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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Little Caesar" (1931) is
the slightly off kilter recanting of the Al Capone
story, told under the auspices of not so pure
fiction: Chicago nobody Caesar Enrico Bandello
(Edward G. Robinson) acquires a toe-hold in Sam
Vettori's (Stanley Fields) mob. In no time he's
muscled Sam out of his digs and bumps up against
rival thug Little Arnie Lorch (Maurice Black).
After some fast talking and slick shooting, Caesar
emerges the kingpin of kingpins; a magnet for
hard-hitting smart talking success or, if you
prefer, the antithesis of the American Dream.
Shrewd and ever growing suspicious and paranoid,
Caesar eventually finds both his niche and his
downfall in Olga Strassoff (Glenda Farrell), a
little bit of something who weaves her magic like
a spider.
Along with "The Public Enemy," this film
established the Warner in-house style for social
consciousness and nail-biting drama. Director,
Raoul Walsh seems to know his way around a gat in
this yarn about gangsters and vixens, but in
retrospect, this film lacks the immediate fireball
response generated by "The Public Enemy."
Warner's DVD transfer falls short of expectations.
Though the grayscale is often nicely balanced, the
image quite often reflects a decidedly soft
characteristic that is hard on the eyes. Age
related artifacts are persistent and sometimes
distracting. At times the image quality is quite
unstable, changing from generally smooth and
nicely contrasted to wildly unstable and generally
grainy image quality from shot to shot. Vertical
lines and a tears crop up throughout the film and,
while not present for very long, nevertheless
distract. The audio is mono and generally
pleasing, though background hiss is quite
noticeable.
Extras include a commentary by Richard Jewell that
is just average, a newly produced featurette and
Leonard Maltin doing his thing with "Warner's
Night at the Movies." The 1954 re-release trailer
is also included. |
