Little Caesar

Starring:Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr., Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Ince, Thomas E. Jackson, Stanley Fields, Maurice Black, George E. Stone, Armand Kaliz, Nicholas Bela, George Daly, Landers Stevens, Noel Madison, Ferike Boros, Lucille La Verne, Ernie Adams, Ben Hendricks Jr., Kernan Cripps
Director: Mervyn LeRoy, Elmer Clifton, Rudolf Ising
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

The Warner Gangsters Collection (The Public Enemy / White Heat / Angels with Dirty Faces / Little Caesar / The Petrified Forest / The Roaring Twenties)
Starring: Leslie Howard , Bette Davis , Genevieve Tobin , Dick Foran , and Humphrey Bogart
Director: Archie Mayo , Mervyn LeRoy , and Raoul Walsh
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0006HBV3M
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Amazon.com

For a knock-out combination of timeless entertainment and vintage studio history, you can't do much better than The Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount specialized in glossy comedies, MGM popularized lavish musicals, Universal produced signature horror classics, and Fox scored hits with sophisticated dramas. But it was Warner Bros. that generated controversy--if not always box-office profits--with so-called "social problem" films, and that meant gangsters. When viewed in their pre- and post-Prohibition context and in chronological order (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, 1931; The Petrified Forest, 1936; Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949), these six films definitively capture Warners' domination of the mobster genre, and to varying degrees, they all qualify as classics.

With its stilted visuals and pulpy plot, Little Caesar remains stuck in the stiff, early-sound era, but it's still a prototypical powerhouse, with Edward G. Robinson's titular "Rico" setting the stage for all screen gangsters to follow. The Public Enemy made James Cagney a star (who can forget him smashing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face?), and Humphrey Bogart repeats his Broadway success in The Petrified Forest, a stagy adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play, still enjoyable for Bogey's ever-threatening malevolence. Then it's a Cagney triple-threat in Angels (with Pat O'Brien), racketeering in The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), and especially the jailbird classic White Heat, with a fiery finale and an exit line ("Made it Ma! Top o' the world!") that epitomized Cagney's iconic, tough-guy image. In many ways Cagney was Warner Bros., and this Gangsters Collection pays enduring tribute to him and the important films that forged the studio's rugged reputation. --Jeff Shannon

Description

The Public Enemy showcases James Cagney's powerful 1931 breakthrough performance as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers. When shooting began, Cagney had a secondary role but Zanuck soon spotted Cagney's screen dominance and gave him the star part. From that moment, an indelible genre classic and an enduring star career were both born.

As a psychotic thug devoted to his hard-boiled ma, James Cagney - older, scarier and just as elctrifying - gives a performance to match his work in The Public Enemy as White Heat's cold-blooded Cody Jarrett. Bracingly directed by Raoul Walsh, this fast-paced thriller tracing Jarrett's violent life in and out of jail is also a harrowing character study. Jarrett is a psychological time bomb ruled by impulse. It is among the most vivid screen performances of Cagney's career, and the excitement it generates will put you on top of the world!

In Angels with Dirty Faces, Cagney's Rocky Sullivan is a charismatic ghetto tough whose underworld rise makes him a hero to a gang of slum punks. The 1938 New York Film Critics Best Actor Award came Cagney's way, as well as one of the film's three Oscar nominations. Watch the chilling death-row finale and you'll know why.

"R-I-C-O, Little Caesar, that's who!" Edward G. Robinson bellowed into the phone. And Hollywood got the message: 37-year-old Robinson, not gifted with matinee-idol looks, was nonetheless a first-class star and moviegoers hailed the hard-hitting social consciousness dramas that became the Depression-era mainstay of Warner Bros.

Little Caesar is the tale of pugnacious Caesar Enrico Bandello, a hoodlum with a Chicago-sized chip on his shoulder, few attachments, fewer friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy. And Robinson - a genteel art collector who disdained guns (in the movie, his eyelids were taped to keep them from blinking when he fired a pistol) - was forever associated with the screen's archetypal gangster.

A rundown diner bakes in the Arizona heat. Inside, fugitive killer Duke Mantee sweats out a manhunt, holding disillusioned writer Alan Squier, young Gabby Maple and a handful of others hostage.

The Petrified Forest, Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 Broadway success about survival of the fittest, hit the screen a year later with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart magnificently recreating their stage roles and Bette Davis ably reteaming with her Of Human Bondage co-star Howard. Sherwood first wanted Bogart for a smaller role. "I thought Sherwood was right," Bogart said. "I couldn't picture myself playing a gangster. So what happened? I made a hit as the gangster." So right was he that Howard refused to make the film without him...and helped launch Bogie's brilliant movie career.

Customer Reviews:

Little Caesar.......2007-06-20

Along with the original "Scarface," released by Howard Hughes one year later, LeRoy's "Little Caesar" summoned up the real-life exploits of Al Capone, who in the prior decade had virtually controlled Chicago through fear, violence, and huge illicit profits from bootlegging and vice operations. Actor Robinson, a refined soul in real life who'd considered becoming a rabbi, actually resembles Capone, but projects a menace all his own. This makes "Little Caesar"--a landmark gangster film that made Robinson a star--still bone-chilling 75 years after its release.

First of the founding trio of gangster films.......2007-05-04

"Little Caesar" was the first of the three movies that founded the gangster film as an art form during the age of sound. The other two were "The Public Enemy", released three months after Little Caesar, and 1932's "Scarface". The movie itself may only rate four stars, but it is Edward G. Robinson's performance that rates five stars.

The film starts out with a distance shot of a gas station robbery in which the attendant is gunned down. You see the lights in the station go out, you hear the shots, you see the getaway car speed away. You can guess the rest. Such a scene would have not been nearly as powerful before the advent of sound and helps establish the ruthless nature of Rico. Later, Rico (Edward G. Robinson) and his partner Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are talking in a diner. Rico has designs on heading to the big city and getting in with a gang there. His partner is only interested in this life from the financial security angle, since he actually wants to go straight. Rico, though, believes in the gangster's version of the American dream and wants to climb to the top of the gangland power structure.

Although "the big city" is never named, it seems to be Chicago from the various neighborhoods mentioned. Once there, Rico joins up with Sam Vettori's gang. Joe, however, is more interested in being an exhibition dancer at a local night spot, although he "moonlights" as a gangster just for the extra money and perhaps out of the habit of doing Rico's bidding. At first Rico seems content to take orders from Sam, but he is just biding his time. Once he realizes that Sam is weak he takes over his gang. Rico quickly climbs through the ranks until he is at the top of the criminal heap. Rico is interested only in power and status. To Rico, the money is important mainly as a symbol of this status. Rico has only one "soft spot" - his fondness for Joe. When he can't bring himself to shoot Joe to keep him from talking, Rico finds himself on the run and his fall is precipitous. His violent end comes when his overblown pride won't allow him to leave a local police chief's bragging to the newspapers about Rico's downfall to go unanswered. Ironically, and somewhat too coincidental to be believable, Rico is gunned down behind a sign advertising one of Joe's upcoming performances.

Strangely enough, there isn't even that much direct violence in this film and absolutely no mention of prohibition. "Little Caesar" would probably not be so well remembered if it was not for Edward G. Robinson's star-making performance. Dialogue had not yet reached a very sophisticated level at this point in talking pictures, yet Robinson artfully portrays a ruthless gangster for which power and status are everything through his gestures and expressions.

Richard Jewell, who does the commentary on this film, does an excellent job of analyzing both the film itself and Robinson's performance inside and out. Also, there is a classic short, a newsreel, and a cartoon along with some other extras that I've come to expect from Warner's superb DVD renditions of their classic movies.

"If he's looking for trouble, why, that's what we got the most of.".......2006-07-26

I really enjoy them old timey gangster films, and while Little Caesar (1931) isn't one of my absolute favorites (I've always been partial to the James Cagney features), it's still a damn good picture and worthy of the attention it has gotten over the years. Based on a novel by W.R. Burnett and directed by Mervyn LeRoy (I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Little Women, No Time for Sergeants), the film stars Edward G. Robinson, `the best actor never to win an Oscar', at least while alive (Bullets or Ballots, Scarlet Street, Key Largo) in one of his earliest `talkie' features. Also appearing is Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (The Prisoner of Zenda, Gunga Din), Stanley Fields (Destry Rides Again, Island of Lost Souls), Thomas E. Jackson (The Woman in the Window), Glenda Farrell (Gold Diggers of 1937), George E. Stone (Some Like It Hot), Maurice Black (The Front Page), Ralph Ince (The Sea Wolf), and Sidney Blackmer (Rosemary's Baby).

As the film begins we see a couple of small time mugs knocking over a filling station, eventually winding up at a diner where we meet them proper...there's Caesar Enrico Bandello (Robinson), also known as Rico, and Joe Massara (Fairbanks Jr.). Tired of small timing it, Rico decides they should head east to Chicago, as that's where the action is, ultimately joining up with a gang lead by a local hood named Sam Vettori (Fields). While Rico's got his eyes on the prize (moving onward and upward), Joe seeks to extricate himself from the life by taking a gig as a dancer at a club named The Bronze Peacock. Vettori gets word from his boss Diamond Pete Montana (Ince) to cool it on the rough stuff as the new crime commissioner is cracking down hard. Vettori and his boys, being criminals and such, can't sit still for long and end up knocking over The Bronze Peacock (using a reluctant Joe as the inside man), which leads to power struggle and Rico taking charge. After tying up some loose ends, Rico's notoriety grows, drawing the attention of not only his peers, but also law enforcement officials (one in particular name Flaherty, played by Jackson). A failed attempt on Rico's life leads to him horning in on even more territory, so much so he's given rule over the entire North Side by Big Boy (Blackmer) himself (seriously, there's a character named `Big Boy' in this film), but is that enough? Nah...why settle for the frosting when you can take the cake? Eventually Rico's meteoric rise to power reaches its apex, leading to his inevitable downfall, triggered by a past event and an old loyalty.

If you're not familiar with old timey gangster films then some of the lingo used within this film may sound strange upon hearing it, so I'm going to provide some definitions, as best I can, to help you along...

Gat - A term used extensively throughout this film, it refers to a gun, most generally the hand held variety.
Rod - Another term used within the film, it, too, refers to a handgun.
(just a note, some other terms used within the genre, but not here, are heater, popper, cannon, piece, persuader, peashooter, thirty-eight - this refers to the caliber of the gun, ordinance, artillery, and so on)
Chopper - A machine gun, sometimes referred to as a `tommy' gun, derived from its full name of Thompson submachine gun.
Bird - I've always thought this a term for a woman, but gangsters will use it in reference to each other, most common when a boss is talking to a group of henchmen...here's an example, "You birds need to lie low for awhile, until the heat dies down."
Heat - When gangster talk about heat, most likely they're referring to increased pressure in general from the authorities that might be cracking down on criminal activity. Generally this term is used after a big score or a hit.
Score - A robbery.
Hit - An assassination.
Mug - A term sometimes used to reference associates, or just people in general..."You mugs really rub me the wrong way."
Moll - Girlfriend of a gangster.
Torpedo - A professional thug or assassin.
Yellow - This is what you call someone if you really want to disrespect them as it's the same as calling them a lowly, gutless, sniveling coward..."Yer as yellow as the day is long!" Gangsters really seem to take offence to this so use it with care.

I really enjoyed this film and while it's not my favorite gangster feature, it's definitely a classic. There's no mistaking Edward G. Robinson owns this picture, as the ruthless, swaggering, self-made, contemptuous, opportunistic lead character never content with his lot in life...the more he gets, the more he wants, so much so he eschews anything (alcohol, women, personal relationships) that might get in the way (ultimately one, or more, of these three contribute to his inevitable downfall). My favorite scene happens right after Rico and his cohorts hold up the nightclub. Robinson's character, who's just plugged a mug, jumps in an awaiting getaway car and tells the driver to floor it. The driver, being a real nervous Nellie, has trouble with the manual transmission, and gets a wallop upside the head so hard from Rico I felt it from my chair. The other performers do well (I particularly liked the sardonic, low-key character of Sergeant Flaherty), providing support for Robinson. One bit I thought odd was the amount of attention given to the character of Tony Passa, who ended up being a weak link in Rico's gang (guess what happens to him). There's a scene with him and his mother I thought unnecessary as she talks about what a wonderful boy he was, just before Rico catches up to him. All in all I thought the story tight, the pacing even and strong, the direction capable, all making for an entertaining and enjoyable experience.

The picture on this Warner Brothers DVD release, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), looks decent for a film that's seventy plus years old. There is some unevenness in the quality at times, but I think it's unrealistic to expect a pristine transfer given the age of the original elements. The audio, presented in Dolby Digital stereo, comes through well. As far as extras, there's bit called Leonard Maltin's Night at the Movies, which includes an introduction by Maltin, a trailer for a film called Five Star Final (1931), a newsreel of the day, a short feature called The Hard Guy (1930), starring Spencer Tracy, a cartoon titled Lady, Play your Mandolin (1931), and a trailer for Little Caesar. Also included is a featurette titled Little Caesar: End of Rico, Beginning of the Antihero (17:05), a 1954 re-release introduction (0:42), a commentary track with film historian Richard B. Jewell, and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. One really minor, yet thoughtful, touch I liked was on the main menu...there's a picture of Edward G. Robinson in character, brandishing a gun, with wisps of smoke coming out of the barrel. It's barely noticeable, but it's there...

Cookieman108

Edward G Robinson's gangster prototype.......2006-07-24

Just as James Cagney broke through to stardom in 1931 as "The Public Enemy", so Edward G Robinson did the same in 1930 with "Little Caesar". These are the 2 gangster films which really established the genre and typecast their leads for the rest of their careers. Both actors worked hard to break the typecasting and in Robinson's case, he was a very talented actor of great range and probably the greatest actor never to have received an Oscar for best actor. For those who don't know his work, I recommend "Scarlet Street" and "Double Indemnity" for starters.

Robinson dominates "Little Caesar" even more than Cagney did his vehicle but mainly because the rest of the film is so mediocre. The plot, based on the life of Al Capone, concerns the rapid rise and fall of braggard Little Rico. Robinson snarls out his lines and completely overwhelms the rest of the cast. The narrative is unconvincing and there is little justification or logic to Rico's progress except his arrogance. No wonder crime seemed attractive. This is probably due to hack director Mervyn Le Roy who brings none of the flair to the film which William A Wellman did to "The Public Enemy". The photography is static, the dialogue stilted and most of the supporting actors poor. This is very obviously an early talkie with all the limitations that implies. Douglas Fairbanks Jr plays Rico's friend and he is dismal. The ending is justly famous, the best moment in the film.

The DVD print is variable; at times crystal clear then suddenly grainy with a white vertical line down the screen. All the usual Warner's extras are included. The short documentary about the film is much easier to take than the nasal drawl of the commentator to be heard while viewing the film. Pity too because the commentator knows his stuff and, with reference to the original script, provides interesting insight into the censorship of the time. He also paces his commentary so that you can watch the film as he speaks and this is far superior to others who do not draw breathe. Both the cartoon and the newsreel seem from a different age like the film and the short features a very young Spencer Tracy. Leonard Maltin's introduction to the "Warners Night at the Movies", in fact, is the best feature of all. His introductions sum each feature up accurately and concisely - a good example that sometimes less is best. Maltin has a relaxed and warm style and comes over very well!

The DVD can be purchased alone or as part of the great value Warner's Gangster Collection. It is probably the dud of the set for while it is historically important, the antique filming techniques make it almost unwatchable today, except, of course, for Robinson.

Interesting early gangster film.......2006-06-24

I watched this because I am studying classic film. I am not into gangster pictures, really. But since discovering James Cagney not long ago, I do find some of them enjoyable. James Cagney gangster films are interesting because he had such an exuberant personality...he is just such fun to watch! I found I didn't much care about Edward G. Robinson's character in Little Caesar; he wasn't a likeable person at all. In the end, you feel he gets what he justly deserves, whereas in The Roaring Twenties, you tend to feel sorry for Cagney's character not being a "big shot" anymore, which is very weird, for is it not odd to feel sorry for a gangster?

I thought this was filmed well for an early sound film...not static and "stagey" as many films in this time period are. Yes, at times one can see the acting is a bit overdone and dramatic; lines aren't always delivered as well as they could have been, but overall I thought this film was quite good. It took two watchings to get the full plot...I was very tired the first night and also some films aren't as clear as to what is going on. I did "get it" the second night. The things that stood out to me were other actors. The police detective Flaherty, well as soon as he spoke, I knew I had heard his voice somewhere before. So I closed my eyes and listened, and yes, he was the frustrated, overworked newspaper editor in Nancy Drew, Reporter. Also, Ma Magdalena, I recongized her as one of the old hag peasants in A Tale of Two Cities, by looks, and also on hearing her voice I instantly thought, "she is the voice of the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White", and I was right. And Otero, I remember from 42nd Street. Glend Farrell as Olga I agree was miscast...she didn't seem the right sort of woman that I would believe a guy like Joe to fall in love with...a bit too hard on the edges, not quite feminine and pretty enough. It was fun to see Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in another film too (also saw him in Prisoner of Zenda).

I have read lots of comments about Little Caesar not being a normal man...well, I think people tend to read into some things way too much with that sort of thing and many other things in pre code films. I think Little Caesar was just a power hungry guy and didn't have time for "dames" in his life. He seemed to like jewelry a lot, and to be dressed up and have his hair combed just right, but that doesn't mean you are not a normal man. I think Otero was just "one of the guys" he could trust most, and was his close friend now that Joe had gone off dancing with Olga, and nothing more. I agree the scene of Little Caesar and Otero sitting on the bed and talking together was a bit different; can't say if I have seen it in a classic film before. But I don't read into it that it meant more than just them talking, and the bed was the handy place to be since there wasn't much other furniture in the room.

Overall, I would say the quality of the film was pretty good for its age. It was interesting to watch, but I have seen other gangster films I like better. The extras were interesting; that cartoon with the obvious Mickey Mouse copy "cat" was boring and dumb. The short with Spencer Tracy was a bit over dramatic, but fun to see him so young! My 8 yr. old son right away caught on what Spencer really did with the gun when he goes out! I really was understanding it all like his wife as she listened to the policemen outside her window! I didn't have a chance to listen to the full commentary, but the short documentary was interesting enough. This is worth a watch if you are studying classic film; but for enjoyment, I would recommend most any Cagney gangster film over this one.

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