Underworld (1927)

As Good As It Gets

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Contrary to popular belief, the gangster picture only grew more popular with the coming of sound and did not originate there. Underworld (1927) is not the first gangster movie made in Hollywood but it is one of the most seminal. It brings all the images and tropes we associate with the Jazz Age/Great Depression impression of the genre to the forefront: gunfights in the dark, brassy molls, and speakeasies flowing with booze and jazz music.The story is simple, a love triangle with rather flat characterizations, but it's forgivable because everything is played with such grand style and flair. The performances are strong, with Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, and the shamefully underrated George Bancroft bringing much to their one-note characters. Von Sternberg's direction and Bert Glennon's cinematography are just gorgeous, elevating the gritty urban setting to almost Gothic levels in the moody black and white lighting.A great gangster flick, one I actually prefer to the Oscar-nominated The Racket from the same year. It has Thomas Meighan, yes, but not nearly as much atmosphere.

Monday, October 18, 7pm, The Paramount, Seattle"Attila, the Hun, at the gates of Rome." A drunk (Clive Brook) stumbles onto a bank robbery "...in the dead of night" and the gangster committing the crime snatches him from the street. Impressed by his resolute character when humiliated and threatened with violence, Bull Weed (George Bancroft) nicknames the derelict "Rolls Royce" and offers to put him "on his feet." The gangster's moll Feathers (Evelyn Brent) and his new man fall in love and engage in a struggle over happiness, or loyalty to their friend, as the coming battle envelops them.Film critic Andrew Sarris described the setting of Underworld, directed by master realist Josef von Sternberg, as "festive criminality." Brook delivers a career performance as the sage with nothing to lose, opposite Bancroft's archetypal thug. Comedian Larry Semon is also featured in a rare dramatic role. Based on an original story by Hollywood legend Ben Hecht Underworld won the first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Underworld (1927) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Big-time gangster Bull Weed (George Bancroft) takes pity on an alcoholic lawyer (Clive Brooke) and gets him cleaned up and back into shape. Soon the lawyer and the gangster's moll (Evelyn Brent) begin to fall in love but they both owe Bull everything they own so this puts a hamper on their relationship. D.W. Griffith is credited with making the first gangster film and 1915's REGENERATION gets credit for being the first feature-length film to feature gangsters but I think it's fair to say that UNDERWORLD is what really shaped the genre for decades to come. When you watch this film you can see the impact it would have on Warner and their upcoming gangster pictures with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. You can also see the impact it would have on films like SCARFACE. The Oscar-winning screenplay from Ben Hecht really puts us into the life of gangsters and their lifestyles better than any movie up to this point so I'm sure that's the reason this thing went over so well with people back when it was released. The most impressive thing for me was the beautiful look of the film and it's clear von Sternberg wanted to show the fast, loose and dangerous world that these men lived in. I really loved how the director would shoot the more outrageous stuff extremely fast and almost out of control as this really did make you feel as if you're were involved with these men and you could feel the pace that their lives worked. One of the best scenes happen early on when the lawyer, still working like a bum, gets picked on by another gangster to get some money out of a dog bowl. Just take a look at this sequence and see how von Sternberg slows things down just to add some built up tension that something bad could happen at any second. This type of suspense is used in the same fashion later in the film when the moll comes under attack by this same gangster. Bancroft is downright marvelous in the role of Bull and you can easily see the influence he's have on everyone who would play a gangster. I loved the toughness he brought to the role and in the scenes where he goes off you can't help but understand and feel why everyone would be frightened of him. Bancroft has the perfect look for the role and you can't help but feel he was born to play the part. Brooke is also very good in his more serious and straight role. Brent is wonderful as well and we also get strong support from Fred Kohler as the rival gangster and Larry Semon gets a few funny scenes of comic relief. I did have a few problems with the film and that includes the ending, which I found to be quite bad and it really took away from how the characters were throughout the film. I won't ruin everything but I didn't believe what happened and thought the film should have ended in a different way. I also thought the love story could have used a couple more scenes just to build it up as the relationship between the lawyer and moll seemed to happen a bit too fast. With that said, this is a very important film and it's easy to see why it was such a hit in its day and why it would influence so many.

Books and essays about the gangster genre often cite Josef Von Sternberg's Underworld as an early, influential milestone, but unfortunately it's not easy to track down in any home-viewable format. Recently I was lucky enough to see this film in a theater, accompanied by live music in a packed house of enthused buffs. Whenever possible, this is the way to see a silent movie! The combination of a good 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 and provoke giggles at the wrong moments, this one is not in that category. Underworld holds up, and offers an unlikely yet oddly credible romantic triangle set in a milieu of violent crime. Like all of Von Sternberg's work it's exquisitely well photographed, and like many late silent films 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. But 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 Jimmy Cagney and Paul Muni, 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 over 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 decidedly charismatic.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 froufrou 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, like 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 crime flicks of the '30s and '40s, 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 echoed years later in 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." A drawback as the film rolls along is the pile-up of increasingly unlikely plot twists, especially where Bull's escape from jail is concerned, although the momentum of events tends to carry the viewer along. Also, while the writing is generally taut, one title card during the gangsters' party sequence is so over-written it suggests a witches' coven. (This line drew chuckles at the screening I attended.) Aside from that unfortunate lapse into purple prose, Underworld holds up beautifully, at least as well as the more familiar gangster classics of the '30s it influenced. This film deserves the attention that should come with a full restoration and greater availability.