escape. Still alive, he insists the group stick together (he realizes if it splits he's doomed). We watch as the gangsters are wiped out one by one due to this impossible situation. In a way, this film is a prison - crime version of the old World War II film, "49th Parallel" with the prisoners replacing the survivors of the U-boot crew killed at the beginning. They too are picked off one by one, with their arrogant leader insisting on discipline (including executing one man who tried to leave the group to join a bunch of pacifists). Same idea here.

Jeff

Thanks those are great suggestions. I will check them out. Love those two EGRs ( I've seen all his gang pics think). Whole towns talking is such a classic movie. Have you seen hell on frisco bay? That's a great one. What about dark hazard? I love that one. Have you seen the karloff movie night world? It's real good about a nightclub he's the owner. Raft in night after night is similar and maybe my fav of his starring roles. The pick up is great too and you and me I love real good fritz lang gangster pic. The way the dame works out how crime doesn't pay is such a great scene

[Joshua Rogan]

Another two : Tunes of Glory (John Mills and Alec Guinness)
The Wicker Man (Christopher Lee)

I'd not heard of Tunes of Glory before, but by a strange coincidence have just caught it on TV. Good call.

[DJA]

Curtis has a dance with Yvonne DeCarlo at the beginning of the film.

Jeff

Esy Morales and His Latin American Orchestra playing "Jungle Fantasy".

He was on the flute.

[Mayerling]

"Criss Cross" had some dude named James Curtis in it.

He married Janet Leigh.

Better known as Tony Curtis.

"Crashout" is the 1955 Bendix,Talman,Kennedy movie.

Hi DJA,

Curtis has a dance with Yvonne DeCarlo at the beginning of the film.

Sorry I thought the film was "Breakout". It is "Crashout".

Jeff

[DJA]

"Criss Cross" had some dude named James Curtis in it.

He married Janet Leigh.

Better known as Tony Curtis.

"Crashout" is the 1955 Bendix,Talman,Kennedy movie.

[Mayerling]

Unfairly Obscure movies about gangsters or gangster warfare:

01. The Earl of Chicago (Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold) - interesting take on the idea of a mob boss from the states turning out to be the heir for an English Earldom. The film, by the way, borrows an actual 18th Century criminal case for it's resolution.

02. Ride the Pink Horse (Montgomery, Thomas Gomez, Wanda Hendrix, Fred Clark) - small time punk crook tries to blackmail big time crime boss. One of the films Montgomery starred in and directed. Gomez is a good guy in this.

03. Brighton Rock - (Richard Attenborough, William Hartnell). Excellent film (based on a terrific Graham Greene novel) about a teenage hood with big ideas in taking over the criminal underworld in Brighton, England. The novel is a little different in the conclusion, but this still packs a terrific wallop.

04. A Slight Case of Murder (Edward G. Robinson, Harold Huber, Allan Jenkins). One of three or four comedies about gangsters (especially those trying to turn legitimate) Robinson did in the 1930s and 1940s. As Remy Marko he is trying to save his crumbling illegal prohibition empire with the coming of repeal! In the process he has to deal with his only child (a daughter) falling for a blue blood in the state police, a juvenile delinquent he is taking to his home for the weekend to experience the better life that could be his if he reformed (catch his phrase, "When you see a man in woe, go to him and say "Hello!"."), and four corpses deposited on his house grounds that he has to hide from his prospective son-in-law's dubious father (Paul Harvey, in a very funny performance).

05. The Whole Town Is Talking (Robinson, Jean Arthur, Ed Brophy, Donald Meek) - the first film Robinson ever made with John Ford (he would not make another one with Ford until the 1960s with "Cheyenne Autumn"). This too is a comedy, wherein Robinson is "public enemy number 1" looking to get out of the limelight and retire with his ill-gotten gains, and a milquetoast clerk (who works with Arthur) that the crime boss discovers is a twin, and a potential dead substitute for the cops. The movie did not do well at the box office (it was sort of off Robinson's usual tough guys and Ford's work in westerns and Irish based films) but it is good. Meek, as a greedy third party out for the reward for the crime boss is very good.

06. Crisscross (Burt Lancaster, Dan Duryea, Yvonne DeCarlo). I was watching this last night and it still stands up. DeCarlo has been married to Lancaster, but their temperments clashed and the marriage ended. Now she is hooked up to Duryea, a gang leader. Lancaster has started seeing DeCarlo again, but tells Duryea he has a plan for a major armor car robbery heist (Lancaster works for the armor car company). The tensions between the three leads keep the film hopping, and the robbery itself is well done, including a gun battle in an atmosphere of tear gas. Directed by Jules Daissin, who would now start looking at films of clever robberies that are ruined by personality clashes (think of "Rififi" and "Topkapi"). Note the retired brain hired to plan the robbery - we know him as "Alfred Pennyworth", Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s show "Batman (Alan Napier).

07. Breakout (William Bendix, William Talmadge, Arthur Kennedy) - a bunch of hardened criminals, prison lifers, break out of a maximum security prison to get their freedom. Bendix, the meanest of the bunch, planned and led the escape, but has been wounded in the escape. Still alive, he insists the group stick together (he realizes if it splits he's doomed). We watch as the gangsters are wiped out one by one due to this impossible situation. In a way, this film is a prison - crime version of the old World War II film, "49th Parallel" with the prisoners replacing the survivors of the U-boot crew killed at the beginning. They too are picked off one by one, with their arrogant leader insisting on discipline (including executing one man who tried to leave the group to join a bunch of pacifists). Same idea here.

Jeff

[RockySullivan]

Also I love love love fugitive it's amazing and one if the best. Muni should've done more gangster roles. Bordertown is great along w angel on my shoulder. I will have to watch city street although I don't care for cooper much. I've wanted to see the finger points for sometime but can't track it down (gable). Underworld (1927) is really great silent gang pic