...from MGM and director Edward Ludwig. Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) is an infamous gangster who has just returned from Europe with a new bride, Talya (Rose Stradner). He soon learns that Talya is pregnant, but his joy is short-lived as the feds arrest him on tax evasion charges, sentencing him to 10 years in Alcatraz. Talya, who was unaware of Joe's criminal life, takes her new-born son and moves to a small town where no one knows who they are, accompanied by her new beau, reporter Paul (James Stewart). Years later, when Joe is finally released, he sets out to renew his criminal organization and reconnect with his son.
With the advent of the production code, the gangster movie genre took a big hit, and while there were a few more classics in the wings, for the most part the best days were behind them. The moralizing that the code demanded is in full effect with this film, which is less of a traditional gangster movie and more of a feature-length castigation of the gangster character. Robinson, forever linked to the type thanks to Little Caesar, spends the majority of the movie being humiliated in one way or another, disrespected, physically assaulted, verbally insulted, and losing everything he holds dear. It's one thing to say that crime doesn't pay, but this movie almost seems to revel in the abuse heaped upon Robinson's Joe Krozac.
Robinson is okay in the lead, over-the-top but in a way that fits with his character. Stradner, who I was unfamiliar with, is good as the naive foreigner wife. I looked up Stradner, and she had a short but interesting life. Stewart doesn't have a lot to do, and he looks very odd with a 30's-style pencil-mustache in his later scenes. Douglas Scott, as Krozac's 10 year old son, is awful. William Wellman worked on the script.
With the advent of the production code, the gangster movie genre took a big hit, and while there were a few more classics in the wings, for the most part the best days were behind them. The moralizing that the code demanded is in full effect with this film, which is less of a traditional gangster movie and more of a feature-length castigation of the gangster character. Robinson, forever linked to the type thanks to Little Caesar, spends the majority of the movie being humiliated in one way or another, disrespected, physically assaulted, verbally insulted, and losing everything he holds dear. It's one thing to say that crime doesn't pay, but this movie almost seems to revel in the abuse heaped upon Robinson's Joe Krozac.
Robinson is okay in the lead, over-the-top but in a way that fits with his character. Stradner, who I was unfamiliar with, is good as the naive foreigner wife. I looked up Stradner, and she had a short but interesting life. Stewart doesn't have a lot to do, and he looks very odd with a 30's-style pencil-mustache in his later scenes. Douglas Scott, as Krozac's 10 year old son, is awful. William Wellman worked on the script.