Word: gangsterisms
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...year to racketeers thereby. A swarthy man will say a blessing over the broiler when his end finally comes, and pass a sharp knife across his knotted gullet. This man will be a shochet (ritual slaughterer), and he will probably belong to an association ruled by gangsters. Even dressed and plucked, the broiler is not yet free of violence, for if his owner does not string along with the corrupt kosher poultry "trust"' (two who did not were shot down last year in Brooklyn and Queens), the broiler may have poison or kerosene sprinkled over him by a band...
...dictator. When Warner Brothers merged with First National, Darryl Zanuck was placed in complete control of both studios. He has proved his ability by keeping average production costs for Warner pictures down to $250,000, producing such hits as The Jazz Singer, Disraeli, Doorway to Hell (which started the gangster cycle), Forty-Second Street (currently reviving the vogue for musical films...
...Gangster pictures, when well executed--provided they have a good plot, and are properly organized--are usually interesting, if not amusing, but with the market flooded with this type of movie, a poor or mediocre one falls decidedly flat. With a decidedly poor plot to begin with, Morris and Blondell--to whom credit must be given for being well chosen for their parts--emote, snarl, and wisecrack at each other in a half hearted manner, Blondie's high pressure, big, beautiful, blue eyes exude sex appeal which usually missed the mark, and Morris has a difficult time in his dramatic...
...Secretary of State. He addresses an army of unemployed, enlists them in a civilian workers corps. He gets rid of all his Cabinet when they plot against him. When there is a motion in Congress to impeach him, he adjourns Congress, makes himself dictator. Molested by a tycoon gangster, he places his secretary at the head of a corps of Federal police in armored cars. They bombard the gangster's distillery, deliver its occupants to a firing squad. Throughout the picture the invisible presence of the Angel Gabriel is felt no more strongly than that of William Randolph Hearst...
...Warner). Warner Brothers started the vogue for gangster pictures and, in the opinion of Vice President Jack Warner, almost every other trend in the cinema since 1927, except the trend toward bankruptcy. This picture, a new experiment in color, is better than the ones which most major companies tried a year or two ago. At once lurid and realistic, colored cinematography is appropriate to mystery stories, particularly to this one which starts with a conflagration in a waxworks gallery...