Gentleman gangster

1930's "Outside the Law" was the first of director Tod Browning's three Universal pictures, to be followed by the immortal "Dracula" and "Iron Man" (both 1931). Leaving MGM after his first talkie, 1929's "The Thirteenth Chair," Browning debuted at Universal with this remake of his own 1921 silent crime drama, also titled "Outside the Law," one of his first collaborations with the late Lon Chaney. Second billed Edward G. Robinson easily dominates as gang leader Cobra Collins, who demands a piece of the cut when the local bank is robbed by a small time crook (Owen Moore) and his moll (Mary Nolan). What truly sinks it are the endless scenes depicting the two crooks alone in their apartment, coddling a nauseating little boy who just happens to have a police captain for a father. It's rather dispiriting to think that a director like Tod Browning, with a real feel for the macabre, would display such a heavy hand with such maudlin sentimentality, yet the glacial pace is a reminder of how he botched "Dracula." The unsympathetic bickering of the two insufferable leads clearly has the opposite effect of what was intended (their unspectacular careers quickly petered out, with Moore dead by 1939, and Nolan by 1948). Browning's next feature would leave this old fashioned claptrap in the dust: the 1931 "Dracula" (his triumphant return to MGM produced the shocking "Freaks" in 1932). Already typecast as underworld kingpins, Edward G. Robinson would follow this forgettable fluff with "The Widow from Chicago," leading to the vastly superior and uncompromising gangster classic "Little Caesar," released early in 1931, and then a pair of intriguing titles opposite Boris Karloff, "Smart Money" (co-starring James Cagney) and "Five Star Final."

I totally forgot this early thirties crime drama directed by Tod Browning, for whom this kind of plot was not the speciality. You know what I am talking about, don't yoou? I mean there is no Lon Chaney Sr here, in the role of a poor puppet master who suffers of a disease that disabled him and desperately in love with a beautiful gal...No, it is a pure gangster plot, starring an actor for whom this kind of role, of character, this time will be the speciality; I speak of Edward G Robinson, one year before Mervyn le Roy's LITTLE CAESAR and later William Keighley's BULLETS OR BALLOTS. So, yes, this is a true gem, very rare, hard to catch, and very interesting from a director like Tod Browning.

This movie has director Tod Browning remake one of the Priscilla Dean underworld thrillers he had directed before he had hooked up with Lon Chaney. In fact, the earlier version had Chaney as one of the principal roles. In this version, bank robber Owen Moore works with gorgeous moll Mary Nolan to cheat underworld boss Edward G. Robinson out of what he considers his rightful cut of any crime committed in San Francisco. Like many a Browning picture, people are insane, particularly Miss Nolan.

The problem with this movie, like many she appeared in, is that star Mary Nolan's acting... well, she has improved from some of her earlier works. As one of Browning's insane characters, I find her senseless mood changes and talking to herself convincing; it's when she interacts with other people that I find her unbelievable.

Everyone gets to be weird, even Rockcliffe Fellowes as the police captain trying to track down the bank robbers, and whose annoying son, played by one of the innumerable Watson clan, breaks into their hide-out, since they all live in the same building.

It's clear that Miss Nolan is the star of this movie - she gets more tics and twitches than anyone else, although Robinson shines in the sort of gangster role he would play at Warner Brothers. It's Miss Nolan's movie to carry, and she does a poor job of it, although Browning's usual insane world filled with mad people certainly kept my interest up.

There's some good things to say about this but unfortunately there's a lot more bad things to say about it. Visually and technically it's very impressive. Tod Browning invests a great deal of thought into achieving perfect framing, atmospheric lighting and some clever imagery. His style however is so unsuited to this film that the overall effect is awful.

The actual story is absurd. It begins as a crime movie but then evolves into an intense melodrama. Mary Nolan is the star and she plays a cynical, heartless gangster's moll who's tied up with a bank robber. What the story is about is whether her bank robber boyfriend (who's actually a decent guy) can change her into a loving, caring, sweet maternal young lady.... in the space of a couple of days. It's a stupid premise and is so ridiculous that the film loses all its credibility.

Edward G Robinson was a rising star at Universal but he's only the supporting actor in this one. Even though he's not at the top of the bill, he seems to be the only member of the cast doing any proper acting. It is however not those actors' fault - the 'bad acting' is actually deliberate. Apart when E. G. R has a scene the dialogue is glacially slow. The weird slow motion style of delivery feels like the the film keeps freezing. A lot of very early talkies we're terrible - directors hadn't a clue how to make the transition to sound, actors forgot how to move and indeed how to speak but this is not one of those. It's a pretty bad film but not because the team at Universal didn't know what they were doing - no, they just didn't want to make this like a proper film.

Tod Browning, although a little past his prime by now was one of Silents' most stylish directors. He was chosen to deliberately make this picture as much like a silent as a talkie could be. It was made with a sense of nostalgia, an attitude that 'if we must use this new fangled sound nonsense let's make sure it doesn't ruin our art form we've spent so long perfecting.' Sound was considered to be an unwelcome intruder not something which could enrich the experience. The experiment really doesn't work, it makes it seem like no one knew how to produce a talking picture and plays up to that old prejudice that those silent stars couldn't make talkies.

Someone who really suffered was this film's star Mary Nolan. She had been an absolute megastar just a few years earlier but this would be her last film at Universal or indeed any major studio before plummeting into an utterly tragic life of heroin addiction, destitution and an early death. When you see how pretty and full of life she was here, it really is genuinely upsetting. She just didn't get a lucky break and found herself having to act in this painfully un-entertaining nonsense. That said, there were other reasons: she had some major personal problems, she wasn't a great actress and certainly couldn't play a cynical gangster's moll - she comes across as even less convincing than Jean Harlow and that's saying something! It wasn't all her fault though, she was directed by Browning to play it this way. In this picture however unfortunately she is one of the main reasons this comes across as such a poor film.

I found "Outside the Law" today on YouTube. I was excited as it was an early Edward G. Robinson film but less excited when I began watching it because the sound quality was very poor. I literally found myself turning the volume up and down repeatedly as the sound kept changing. If you can find another copy, you might want to watch that instead. This copy was watchable but annoying.

In at least three of Robinson's early films, he was inexplicably cast as an Asian guy! You wouldn't know it in this one until he introduces a Chinese woman...telling the girl that it's his mother. But he also plays more Asian guys in "The Hatchet Man" and "East is East"....and the results were, of course, ridiculous! I think some of this was because studios (in this case, Universal) had no idea what to do with this talented actor. And, not surprisingly, it will clearly offend folks today when they see this...but this sort of ridiculous racial casting was the norm in the 1930s and 40s. But the white actors USUALLY carried it off better. The major exception was "Dragon Seed" where, believe it or not, Katharine Hepburn played a Chinese woman!!!

Now although I've talked a lot about Robinson, he actually is billed second in the movie. First billed is Mary Nolan, a very self-destructive actress who lived a very wild life and died young. It's pretty sad and shocking stuff. And, here in "Outside the Law", she's a hard as nails femme fatale without any apparent redeeming value. Just watch her with the little boy....you'll see what I mean!!

The story involves Connie (Nolan) and Fingers planning a robbery. But when Cobra Collins (Robinson) sees Fingers (Owen Moore) doing a weird publicity stunt for the bank, he quickly realizes Fingers is planning on a bank job....and not an honest one! Much of the film concerns Connie trying to fool Cobra into thinking the robbery will take place later...and cutting him out of taking part of the loot. But this robbery is in Cobra's territory and he thinks he's owed at least a part of it....or else. As for Fingers, despite being a crook, he seems like a much more decent sort...and you care more about him than these other two sociopaths. So what happens next? See the film....and you WON'T suspect what actually occurs!

So is it any good? I wouldn't say yes, as the film features some ridiculous change in Connie...going from completely evil and nasty to a redemption towards the end. It just didn't make much sense and happened too quickly to be realistic. Plus, Nolan's acting and Owen Moore's aren't particularly good nor convincing. Robinson is pretty good, though I noticed his voice wasn't quite the same as it would be in his later films for Warner Brothers. In these just a year or two later, he slowed down and lowered the tone of his voice just a hair...but it was an improvement. Overall, a tough movie to love...and with Tod Browning directing I was shocked how ordinary the film actually was.