Underworld
Directed by Josef von Sternberg and Arthur Rosson
Written by Charles Furthman and Robert N. Lee; story by Ben Hecht
1927/USA
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
I saw this more than a week ago before I went on vacation. It started off incredibly strong.
George Bancroft plays a crime kingpin. Drunkard Clive Brook witnesses him committing a bank heist and eventually becomes Bancrofts’s friend and loyal minion. Evelyn Brent is Bancroft’s moll. Intrigue, violence, and a love triangle ensue.
I absolutely loved the first half of this movie which is nice and sordid. The last half is a bit too melodramatic for my taste. I’m always glad to see George Bancroft on a cast list and he is excellent here. Clive Brook is absolutely outstanding as the drunk but once the melodrama starts he starts overacting. I remember not liking Brook in anything before so was impressed overall. There is some good German expressionist lighting. Overall a good movie.
Whenever I see one of von Sternberg’s early films I wonder what he would have done if he had not been sidetracked by his fascination with Marlene Dietrich.
Ben Hecht won the first Academy Award given for Best Writing, Original Story.
The scene where Clive Brooks’s acting starts to go downhill (some might think it’s a spoiler)
