steiner-sam

It's a big-city crime drama set in Chicago in the 1920s, based on Al Capone. Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) starts as a bodyguard for Big Louis (Harry J. Vejar), but assassinates him on behalf of Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins), who was Louis's second-in-command. Tony is brash and unafraid and begins to assert his own authority, even taking an interest in Johnny's girlfriend, Poppy (Karen Morley). Tony's two primary sidekicks are inarticulate and uneducated Angelo (Vince Barnett) and Guino Rinaldo (George Raft). Tony also begins to assert his influence in Northside Chicago, run by an Irish gang, including Tom Gaffney (Boris Karloff). Tony is also very protective of his younger sister, Cesca (Ann Dvorak), and his mother (Inez Palange).

"Scarface" (for a visible scar on Tony's face) contains much violence and portrays Tony Camonte as an effective brute. Only his sister and Poppy seem not to be cowed by him. Paul Muni is good, but one-dimensional. George Raft provides the more interesting personality. Ann Dvorak and Karen Morley do well with limited roles. The focus is action, not character development. The ending is a little forced.

"Scarface" had many censorship problems because of the violence and glorification of gangsters. Almost no one saw the original version. The "Version B" I saw includes the original ending, but also the initial titles and a scene with a newspaper publisher (Purnell Pratt) expressing loud condemnation of the mobsters. Apparently, this is the version seen by most theater patrons in late 1932. "Scarface" is interesting as a pre-Code movie that still had to combat censors.

It's a combination police procedural and crime drama set in Scarborough, Maine, in the 2020s. A realtor, Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz), is murdered in a house she is showing. Summer worked for the Grady real estate agency run by Camille Grady (Frances Fisher) and her son, Will (Justin Timberlake), who is Summer's live-in boyfriend. Tom Nichols (Benicio del Toro) is the detective heading the investigation. He's newly arrived from Philadelphia, where he was involved in a scandal. Tom is married to Judy (Alicia Silverstone), who is the niece of police captain Allen (Eric Bogosian). Also part of the group that plays cards together are Chief Marty Graeber (Mike Pniewski), undercover drug detective Wally (Domenick Lombardozzi), and Tom's rookie partner, Dan Cleary (Ato Essandoh). We quickly get introduced to three prime suspects--Will Grady, Summer's ex-husband, Sam Gifford (Karl Glusman), and weird Eli Philips (Michael Carmen Pitt), a man who thinks the Gradys illegally seized his parents' farm.

"Reptile" follows an insecure and jealous Tom Nichols, who follows various clues and finds himself in violent confrontations as first one suspect and then another come to untimely ends. Then it becomes clear the deaths are masking a larger scandal.

The plot is good and moves briskly. Benicio del Toro and Alicia Silverstone are excellent. Most of the other cops are fine. Michael Carmen Pitt is good "weird." Justin Timberlake is unconvincing. I would have given "Reptile" an 8, except I hated the drumbeat of music that tried to maintain a nonstop high tension level. Which is odd, given Grant Singer's music video background. Or maybe not. Give the action and dialogue some space; don't try to maintain a fever pitch for all two hours and 15 minutes.

It's a rudimentary low-budget noir drama set in California in the late 1940s. Broke but honest mining engineer Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford) drives a brakeless truck into a small town, causing minimal damage to a vehicle owned by independent miner Jeff Cunningham (Edgar Buchanan). Mike gives almost all his money to Jeff to pay the repair bill. In a nearby bar, Mike meets waitress Paula Craig (Janis Carter). When Mike gets arrested for the accident, Paula, surprisingly, pays his fine, and when he gets drunk, she puts him up in a motel. Then we learn Paula is conspiring with bank vice-president Steve Price (Barry Sullivan), who is unhappily married to the bank president's daughter (Karen Morley). Paula and Steve are planning a scheme to cover his embezzlement of bank funds, and they need someone who looks something like Steve for their plot.

"Framed" is basic noir with a femme fatale manipulating everyone. Paula is so evil that the plot turns in on itself near the end. Glenn Ford, Barry Sullivan, and Edgar Buchanan (whose character befriends Mike) are effective. Janis Carter is too chill for small-town California in the 1940s. The story would have improved with a less moralistic ending.