PodBill Just what I expected

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

morrison-dylan-fan Joining in a poll on ICM for a poll on the best movies of 1927,I started looking for titles at the last minute. While scrolling for short films I stumbled on a Silent Film Noir. Just beating Fritz Lang's Noir-style Spiv epic Spiones,I was thrilled to discover that this appears to be the first ever full-on Film Noir.The plot:Proudly robbing stores sing-handed, 'Bull' Weed feels top of the world. Using some of his cold hard cash,"Bull" gets lawyer 'Rolls Royce' Wensel back on his feet,and starts working with him. Whilst becoming an unstoppable team, 'Rolls Royce' starts feeling tempted to steal what is most valuable to Bull:his girlfriend 'Feathers' McCoy. Caught up in a shoot-out with thug 'Buck' Mulligan,Bull lands in a Death Row pen. Needing help to escape,Bull discovers the loyalties of the underworld. View on the film:Paving the path of a new genre/style,director Josef von Sternberg (replacing fired Arthur Rosson) and cinematographer Bert Glennon pave the path with an extraordinary confidence,as ultra-stylised blasts of smoke gunfire give the shootouts a frantic energy which is still felt in Neo-Noir and Crime films. Sending 'Feathers' in the air with glowing lights giving this deadly siren a Femme Fatale aura,Sternberg gives the melodrama romance between 'Bull'/ 'Feathers' and Rolls Royce a Film Noir grilling via the locations having a documentary grit and hanging shadows lighting the darkness awaiting the trio.Wanting his name (and that of co-writers Howard Hawks/Charles Furthman & Robert N. Lee) removed from what was expected by the studio to be a flop, Ben Hecht ended up winning Best Screenplay at the first ever Oscar's.Giving a voice to the genre,Hecht makes the dialogue crackle with a rich pessimism,lit by an awareness from Bull of sinking into the depths of the underworld.Stepping into the first pair of Femme Fatale heels,the elegant Evelyn Brent gives a marvellous performance as 'Feathers',whose Melodrama romantic feelings towards the guys is given a Film Noir sass by Brent which is as light as a feather. Taking aim at the Noir loner figure, George Bancroft gives a magnificent performance as 'Bull',which strikes with a burning madness in Bull's eyes,which Bancroft subtly underlines with a growing sorrow,as Film Noir comes out of the underworld.

evanston_dad A stylish late silent from Josef von Sternberg about a crime lord (George Bancroft) who makes over an alcoholic bum (Clive Brook) only to succumb to murderous jealousy when he suspects his girlfriend (Evelyn Brent) of falling for the reformed and refined gentleman.Von Sternberg makes active and imaginative use of his camera, and the film is crisp and dynamic. You can tell watching it that it influenced a thousand gangster pictures that came after it, and Warner Bros. pretty much adopted its gritty look wholesale for the slew of cheap crime fills it would go on to make throughout the 1930s."Underworld" brought Ben Hecht the very first Oscar for Original Story, which at the time was the closest thing to an award for Best Original Screenplay that the Academy doled out.Grade: A

rdjeffers Monday, October 18, 7pm, The Paramount, Seattle"Attila, the Hun, at the gates of Rome." A drunk (Clive Brook) stumbles onto a bank robbery "...in the dead of night" and the gangster committing the crime snatches him from the street. Impressed by his resolute character when humiliated and threatened with violence, Bull Weed (George Bancroft) nicknames the derelict "Rolls Royce" and offers to put him "on his feet." The gangster's moll Feathers (Evelyn Brent) and his new man fall in love and engage in a struggle over happiness, or loyalty to their friend, as the coming battle envelops them.Film critic Andrew Sarris described the setting of Underworld, directed by master realist Josef von Sternberg, as "festive criminality." Brook delivers a career performance as the sage with nothing to lose, opposite Bancroft's archetypal thug. Comedian Larry Semon is also featured in a rare dramatic role. Based on an original story by Hollywood legend Ben Hecht Underworld won the first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Michael_Elliott Underworld (1927) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Big-time gangster Bull Weed (George Bancroft) takes pity on an alcoholic lawyer (Clive Brooke) and gets him cleaned up and back into shape. Soon the lawyer and the gangster's moll (Evelyn Brent) begin to fall in love but they both owe Bull everything they own so this puts a hamper on their relationship. D.W. Griffith is credited with making the first gangster film and 1915's REGENERATION gets credit for being the first feature-length film to feature gangsters but I think it's fair to say that UNDERWORLD is what really shaped the genre for decades to come. When you watch this film you can see the impact it would have on Warner and their upcoming gangster pictures with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. You can also see the impact it would have on films like SCARFACE. The Oscar-winning screenplay from Ben Hecht really puts us into the life of gangsters and their lifestyles better than any movie up to this point so I'm sure that's the reason this thing went over so well with people back when it was released. The most impressive thing for me was the beautiful look of the film and it's clear von Sternberg wanted to show the fast, loose and dangerous world that these men lived in. I really loved how the director would shoot the more outrageous stuff extremely fast and almost out of control as this really did make you feel as if you're were involved with these men and you could feel the pace that their lives worked. One of the best scenes happen early on when the lawyer, still working like a bum, gets picked on by another gangster to get some money out of a dog bowl. Just take a look at this sequence and see how von Sternberg slows things down just to add some built up tension that something bad could happen at any second. This type of suspense is used in the same fashion later in the film when the moll comes under attack by this same gangster. Bancroft is downright marvelous in the role of Bull and you can easily see the influence he's have on everyone who would play a gangster. I loved the toughness he brought to the role and in the scenes where he goes off you can't help but understand and feel why everyone would be frightened of him. Bancroft has the perfect look for the role and you can't help but feel he was born to play the part. Brooke is also very good in his more serious and straight role. Brent is wonderful as well and we also get strong support from Fred Kohler as the rival gangster and Larry Semon gets a few funny scenes of comic relief. I did have a few problems with the film and that includes the ending, which I found to be quite bad and it really took away from how the characters were throughout the film. I won't ruin everything but I didn't believe what happened and thought the film should have ended in a different way. I also thought the love story could have used a couple more scenes just to build it up as the relationship between the lawyer and moll seemed to happen a bit too fast. With that said, this is a very important film and it's easy to see why it was such a hit in its day and why it would influence so many.