"WARNER BROS. GANGSTERS COLLECTION: VOL. 4"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***** (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Warner Bros. Own it on DVD October 21 Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Like most red-blooded American men my age, I love a good gangster film. However, because I’m only in my mid-30s, these gangster films seemed to have only been released in the 1970s and beyond.
Who can deny the impact of films like “The Godfather” and its sequels, or Martin Scorsese’s contributions to the genre with films like “Goodfellas.” However, any real cinemaphile will assure you that the original gangster movies date as far back and the 1930s and even before that.
Warner Bros. has recently released some excellent compilations of classic genre films from their library. There was the “Rat Pack” collection and “Western Classics” not too long ago. Now, they’re giving gangster film fanatics a new set of flicks with “Gangsters Collection: Volume 4.”
This latest box set includes five powerful films from the 30s, featuring original gangsters of the screen like Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart. Being the fourth volume, the most famous gangster films have already had a go on the DVD shelves. However, that doesn’t mean these films can be ignored.
In this collection, you’ll find “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse” featuring Edward G. Robinson as a doctor who wants to see how the criminal mind ticks, so he becomes a criminal himself. There’s also “Invisible Stripes,” featuring Chuck Martin as a parolee who wants to go straight but the system won’t let him. You’ll also see Humphrey Bogart in one of his earlier roles.
“Kid Galahad” brings us Edward G. Robinson again with Bogart in tow as gangsters trying to control the fights with a new, malleable rookie. “Larceny, Inc.” features Robinson again, this time in a comedy about some ex-cons trying to manage a new dog track business by stealing from the bank next door. And rounding out the slate of films is “The Little Giant” with... you guessed it... Edward G. Robinson. This time, he plays a gangster who is trying to find his way in a post-Prohibition world.
Too often when a studio releases a box set like this, there are scant special features. However, with “Gangsters Collection Vol. 4,” you get the motherload. Each film comes with a historical commentary track. There’s also the full golden age theater experience with a short subjects gallery. These additional tidbits include vintage newsreels, musical shorts, classic Warner Bros. cartoons and trailers.
To make the full box set complete, there’s an additional feature-length documentary called “Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film.” This bonus feature looks at the evolution of the gangster film from the silent era and what made it click with American audiences. Also included on this bonus disc are four classic WB cartoons, including the unforgettable “Bugs and Thugs” short film.
This collection is great for fans of the old films, and it’s a keen look into the darker side of Hollywood’s golden age. Like many people from my generation, I tend to see the old black and white films of yesteryear as being sweet and fluffy. I tend to think of the MGM musical when I think of old movies. And outside of the Universal monster movies, I always look at the black-and-white flicks as somewhat wholesome.
This box set of gangster films helps blow that impression out of the water. These are hard-core gangster movies. While the violence isn’t as bloody as something you might see from Coppola or Scorsese today, they are still edgy, especially for their time.
If you ever find someone who says that black and white movies are soft films that only their grandmother would watch, here’s a DVD set you can pull out and prove them otherwise.
