The Widow from Chicago

"The Widow From Chicago" (1930), stars Alice White as Polly and Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon in the "Batman" series). It was originally filmed as a musical, but the public pre-"42nd Street" was tiring of musicals, so all of the numbers were cut. The script is uninteresting, and Dominic is taken down by a really stupid ploy; I won't spoil it. Its main interest is that it is a precursor to the classic gangster films soon to come.

Polly's brother impersonates gangster Swifty Dorgan and gets killed for his trouble. To get revenge on the gangster, Edward G. Robinson as Dominic, pre-"Little Caesar"who ordered the hit, Alice poses as the widow Dorgan to get in good with Robinson and eventually turn him over to the police. But then the real Swifty shows up! For some reason he agrees to continue the pose!

The best part by far is the climax, well staged and well shot by director Eddie Cline. Robinson acts everyone off the screen, even in such a rote part. Hamilton is okay. But Alice White? She is awful. And I mean awful. This vehicle was supposed to make her a star but her career went down the tubes. The New York Times praised Robinson and panned White.

Considering that in the panoply of gangster movies this 1930 WB picture starring Edward G Robinson is usually ignored, it's surprisingly entertaining and actually pretty good. Compared with the dour LITTLE CAESAR made a couple of months later, in terms of depth and character development it's incredibly shallow but it's a lot more fun.

The story is stupid but somehow also great: sister of a murdered policeman infiltrates EGR's crime outfit to see that justice is done. Fortunately this was made at the very end of 1930; that's the post 'sound-on-disc' era, so production standards are fine with lots of dynamic camerawork giving this a lively, almost modern feel. Veteran director Edward Cline was not however one for evoking a modern feel. He doesn't do anything special with this so consequently the effect is a little pedestrian but it's lively enough to keep your interest.

Although EGR is now seen as the star of this, it was made as a vehicle for Alice White to demonstrate that she could play a serious dramatic role, an aspiration sadly unachieved. It's painful for me to admit this but Alice White is pretty awful in this. She had been fantastic portraying her iconic 'flapper' character in a series of fabulous fun films in the late 20s but with the approach of The Depression, audiences' tastes were changing. Warner Brothers/First National therefore decided to make no more musicals, no more silly Alice White films! This film bizarrely started life itself as a musical but all those numbers were edited out - thus the short running time.

Alice White needed to prove that she could act in proper dramatic films, effectively this was her auditioning for a new career. As a massive fan of her's, this film is really upsetting to watch. She looks like a dream in this, she's drop dead gorgeous and a flutter of her eyelids makes you melt into a heap but as an actress.... oh dear, she's truly awful. She just can't do it, she lacks any depth and is utterly unbelievable. Her co-star EGR described her as 'completely lacking any acting ability' and you wonder what must have been going through this trained actor's mind as he tried to do a serious scene with her.

Although she would make one more picture for WB/First National, THE NAUGHTY FLIRT, which is brilliant, this was the nail in her acting career. It's a fun, exciting, rip-roaring crime picture, albeit a bit too simplistic but it's difficult for an Alice White fan to watch this without shedding a silent tear.

A clever crime movie in which a woman seeks to put a mob boss behind bars for killing her brother, who was a cop. Polly gets inside Dominic's circle by posing as Swifty's wife, but when the real Swifty shows up things get interesting, and very unpredictable. Polly's brother was killed for impersonating Swifty, so now she is impersonating Swifty's wife for revenge. An entertaining movie that has humorous points and look out for an unusual place to see a SWATSTICKER, years before Hilter's rise.

Edward G. Robinson certainly showed what the movie going public were destined to see in The Widow From Chicago. It was the film immediately proceeding his breakthrough and forever identifiable role as and in Little Caesar.

He's got a job to do and need's some out of town talent so he imports Neil Hamilton sight unseen. But the police get wind of it and have a cop gain entree to Robinson's gang by posing as Hamilton. Then Robinson gets wise and the cop is bumped off.

After that both Hamilton does show up and the sister of the slain officer shows up claiming to be Hamilton's wife. I have to say these two think fast on their feet and Hamilton decides to not expose Alice White the sister.

White was very effective in her role though I think for propriety's sake her sending Hamilton out of her room was a bit much even for 1930 audiences to follow. I mean they could have done a Walls of Jericho like arrangement.

It's sad what happened to Neil Hamilton who went from an A list player gradually down to some really horrid B flicks. That strong voice and clear diction should have made him a big star in talkies, bigger than the silent screen. But the man did have a thirst problem. He did bounce back as a character player later on and is now best known as the Caped Crusader's number one fan Commissioner Gordon on Batman.

Still this film is Robinson's show, but he had a much bigger show just awaiting him.

Ruthless gangster Dominic (Edward G. Robinson) bumps off a young detective impersonating Swifty Dorgan. The detective's sister (Alice White) sets out to get revenge. She passes herself off as Swifty's wife in order to infiltrate the gang. But then the real Swifty (Neil Hamilton) shows up.

Pre-Little Caesar gangster movie for Robinson, his first at Warner Bros. Also very early role for Frank McHugh, who already seems to be perfecting his screen persona. Alice White is pretty bad. She says every line the same way, regardless of what emotion she's supposed to be displaying. It's an early talkie so there's the expected amount of creakiness. Watchable, particularly for Robinson fans, but nothing special. Believe it or not, this was originally a musical!