Displaying items by tag: Eddie H Cline

WIDOW FROM CHICAGO

US, 1930, 61 minutes, Black-and-white.

Alice White. Edward G Robinson, Neil Hamilton, Frank McHugh.

Directed by Eddie H. Cline.

American gangster films 1930, only three years after the introduction of sound, but effective use of sets editing and voices. While Edward G Robinson had been in films for some years, this was a strong gangster role and preceded his major gangster career move with Little Caesar, 1931. He offers an effective performance, a variation on the gangster thing.

The young policeman wants to make his mark, impersonates a con man but is murdered by the gangster boss. His upset sister, Alice White, ingratiates herself into the gangster world in order to expose the killer. She links with the man, allegedly suicided on a train, whom her brother was impersonating. She uses him as part of her scheme, a lot of scenes in a nightclub, some comedy with Frank McHugh (who had have a rather longer career in comedy roles as in Going My Way).

There is something of a shock as the young woman shoots a policeman – but then connects a speaker onto the phone, recording everything that the gangster says and his propositions, it being revealed that she had a blank in the gun and it was all part of the setup.

Not essential – but interesting for those who are fans of 1930s gangster films, especially at Warner Brothers.