Pre Code Gangster Films
Everyone knows Scarface,Public Enemy and Little Caesar,but are there any other early 30s gangster films worth catching?
shareAfraid to Talk is probably the bleakest off all the pre-code gangster films. Sternberg's Underworld, of course... perhaps the one that started it all. If you don't mind films where the emphasis is on the police battling gangsters, both Beast of the City and Radio Patrol are exceptional examples. Ditto, the prison film and classics like The Big House and The Criminal Code. City Streets is a pretty great and fun gangster film that looses steam in its last few minutes when it becomes a murder mystery; nonetheless, the rest of the film is stylishly exciting and it was one of Al Capone's personal favorites. Roaring Twenties is post-code, but it's probably the best of the original cycle of gangster films. One of my personal favorites, and one of the most bizarre entries in the genre, is Hatchet Man, a gangster film about the warring Chinese tongs. Beyond that, The Doorway to Hell, The Secret Six, Quick Millions, Blood Money, Night Court, The Rulling Voice... all good places to go next.
And while not technically "pre-code", a lot of foreign cinema had its own obsessions with gangsters at this time. Pepé le Moko, Tumultes and Justin de Marseille in France. Dragnet Girl in Japan. Germany never made a true 30s gangster film as far as I've seen, but both Testament of Dr. Mabuse and Threepenny Opera are fun twists on the genre.