Paramount Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Underworld
'Nobody helps me -- I help them!'
Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
- Original title
- Underworld
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jun 6, 2022 · via TMDB
Josef von Sternberg does well here with his adaptation of Ben Hecht's gangster thriller. George Bancroft is "Bull Weed", a rumbustious character, in love with the aptly monikered "Feathers" - because she wears them everywhere - Evelyn Brent. His former attorney, the dapper "Rolls Royce Wensel" (Clive Brook) has problems with the bottle, but "Weed" manages to ween him off - only for the latter to fall in love with his gal. When "Weed" is finally apprehended by the police for murder, and sentenced to swing for it - the others must decide whether to abscond together, or to try to spring him! "Bull", meantime has plans for revenge of his own - and this all builds to an exciting denouement. There's a lot packed into this film. The love-triangle theme gradually underpins the story, but the romance doesn't overwhelm it - it's still a gangster movie with just the tiniest hint of menace from an engaging Bancroft, and quite bit of on-screen chemistry between the three. As you'd expect, the photography is pristine. Though maybe just a few too many static shots for me that slow the pace a bit, the story is well constructed and the last ten minutes are super.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
George Bancroft
Bull Weed
Evelyn Brent
Feathers
Clive Brook
Rolls Royce
Fred Kohler
Buck Mulligan
Helen Lynch
Mulligan's Girl
Larry Semon
Slippy Lewis
Jerry Mandy
Paloma
Alfred Allen
Judge (uncredited)
Shep Houghton
Street Kid (uncredited)
Ida May
Laughing Woman at the Ball (uncredited)
Bob Reeves
Detective at Railroad Station (uncredited)
Bert Glennon
Director of Photography
Adolph Zukor
Presenter
Jesse L. Lasky
Presenter
Josef von Sternberg
Director
Ben Hecht
Story
Central Station
M
The Lure of Crooning Water
The Last Samurai
A Dinner Date
Adam's Apples
Babylon
Dead Man Walking
Irreversible
Munich
Bullitt
Straw Dogs
Together
The Murderers Are Among Us
October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
Policewoman
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Sommersby
Blood Cousins
The Marble Heart
Just Mercy
The Asphalt Jungle
Brute Force
Riot in Cell Block 11
The Mask of Dimitrios
The Rainmaker
Cry of the City
The Parts You Lose
Absence of Malice
The Pelican Brief
Fallen Angel
The Seven-Ups
Not Easily Broken
The Paradine Case
Killer's Kiss
Winter's Tale
My Brilliant Career
River of Grass
White Lightning
She Made Them Do It
Aug 20, 1927
New York City, New York
Oct 29, 1927
Aug 24, 2010
DVD
Oct 8, 2019
Blu-ray
