This attractive six-disc boxed set features a half-dozen films starring James Cagney, or Edward G. Robinson, or Humphrey Bogart.  One movie pairs Robinson with Cagney and another has him with Bogart.  Titles include Smart Money (1931), Picture Snatcher (1933), The Mayor Of Hell (1933), Lady Killer (1933), Black Legion (1936) and Brother Orchid (1940).  Each disc has many extras.  Titles are also available individually.

CRITIQUE

There are no “turkeys” in this latest set of Warner Brothers gangster movies.  On the other hand, there are no classics here either, just six, fast-paced, fairly entertaining “program” pictures, one of which (Black Legion) is not even a gangster movie.

Let’s face it.  All of the really great Warner Brothers gangster movies that hadn’t previously been released individually (e.g. High Sierra, Key Largo) were in the first collection (i.e. Little Caesar, Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, Angels With Dirty Faces, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat).  Everything since then has been, for lack of a better term, diminishing “leftovers”.

Yes, it would be nice to see Kid Galahad (1937) out on DVD and maybe even Invisible Stripes, but the former could be included in an overdue Edward G. Robinson collection, or perhaps both could be part of a gangster collection that incorporates films from several studios.  Certainly Allied Artists has a few gems of that genre (e.g. Pay or Die, The Phenix City Story, The Big Combo, The George Raft Story) that are worthy of release.

And, how about a collection of MGM gangster films?  Leo the Lion didn’t make many underworld pictures, but those he did make were pretty good.  I’d love to have a set that included The Big House, The Secret Six, Johnny Eager, The Black Hand, Rogue Cop and Party Girl.

Now that I’ve finished editorializing, let’s get to the films in Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3.

Four of the films in this collection are Pre-Code, which means that, although there is no nudity or blatant scenes of sexual activity in the pictures, the filmmakers make it quite apparent that couples are sleeping together out-of-wedlock.  For example, in Picture Snatcher, Ralph Bellamy has a key to Alice White’s apartment, coming-and-going as he likes. 

On the other hand, in Black Legion, made following the studios’ adoption of the Code, the censors forced the Warners to eliminate a line of dialogue that made it obvious that, after his wife leaves him, Humphrey Bogart has good-time-girl Helen Flint take up residence in his house.

Smart Money, directed by Alfred E. Green, was Warner Brothers’ attempt to cash-in on their two hot new gangster stars, Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar) and James Cagney (Public Enemy).  This is the only movie that the two actors ever made together, but it’s really Robinson’s picture all the way, since Cagney only has a very secondary role that could have been played by almost any young actor on the Warner lot.

Robinson is a small town barber and gambler who can’t seem to lose with the cards or dice.  Cagney is cast as his younger brother.

When Robinson goes to the big city to try his luck, some crooked gamblers almost immediately fleece him.  He soon gets wise and winds up owning a huge, elegant casino that becomes the prime target for the police vice squad.  Also, Boris Karloff has a small role in this one.

Archie Mayo directed The Mayor of Hell, in which Cagney is a gangster who is given a political job, overseeing the running a boys reformatory.  When he discovers deplorable conditions under which the young inmates are living, he decides to make some changes, turning the place into a Boys Town-like community.  However, the institution’s crooked director (Dudley Digges) is out to undermine his every move.

The climax of this film is rather bizarre; with the inmates rebelling after Digges causes the death of a sickly lad.  The boys become a virtual lynch mob and set fire to the barn with Digges inside.

This is a film that Warners would remake in future years starring the Dead End Kids (e.g. Crime School, Hell’s Kitchen).

Picture Snatcher, directed by Lloyd Bacon, finds ex-convict and reformed gangster Cagney going straight, working as a photographer for a cheap tabloid newspaper.  Ralph Bellamy plays his editor and Patricia Ellis is his girl friend, daughter of the cop who arrested him.

In one sequence, based on an actual incident, Cagney straps a camera to his ankle in order to snap a forbidden photo of a convicted murderess being executed in the electric chair.

Lady Killer, essentially a comedy that pokes fun of the movie business, has Cagney playing the head of a gang of thieves who skips town when one of his mob accidentally kills one of their victims.  He winds up broke in Los Angeles, but is soon discovered by a movie talent scout, eventually becoming a major star.  Things go smoothly for Jimmy until his old gang shows up, insisting that he work for them again.

Mae Clarke, who got a grapefruit in the face from Cagney in Public Enemy, co-stars with him again in this one.  A glutton for punishment, in one scene, Jimmy drags her across the floor by her hair.  Roy Del Ruth directed.

Humphrey Bogart had one of his earliest starring roles in Black Legion, which is more of a social “social drama,” rather than a gangster film.  Archie Mayo directed the picture, also inspired by actual events.

Bogart played a happily married factory worker in a Midwestern town, who loses a promotion to a better-qualified “foreigner”.  [Because of Code restrictions, the filmmakers were not allowed to identify the “foreigner” as a Jew.]

As a result, Bogie joins a secret Ku Klux Klan-like hate group.  The group’s first act of violence is to burn down the home of the “foreigner,” and put him and his father on a freight train out of town.  Over the next several weeks, the group commits violent acts against other “outsiders”. 

Bogart, eventually, loses his job, starts drinking and his wife leaves him, taking their son.  When his best friend (Dick Foran) discovers his involvement with the white supremacist group, the Black Legion kidnaps the man and Bogie winds up accidentally killing him.

In its day, Black Legion was very controversial.  People at Warner Brothers even received death threats.  Yet, because of the aforementioned Code restrictions, it was watered down, and its full potential impact was not achieved.  Still, the movie was ranked by many critical groups as one of the best pictures of 1937.

The 1940 comedy, Brother Orchid, directed by Lloyd Bacon, signaled the end of the Warner Brothers gangster film for the better part of a decade.  [Key Largo in 1948 and White Heat in 1949 would revitalize the genre.]

Edward G. Robinson plays a racketeer who is taken for a “ride” by rival mobster Humphrey Bogart.  Only wounded, Robinson finds refuge in a monastery, run by Donald Crisp.  These gentle monks raise flowers and give all of the money they earn to the poor.

Eddie G. figures that this is the perfect place to hide out while planning his revenge against Bogart, and he soon becomes quite taken with the order and their unselfish beliefs.  However, he is forced to return to the outside world and take action when Bogart and his mob prevent the Brothers from selling their flowers in the market.

Brother Orchid is a delightful comedy that spoofs the gangster genre.  Ann Sothern co-stars as Robinson’s scatterbrained girl friend and Ralph Bellamy is the naïve Montana rancher who woos her while Eddie is in hiding and presumed dead.

THE VIDEO

All of the black-and-white films have been beautifully restored and contain no noticeable flaws.

THE AUDIO

The Dolby Digital Mono sound on all the titles is fine.

THE EXTRAS

Each of the six movies has audio commentaries by various film historians.  The commentaries are informative, albeit somewhat staid, since one of the contributors were actually there when the pictures were made.

All of the DVDs also feature a Warner Night at the Movies section that includes short subjects, cartoons, trailers and a newsreel clip from the year in which the particular movie was released.

Most of the Newsreel clips have to do with crime fighting, such as the capture of “Machine Gun” Kelly, the conviction of Al Capone, the start-up of Alcatraz as a Federal prison, and so forth.

Smart Money

George Jessel and His Russian Art Choir, a comedy short.

The Smart Set-Up, a backstage romantic comedy with Walter O’Keefe and Margaret Lee.

Big Man From the North, a b/w cartoon.

Theatrical trailer from Other Men’s Women.

The Mayor of Hell

The Audition, a musical short with Hannah Williams.

The Organ Grinder, a b/w cartoon.

Theatrical trailers of The Mayor of Hell, Crime School, Hell’s Kitchen and The Kennel Murder Case.

Picture Snatcher

Plane Crazy, a comedy short about stunt flyers with Dorothy Lee.

Wake Up the Gypsy in Me, a b/w cartoon with dancing Russian Cossacks.

Theatrical trailers of Picture Snatcher, I Loved a Woman and Escape From Crime.

Lady Killer

The Camera Speaks, a short that features early newsreel and silent movie footage.

Kissing Time, an operetta short with Jane Froman.

The Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives, a b/w cartoon.

Theatrical trailers for Lady Killer and Footlight Parade.

Black Legion

Under Southern Stars, a Technicolor musical short, set during the Civil War, about Stonewall Jackson.  Jane Bryan and Wayne Morris are among the cast members.

Hi De Ho, a musical short with Cab Calloway.

Porky and Gabby, a b/w Porky Pig cartoon.

Theatrical trailers of Black Legion and The Perfect Specimen.

Brother Orchid

Henry Busse and His Orchestra, a musical short, directed by Jean Negulesco.

Busy Bakers, a color cartoon.

Slap Happy Pappy, a b/w Porky Pig cartoon.

Theatrical trailers for Brother Orchid and It All Came True.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Personally, I think the only movie in this collection that’s worth a second or third viewing is Brother Orchid.  On the other hand, if you feel you must possess every James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart movie ever made, then you should definitely get this set.  They’re okay films, just nothing that memorable.