Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

kidboots The first outing for this movie was in 1920 - it was a Universal Jewel which meant it was a top production for it's star player Priscilla Dean, a very up and coming player in Lon Chaney and their top director Tod Browning who, like Frank Capra later on at Columbia, his innovative movies were putting Universal on the map. Fast forward ten years and with talkies Browning was losing his magic touch. I so wanted to like this movie but by this time Mary Nolan's severe personal problems were fast eroding Universal's confidence in her, what with the lurid headlines and the on set diva behaviour. I always felt Nolan had a lot of acting talent but it was obvious she needed a director who was going to channel her emotions - something that Browning, in 1930, was unable to do. Bringing up all her emotions for the tough girl part of Connie's personality, she had no believability when the vulnerability had to surface at the end. Watching, you realise what a terrific actress Priscilla Dean had been. The earlier movie had featured Lon Chaney as Cobra and his appearances were superb but now the spot light was on Edward G. Robinson (even though Nolan's name preceded his in the credits) and because he was still finding his movie feet, the part became conventional. Only Owen Moore bought naturalism to his part as "Fingers", the crook with a conscience. Robinson plays Cobra who is double crossed in a bank hold up - his two partners "Fingers" and "Connie" disappear with the cash. The problem with the movie then is that Robinson drops out of sight as the plot concentrates on the other two who hide out in an apartment. "Fingers" then finds himself under the spell of a little boy who lives in an adjoining apartment little realising that his father is the local policeman!! Mary Nolan's emotions were given no reign, there was even an horribly racist scene where she and Robinson were getting pretty cosy and then his mother enters and she realises Cobra has Oriental blood - her highly emotive acting (as well as dowsing herself with water so she won't be contaminated) is pretty terrible to watch. But just when you think it is all about Mary, "Fingers" does a character change from a wanting to go straight and settle down type of guy to "let's take the money and run"!! It's all a bit much and Browning handles the climax far less smoothly than he did in the original. The original featured an exciting gun battle between the three protagonists but in this one, probably because of the restrictions of the microphone - Cobra comes to the flat, is knocked unconscious by "Fingers" who then spends the rest of the film trying to save the life of the little boy's father!!This movie would have greatly benefited by giving Robinson a more prominent part!!

bkoganbing Before Edward G. Robinson had his career role in Little Caesar he did a few films including a couple of silent movies and in several of them played a gangster. Watching Outside The Law you think you are watching Robinson in a dress rehearsal for Little Caesar.All the snarling all the mannerisms are there for Robinson in this film. He plays a gangland boss who likes to control all the crime action in his are and get his cut. But Owen Moore and moll Mary Nolan aren't splitting with anybody when they pull a bank job. So it's a question of whether the cops will get them or Robinson.Nolan though she overacts considerably as did just about everyone in those early talkies. She tries to vamp Robinson, but he's as uninterested as he was in Little Caesar.Curiously enough both Moore and Nolan were coming close to the end of their respective careers. Both were known for high living and partying away in the Roaring Twenties. They both died too young.But Robinson was just getting started and you'll swear you are seeing Little Caesar. Had he been the main character as he was in Little Caesar this could have been the breakout role for him. Tod Browning directed this film and it's remake of one he did ten years earlier with Lon Chaney. A real treat for fans of Eddie Robinson.

David_Brown I just saw this film on YouTube, and this mortality tale (about Irish mobsters, crooks (the lovers Connie Madden (Mary Nolan), and Irish Born Owen Moore (Harry 'Fingers' O'Dell)), and of course, Cops is worth watching. Edward G. Robinson, who already has his Rico (from "Little Caesar") persona down pat (cigar and all), and his 'Cobra' Collins is the main reason to watch. What is interesting is he is actually half-Chinese (they show him with his mom), and yet, he is at the "Top of the Irish Rackets." Every scene involving Robinson s excellent, in fact the only non-Robinson scene that is really good, is with Connie, a kid (whose dad is a Police Captain), and puppies, and how this kid can melt her extremely cold heart. Spoilers Ahead: If anyone has seen "Three Godfathers" (with John Wayne), they can anticipate how it ends, with the outlaws willing to accept jail, to do the right thing (in this case saving the kid's father after he got shot by Robinson, instead of fleeing with $500,000 (of course, Robinson gets his at the hands of 'Fingers'), and both Connie & 'Fingers' are redeemed by Christ (there is a scene of a Cross embedded in the floor). In fact, like "3 Godfather's" where Wayne gets sentenced to the minimum 1 year in prison for a bank robbery, they got sentenced from 1-4 years for a bank robbery (the cop put in a good word for them). If people like uplifting films, Robinson & Gangsters it is worth watching. 9/10 stars.

brliqq This flick has Robinson in his vintage character form as a gangster named Cobra, with his cigars and his infamous "Ny'a See". Fingers and Connie play a robbery team thats moving in on Cobra's turf and is forced to hid out from the law, and Cobra. Nothing great about this film that should make one go crazy to see it. The most enjoyable parts in the movie is Robinson doing his ol' mob boss routine where it almost gets humorous.