GANGSTER FILMS

The gangster genre became codified and prominent during the early 1930s due to the success and the public outcry following the releases of such films as Mervyn LeRoy's Little Caesar (1930), William Wellman's Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks's Scarface (1932). Celluloid gangsters did not have a literary source like the cowboy and the hard-boiled detective; gangsters were transferred onto the screen directly from the front-page headlines of contemporary newspapers. Gangster films therefore had a strong topical impact on audiences, and they based their narratives on events derived from criminal activity that was taking place in America's shadowy metropolises during the prohibition and Depression years.

Although the genre refined its conventions and reached its box-office popularity during the 1930s, there are important forerunners to the Depression gangster films that date back to the silent era. D. W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) was probably the first film to fully exploit urban-based crime for its plot. This prototype was followed by two other silent films that would lay the foundations for what was to become the gangster genre: Lewis Milestone's The Racket (1927) and Josef von Sternberg's Underworld(1928).

According to Thomas Schatz, the catalyst for the evolution of the gangster film is to be found in the confluence of technical innovation and the peculiar social context in which it took place. Warner Brothers' conversion to sound movies in the late 1920s coincided with a desperate economic and social climate. A year after the introduction of sound, the studio had already produced the first sound film in the gangster genre, Bryan Foy's Lights of New York (1928). Although it has not enjoyed the critical consideration of later gangster films, Lights of New York showed that sound could be effectively used in the genre to increase its impact on audiences. Sound gave to gangster films the screams, gun shots, and other audio effects they needed to develop incisive narratives. Warner Brothers was to lead the production of gangster films for years.

Gangster films focus on the rise to power of cold-blooded criminals who were modelled after notorious men of the era, such as Al Capone and Hymie Weiss, although several critics have argued that the impact of the genre was so strong that these real-life models tended to modify their mannerism and outlook so that they would resemble their celluloid counterparts. The conventions of the genre usually require a contrast between two men, either related through friendship or kinship, with one of them getting an honest job while the other resorts to crime. The contrast is usually set in an urban environment at night. The criminal is always the one gaining status, and this rise on the social ladder makes him, in Schatz's definition, "the perverse alter-ego of the ambitious, profit-minded American male." The criminal's growing status is visually signalled by the expensive clothes, flashy cars, and attractive women he acquires.

Because of their thematic and visual conventions, classic gangster films such as Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, and Scarface were accused of glamorizing violence and thus presenting the criminal as an appealing hero. The enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code posed several important problems to the genre, so that studios tried to balance the social and economic career of the gangster with elements that could effectively deglamorize it. The gangster usually dies, showing that crime does not pay after all, a concept that in some films, such as Scarface, is reinforced by added scenes (not shot by Hawks) where reformers and officers speak out against gangland and its culture. The struggle with censors not only affected the films' content, but also their distribution and promotion strategies. The press books for Little Caesar and The Public Enemy clearly claimed to present an exciting narrative of crime. Yet this is said not to be the ultimate purpose of the movies, which is instead, it is asserted, to present a serious social problem affecting urban America. Thus, the press book for The Public Enemy advised the managers of the cinemas where the film was being shown to send free tickets and a letter of invitation to "such organizations as the Parent-Teacher Association, the Y.M.H.A., the Y.M.C.A., Big Brothers, Catholic Big Brothers, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, School Teachers, [and] Sunday Schools." The invitation claimed that the film "is more vital and more important to everybody interested in child welfare than any picture we have ever shown before" and assured that "the work of your organization ties in directly with the powerful message embodied in The Public Enemy."

Strong censorship pressure ultimately brought to the genre significant modifications that were designed to redeem it, but that ultimately led to its demise. In such films as William Keighley's G-Men (1935) the cops become more prominent than the criminals and are played by actors, such as James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, who are strongly associated with the genre's classic phase. The gangster also becomes less central in films that contrast him with a socially integrated and positive figure. Clear examples of this variation are William Wyler's Dead End (1938), based on a screenplay by Lillian Hellman, and Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), both of which openly advise youth against taking a gangster as a role model.

GANGSTER FILMS

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