A Culpa dos Pais

Having looked at a few of the other reviews here, some of which predictably say this is a "pale imitation of Warner Bros. gangster pictures," I have to chime in with a dissenting opinion. Those more famous films, such as "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy," with their iconic Edward G. Robinson and Jimmy Cagney, respectively, are a whole different type of animal; you're comparing apples and oranges. Those are the seminal action films, bad guy as antihero, cautionary tales about the ultimate end of reckless lawlessness.

"The Guilty Generation" focuses instead on the offspring of two of the biggest crime families involved in bootlegging. While a gang war whirls around the shoulders of Robert Young & Constance Cummings's characters they are trying to get away from the business, while each has a brother who's trying to follow in father's footsteps. Apt comparisons to "Romeo & Juliet" are made, and the similarities extend to the fact that both began life as a play before being made into films.

And that's probably part of the problem movie purists have with TGG. While the aforementioned WB pics are more action-oriented, with lots of shootouts and chases, TGG is more about the internal and intergang politics and the romance. They are also more "talky," which some people have a real problem with. In this case it works, IMO.

Leo Carillo & Boris Karloff play the heads of the families; in keeping with the early '30s, their accents are not accurate (see Jimmy Stewart as a Hungarian in "The Little Shop on the Corner" for one of thousands of examples of worse casting in this regard), but they do well personality-wise in their roles.

Don't overlook the secondary characters, such as Ms. Cummings's excellent Italian grandma and her father's press agent, who provide terrific support and comic relief.

Maybe it's just the fact that this one took me completely by surprise, but I'd rather see it again than any of the aforementioned films or even the more-similar "Godfather" pictures. It avoids the bloody shootouts of the latter, yet has more to do with the human beings affected by the action than the former, and it ultimately shows a prime example of when it's most correct for children to rebel against their parents. An interesting story, well acted, perfectly paced, and with even a couple of nice plot twists. I think it holds up quite well.

So, let's pretend you are a Hollywood producer back in 1931 and you are planning on making a movie about mobsters--Italian mobsters to be precise. So, for the roles of mobsters and family members of the Ricca and Palmero family, who would you pick? Well, unless you were insane, you probably wouldn't pick the British Boris Karloff, Hispanic-American Leo Carrillo or the Waspy Constance Cummings or Robert Young. And, oddly, these are exactly the actors chosen for this film that is a bit like "Little Caesar" and "Romeo & Juliet" merged into one. The only one in the cast that came off as Italian was the English actress Emma Dunn--now SHE seemed like she was cast well as she sounded Italian and was quite effective. Now I am NOT saying that the others were bad--they just didn't seem very Italian.

The film begins with nice-guy Young getting a surprise visit from his dad (Karloff). It seems Karloff is hurt because his architect son has changed his name and wants nothing to do with the family business of killing people and selling bathtub booze. But, despite his charming personality, Young is determined to make it on his own and tells his father to leave.

A bit later, the film shifts to another unhappy child of a different gangster. It seems that Constance wants to be accepted by high society but her thug brother and father (Carrillo) make it really tough. When she throws a fancy party, the brother starts acting tough by throwing people into the pool. When Young stops him, the brother is about to shoot him! Nice family, huh?! Well, it seems that Young knew Cummings when they were kids. This, combined with their angst about their mob families makes their falling in love natural...except the two fathers are rivals bent on killing each other as well as wiping out the other's family! As a result, the Romeo & Juliet angle enters into this fateful romance.

Overall, this is a low-budget but entertaining film from Columbia. It's well worth seeing and a nice reworking of Shakespeare--minus all the olde tyme dialog. However, for fans of Karloff, be forewarned that he's really not in the film that much and I assume he was billed as high as he was due to his recent appearance in "Frankenstein". Regardless, it's a tough little film that I enjoyed.

...no, not really, but the British Boris is playing the head of one of two feuding (Italian??)-American crime families. Boris plays the head of the Ricca clan, Tony Ricca. Leo Carrillo, who is actually Spanish in descent - in fact a member of an old California Spanish land grant family - plays Mike, the head of the rival Palmerro clan.

This is a late Prohibition Era film in which the public is said to be on to the Mafia and beginning to demand action - there were several of these made in the early 30's - as the bloodshed has begun to spill onto the streets and takes the lives of innocent children. Meanwhile the warring clans have taken to killing off each other's family members in a last ditch grab for sole control of "the rackets".

The central theme of the film is the romance between young Marco Ricca and Maria Palmerro, both straight kids caught in a gangster world. Marco was taken away from his father's life of crime by his mother at the age of ten, but he has returned to America an architect who has changed his name to John Smith. Maria Palmerro is the only daughter of Mike Palmerro, the enemy of Marco/John's father. John thinks there is no danger in this association since he has long been estranged from his father, is truly legitimate, and nobody knows of his true family ties. Marco has a brother who is working in his dad's criminal enterprise, and likewise Maria has a brother who is working in her father's criminal enterprise.

This is mainly Carillo's film, as his character gradually lets the desire for revenge get the best of his common sense at the expense of his entire family. He's a brutish man, such as in a scene where he threatens his daughter that if she doesn't change out of her black dress into a white party dress he'll cut the black dress right off her body with a pair of scissors. He has raised an equally brutish man in the person of his grown son, who decides if his speakeasy flapper girlfriends are not welcome at his sister's party he'll just shove the actual party guests into the pool.

You can tell something dreadful is coming, but you're not just sure how or when or to who it is coming. I'll let you watch and find out.

The movie pulls some punches as it never actually comes out and says Prohibition is the source of the problem, instead everyone keeps talking about "the rackets". Likewise no one ever mentions the nationality of the warring families specifically. Ruth Warren is terrific as a gum-chewing gun moll-like publicist that Palmerro has hired. Although Phil Tead plays the news reporter who is writing stories on the warring clans, Mr. Tead is a dead ringer for Walter Brennan. Emma Dunn, who plays Mike Palmerro's mother, is the only member of the cast who convinces me she is Italian (although she is actually British) as she desperately tries to perform CPR on Mike's conscience.

I'd recommend this one - it certainly is rather unique among early 30's gangster films.

Guilty Generation, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Warner had The Public Enemy, Universal had Scarface and Columbia had this little gem from director Rowland V. Lee. A young couple (Robert Young & Constance Cummings) fall in love even though their fathers (Leo Carrillo & Boris Karloff) are rivals of opposite gangs. There's no doubt this lifts the story of Romeo and Juliet and while it starts off a bit shaky there's no denying the final twenty minutes are extremely good as the girl's father finally finds out who the boy's father is. Everyone gives a very good performance but Cummings is the real standout with her delightful charm. Karloff is also very good in his few moments at the start of the film. It's really great that TCM is showing all these rare Columbia films and I can't wait to see what else they have from this period.

A very youthful Robert Young (of "Father Knows Best") plays an architect named "John Smith" who's changed his true name from Marco Ricca in order to sever any ties with his despicable gangster father, Tony Ricca (Boris Karloff). There's a war between the Italian Ricca family and their rivals, the Palmiero family, who are lead by Mike Palmiero (Leo Carrillo). In between mutual tit for tat retaliations of a very GODFATHER-like nature, of course things get even more complicated when John Smith falls in love with crime boss Palmiero's daughter, Maria (Constance Cummings).

This was a moderately enjoyable picture with some fun to be had, though it comes up just a wee bit short of being genuinely "good", and coughs up a rather abrupt and unsatisfying ending that doesn't satisfy our expectations. It's nicely directed most of the time by Rowland V. Lee but tends to lag every now and then. It's Leo Carrillo who is the real draw of the film and he's completely believable as Mike Palmiero. Boris Karloff is a real hoot as an Italian crime leader, but unfortunately has his best scene at the start of the movie and isn't featured very much thereafter. Recommended to be seen, if you can come across a copy. **1/2 out of ****