The Widow from Chicago

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.

Alice White stars in this 1930 crime drama that also boasts an early starring role for Edward G. Robinson. He plays a nightclub owner and bootlegger; she plays the widow. She shows up in his club looking for work and claiming to be the widow of a gangster (Neil Hamilton) who was killed when he jumped off a train in an attempt to escape the cops. In reality she's the sister of the cop who was tracking Hamilton. Now she's out to track down her brother's killer.

Smart dialog and solid story here with White in a slightly different role. Although she masquerades as a floozie she's really a pretty smart cookie as she leads to police to her brother's killer. Although the setting is a nightclub, White does not do a musical number (perhaps cut from the final print?) as she usually does in her talkies.

Although White was not an actress in the way Bette Davis or Joan Crawford were, she's got a great screen presence and holds her own here in scenes with the great Robinson. Hamilton is also solid as the undead gangster who returns to cause problems for White.

Co-stars include Frank McHugh, Harold Goodwin (as the brother), Betty Francisco, Brooks Benedict, and Anne Cornwall and Dorothy Mathews as the dance hall babes.

Worth a look.

Polly (Alice White) infiltrates a group of gangsters headed by Dominic (Edward G Robinson) in order to find out who killed her brother Jimmy (Harold Goodwin).

The plot develops at a pace which just about allows you to keep up with the story. It's a bit complicated at the beginning but things fall into place so keep watching. Alice White is super cute and likable but I'm not convinced about her ability to survive in the underground world. She'd be dead if she wasn't mixing with lightweights such as Neil Hamilton who plays "Swifty". It comes as a surprise when she ruthlessly shoots a policeman although there is a twist that runs alongside this. Another lightweight is Harold Goodwin - the film gets off to a good start when he gets shot. Overall, this film holds an interest but it is nothing special.

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.

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!