Underworld (1927)

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Charles Furthman (adaptation)
Ben Hecht (story)

Release Date:

20 August 1927 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

'Nobody helps me -- I help them!' boasts open-handed gangster Bull Weed, handing over what will prove...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Revenge | Irish American | Judge | Murder

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

George Bancroft	...	'Bull' Weed
Evelyn Brent	...	'Feathers' McCoy
Clive Brook	...	Rolls Royce Wensel
Fred Kohler	...	'Buck' Mulligan
Helen Lynch	...	Meg, Mulligan's Girl
Larry Semon	...	'Slippy' Lewis
Jerry Mandy	...	Paloma

Also Known As:

Paying the Penalty (UK)

Runtime:

80 min | Portugal:87 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:K-8 (1992) | Finland:(Banned) (1929) | Portugal:17 (director's cut)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The film was predicted to be a flop, was shelved by Paramount and eventually released in only one theater in New York. Screenwriter 'Ben Hecht' demanded that his name was taken off the credits. As a result of strong word-of-mouth the movie became an enormous hit and won Hecht the first of his two Academy Awards.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Rio Bravo (1959)

A stylish crime drama from the late silent era that still packs a punch

Books and essays about the gangster genre often cite Josef von Sternberg's UNDERWORLD as an early and influential milestone, but unfortunately it's a film that's not easy to track down in any home-viewable format. Recently, however, I was lucky enough to see this classic in a theater, accompanied by live music in a packed house of enthused film buffs. Whenever possible, this is the way to see a silent movie! The combination of a good musical score and the response of a simpatico crowd can really bring these works to life. And while there are some dramas of the '20s that show their age badly and provoke giggles at the wrong moments, this film is not in that category. Although undeniably dated, UNDERWORLD holds up beautifully over all, presenting an unlikely yet oddly credible romantic triangle set in a milieu of violent crime. Like all of Von Sternberg's work it's beautifully photographed, and like many late silent films it takes full advantage of a range of dynamic devices, including a "whip-pan" from face to face in one early scene and a startlingly fast montage of close-ups in another. However, what makes this movie click isn't flashy cinematography or editing, it's the chemistry between a trio of top-drawer players working at full steam.

The story is built around three personalities: Bull Weed, played by George Bancroft, "Feathers," played by Evelyn Brent, and "Rolls Royce," played by Clive Brook. Bancroft is unforgettable as Bull, an outlaw of the old school who robs banks and jewelry stores single-handed. The character is, in some respects, the model for gangland kingpins played in later years by the likes of Paul Muni and Jimmy Cagney, and yet in a sense he's not a "gangster" at all, for he works solo and has only a handful of allies who show up at key moments and then vanish. Bull doesn't travel with bodyguards or hang out with the boys; despite his natty suits and urban lifestyle he suggests a Western bad man who rides alone. In the early scenes when he's at the top of his game Bull is boisterous, punctuating every conversation with gusts of hearty laughter, but as his situation darkens the laughter vanishes and the guy suddenly resembles an actual bull in an arena, grim and beady-eyed, still physically powerful but cornered and bewildered at how it could have happened. It's easy to see why this performance made George Bancroft so popular at the time: he's a larger-than-life actor with one of those homely/attractive faces, along the lines of an Edward G. Robinson or a Wallace Beery, not handsome but charismatic nonetheless.

The beautiful Evelyn Brent is Bull's girlfriend Feathers, so called because of her feathery outfits. Although her character is not as fully delineated as Bancroft's Brent manages to convey a great deal of information with her fascinating eyes. It's clear that Feathers is a lot more intelligent than she lets on. She stays with Bull out of loyalty and gratitude but is well aware of his limitations, and increasingly unhappy about her own dependent status as his "moll." When an opportunity arises to run away with a more attractive and substantial guy she is immediately tempted, even if it means toying with the idea of betraying Bull to the cops, but she's also decent enough to recognize her obligation to him. Bull, after all, risks everything as a direct result of defending her honor when she's attacked. Feathers, despite her frou-frou outfits and a nickname more suitable to a bimbo, is smart, sensitive, and surprisingly ethical for someone in her position.

Bancroft and Brent are terrific, but for my money the most memorable performance in UNDERWORLD is delivered by Clive Brook. Before this I'd seen Brook in several other films (including Von Sternberg's SHANGHAI EXPRESS opposite Marlene Dietrich), most often playing noble, stiff-upper-lip Englishmen, handsome and respectable but just a bit dull. Here, Brook is a revelation. In the opening scenes he's so decrepit he's not even recognizable, playing against type as a washed-up bum, unshaven and bleary-eyed. We learn that Brook's character is an attorney who went crooked and eventually became an alcoholic, but we aren't told much more. However, as with Evelyn Brent, the actor tells us everything we need to know that isn't directly stated in the text. His transformation begins when Bull Weed takes a liking to him, nicknames him "Rolls Royce" and makes him, in effect, his lieutenant. Much of what happens after that point concerns the growing tension between the three characters as an unavoidable attraction develops between Feathers and Rolls Royce, although they fight temptation and struggle to remain loyal to their boss. The scenes between the trio really heat up as the sexual tension between Feathers and Rolls Royce deepens.

UNDERWORLD isn't as flamboyantly violent as some of the famous gangster movies of the '30s, but there are a number of stylistic touches that mark it as a definite progenitor of those films. For instance, just before the climactic gun battle Bull takes a sympathetic interest in an orphaned kitten, a motif that returns in such later noirs as THIS GUN FOR HIRE. At another point, with rather heavy irony, a crook is gunned down in a flower shop before a wreath reading "Rest In Peace." One drawback of the film is the pile-up of increasingly unlikely plot twists in the second half, although the momentum of events tends to carry the viewer along anyway. And also, while the writing is generally taut and restrained, one title card during the party sequence drew chuckles at the recent screening I attended, an over-written description of the gangsters' party that made it sound more like a witches' coven. Aside from that one lapse into purple prose, however, UNDERWORLD holds up surprisingly well, at least as well as most of the gangster classics of the '30s and '40s that it influenced, and it's as worth seeing as any of them.