The Widow from Chicago

Widow from Chicago, The (1930)

** (out of 4)

Early gangster film from Warner has Alice White playing Polly Henderson, a woman who sees her brother get gunned down by a bunch of thugs. The woman pretends to be the widow of another gangster who is presumed dead and she crashes in on thug Dominic (Edward G. Robinson) to try and find out who killed her brother. THE WIDOW FROM CHICAGO is a fairly entertaining film that's going to mainly play to those who want to see Robinson in the role of a gangster a year before he became a star with LITTLE CAESAR. There's really nothing to compare in terms of the two performances as it's clear Robinson was still trying to find it acting chops. He's certainly good here but it's easy to see why this film didn't make him a star. It should go without saying but there's very little going on with the screenplay other than a few twists and turns that most viewers are going to pick up on long before they happen. The screenplay itself is pretty silly as there are all sorts of wacky things that happen including the entire bit with the real gangster (Neil Hamilton) who's supposed to be dead showing back up and throwing a wrench in the plans of White. The twist in what happens to Robinson is downright silly and so far-fetched that you almost have to laugh at it. As for White, she's certainly not in the same league as the legends from this era and while her performance is far less from what I'd consider good, there's no doubt that she has a presence on the screen. Her and Robinson do fine work together and certainly help the weak material. The supporting cast offers up Frank McHugh playing the comic bit but he doesn't get a chance to do too much. In the end this is a pretty forgettable film but the addition of Robinson makes it worth viewing for fans of his or the genre.

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.

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.

A gangster film that's certainly not top-tier, but entertaining nonetheless, with a lively plot, the inimitable Edward G. Robinson, and a strong female character played by Alice White. While I loved seeing White on the screen though, unfortunately her acting was weak and not completely up to the role. It would have been interesting to see the complete film before the musical numbers were all cut, as it's kind of hard to imagine what that must have been like. As it is though, not bad if you like Robinson or White.

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.