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The Guilty Generation

  • 1931
  • Approved
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
309
YOUR RATING
Robert Young, Leo Carrillo, and Constance Cummings in The Guilty Generation (1931)
CrimeDramaRomance

A Romeo and Juliet love story between the son of a brutal Italian bootlegger and the daughter of his bitter ex-partner, who is engaged in a blood feud with his one-time friend.A Romeo and Juliet love story between the son of a brutal Italian bootlegger and the daughter of his bitter ex-partner, who is engaged in a blood feud with his one-time friend.A Romeo and Juliet love story between the son of a brutal Italian bootlegger and the daughter of his bitter ex-partner, who is engaged in a blood feud with his one-time friend.

  • Director
    • Rowland V. Lee
  • Writers
    • Jo Milward
    • J. Kirby Hawks
    • Jack Cunningham
  • Stars
    • Leo Carrillo
    • Constance Cummings
    • Robert Young
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    309
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Rowland V. Lee
    • Writers
      • Jo Milward
      • J. Kirby Hawks
      • Jack Cunningham
    • Stars
      • Leo Carrillo
      • Constance Cummings
      • Robert Young
    • 23User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos7

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    Top cast31

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    Leo Carrillo
    Leo Carrillo
    • Mike Palmero
    Constance Cummings
    Constance Cummings
    • Maria Palmero
    Robert Young
    Robert Young
    • Marco Ricca
    Boris Karloff
    Boris Karloff
    • Tony Ricca
    Emma Dunn
    Emma Dunn
    • Nina Palmero
    Leslie Fenton
    Leslie Fenton
    • Joe Palmero
    Murray Kinnell
    Murray Kinnell
    • Jerry
    Ruth Warren
    • Nellie Weaver
    Willie Best
    Willie Best
    • Club Merlin Doorman
    • (uncredited)
    Eddie Boland
    • Willie
    • (uncredited)
    Lynton Brent
    Lynton Brent
    • Joe's Friend
    • (uncredited)
    William Burress
    William Burress
    • Charlie - City Editor
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Cheatham
    Jack Cheatham
    • Luigi's Man
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Deery
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Eddie Foster
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Kit Guard
    Kit Guard
    • Driver
    • (uncredited)
    Sherry Hall
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Fred Howard
    • Bradley
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Rowland V. Lee
    • Writers
      • Jo Milward
      • J. Kirby Hawks
      • Jack Cunningham
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews23

    6.6309
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    Featured reviews

    Michael_Elliott

    Worth Watching

    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.
    6Cinemayo

    The Guilty Generation (1931) **1/2

    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 ****
    7planktonrules

    Now that's some odd casting...

    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.
    5mukava991

    see it for the acting

    The performances by Leo Carrillo, Constance Cummings, Robert Young and Leslie Fenton make compelling entertainment out of this rather routinely mounted drama about the social hardships faced by the grown children of successful Italian-American gangsters. While they live in the splendor of their parents' ill-gotten gains they remain social pariahs and must go to great lengths to achieve respectable lives.

    Cummings and Young are a sort of Romeo and Juliet, offspring of rival criminal kingpins Carrillo and Karloff, respectively, who fall in love. Carrillo is quite scary as a cold-blooded hoodlum, but Karloff can't get the accent right and sounds awkwardly British, and bearing no resemblance of any kind to Robert Young doesn't help. Leslie Fenton as Carrillo's dissolute son does a good job playing nasty, particularly in a well-shot scene that has him rampaging through a garden party and knocking guest after fully clothed guest into the pool.
    6F Gwynplaine MacIntyre

    Frankenstein's goombah

    'The Guilty Generation' has a misleading title. This movie would seem to indict a generation, but it's actually more interested in indicting an ethnic group ... to be precise, the Italians. This movie takes place in a universe where everyone named Angelo or Luigi is automatically a gangster. Late in the film, there's some brief dialogue about honest Italians vilifying the crooked members of their 'race' ... but most of this movie seems to indicate that Italian ancestry and criminal behaviour are mutually inclusive.

    Robert Young is a rising young architect named John Smith, a name guaranteed to attract attention. Indeed, we soon find out that he was born Marco Ricca, son of gangster Tony Ricca. The latter is played by Boris Karloff, looking not remotely Italian. (Although Italian-American actor Abe Vigoda was a Karloff lookalike.) Karloff brings deep conviction and presence to this role, but his performance is not very convincing. Part of the problem is that Tony Ricca's dialogue is full of "ain't"s and other grammatical errors, yet Karloff speaks these thick-eared lines in his usual cultured tones. Elsewhere, Murray Kinnell is good in a supporting role, but his well-bred English accent seems out of place in a setting that's knee-deep in goombahs.

    There are excellent performances by two actors unknown to me, Emma Dunn and Elliott Rothe. Also impressive is Leo Carrillo. Because of his short stature and thick accent, Carrillo is best known for comic roles. Here, he's chillingly believable as a crime lord, utterly ruthless and unforgiving. Much of the film takes place in the sumptuous Florida mansion owned by Carrillo's character. I was astounded that Columbia Pictures -- at this point, a studio barely out of Poverty Row -- were able to achieve these production values.

    Also quite good, in a supporting role, is Ruth Warren as Carrillo's press agent. Unfortunately, Warren was precisely the same character type as several other better-known and better actresses -- Jean Dixon and Glenda Farrell spring to mind -- so she failed to claim a niche for herself among Hollywood's character actresses. As the romantic leads in this melange, Robert Young and the insipid Constance Cummings are as dull as dishwater. I've never yet seen a performance by Cummings that impressed me.

    'The Guilty Generation', well-directed by the underrated Rowland V Lee, and nicely photographed by Byron Haskin, is probably of greatest interest to Karloff fans. Be advised that Karloff's role is actually quite small, and he's miscast. Overall, I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The $25,000 reward put up by the newspaper for the killer of the two kids would equate to nearly $400,000 in 2016.
    • Quotes

      Tony Ricca: Can't get away with it, Mike.

      Mike Palmero: Get away with what?

      Tony Ricca: Who killed my brother-in-law?

      Mike Palmero: You accusin' me or askin' me?

      Tony Ricca: Suit youself.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film (2008)
    • Soundtracks
      Pop Goes the Weasel
      (uncredited)

      English nursery rhyme/folk song

      [Played by party band]

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 19, 1931 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Los hijos de los gángsters
    • Filming locations
      • Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Mike's mansion)
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 22 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White

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