FILM ESSAY: GANGSTER MOVIES DURING THE POST CODE ERA

A fascinating part of history in early cinema was the Pre-Code era. From the end of the silent era to mid-1934, Hollywood films were able to show mature and graphic content, such as sex, and excessive violence, before they would be commonplace in modern entertainment. Granted, these films are not as shocking to watch from a modern standpoint for how tamed it was, but at the time audiences and critics have found the material to be highly grotesque and inappropriate. Because Hollywood is deciding to take more risks with their films while still grounding them to the point where they can still meet most of the standards set for the time, naturally controversy would arouse (especially from the censors).

A genre that became popular during this era are gangster films. These films would take the violence in cinema to a completely new level, as the character we are supposed to identify with for the entirety of the film is a merciless criminal. A prime example of a pre-code gangster movie is the original "Scarface" from 1932. The film's protagonist Tony Camonte (an Italian immigrant in the bootlegging business played by Paul Muni) is a man with no moral values. He does have people in his life like his Mother (Inez Palange), his sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak), and his best friend Guino (George Raft). However, his relationship with them isn't exactly the best. His Mother despises him for his crime; he always abuses his sister when catching her taking part in naughty activity; and he treats Guino more as a business partner than a friend who he later kills in cold blood towards the end of the film. All he ever cared about was money, power, and his lust for women (particularly his bosses' girlfriend), who is willing to kill anybody who crosses him. During the film's entirety, he is seen to be doing numerous acts of crime such as assault, vandalizing, stealing, and murdering, showing little to no remorse or hesitation when carrying out these deeds. If anything, he loves doing it for how fun and rewarding it is to him. When Tony gets gunned-down in the film's climax by the authorities, there is no sympathy to be found in his downfall. We see him helplessly begging for his life to be spared after being cornered and losing all the people in his life, but in the end we all know that he deserved to die. The only reason why anyone would feel any emotional attachment to Tony is that he's our main character who we love to watch based on his wild personality, enjoyment for power, and taking out his rivals in such gruesome fashion. The film received a large amount of controversy from the censors, demanding for the film to be changed to make Tony seem less like an anti-hero and more of a figure that is "shaming the nation". And even with added scenes of the film stopping dead in its tracks of the public condemning Tony, and a new ending where Tony is hung, the censors were still unsatisfied. The only compromise made for the film to be distributed (with its original ending) is to let each individual state decide to screen it or not.

When the infamous Hays Code took effect, Hollywood movies began to change. Films now had to follow a list of rules and regulations of what is appropriate to show on-screen and what is not suitable to film. Because of these limitations, ruthless gangsters acting as main characters became obsolete at the time. The only way a gangster can be a main character in a movie is if he had morals. Take the classic tough guy actor James Cagney for instance. Before the Hays Code, Cagney was best known for playing the cold-blooded Tom Powers in "The Public Enemy". Just like Camonte, he enjoyed killing people, loved stealing to get what he desires, and without warning assaulted women (most infamously with a grapefruit). After the code was put into effect, until his performance in "White Heat", Cagney portrayed gangsters in a light-hearted kind of way.

As the character Rocky Sullivan in "Angels with Dirty Faces" for example, he does the same crimes that Camonte and Powers have done, only he’s not shown to be a heartless monster either. As demonstrated in his childhood, before he gets pinched for the first time for trying to steal fountain pens on a freight train, he rescues his friend Jerry before he could get hit by a train. When he gets caught by the authorities after Jerry makes his escape, he chooses to take the fall for him, not caring how he'll be treated. Tom Powers as a kid would never take the fall for someone else, let alone helping him or her. All he did was steal and play jokes on people. After fifteen years of killing, smuggling, and doing some time, Rocky reunites with his friend Jerry (Pat O'Brien) who is now serving as a priest. Though he is still going on as a criminal, he tries to help him out, whether it’s from donations out of his stolen money, or recruiting and coaching a gang of young hoodlums for a basketball game. While helping his friend, he mentors the same hoodlums who he helps coach who idolize him. Though he cares for the kids and his friend Jerry, Rocky can never leave his life of crime for how much he enjoys it. For refusing to go straight, the kids he mentors wish to be exactly like him for the money he makes from killing, stealing, and cheating. Jerry tries to steer him away from it, and though Rocky can't, he does try to compromise with his friend, rather than slapping him and coldly walking away. In the end when Rocky is caught and sentenced to the electric chair, Jerry asks Rocky to die as a coward to set an example for the kids who look up to him. Rocky refuses, until he is about to be placed on the chair fighting and begging not to be killed. The film never clearly states if Rocky really died a coward, or just faked it as his last favor for his dear friend, but we know that underneath this tough guy lies a man who still has a bit of a heart and some of mercy.

The only characters with a heart as black as Camonte and Powers in "Angels with Dirty Faces" is businessman Mac Keefer (George Bancroft) and Rocky's crooked lawyer Frazier played by the great Humphrey Bogart. Before Bogart would win audiences over with his bittersweet charm in films like "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon", he would star in a number of roles playing the heartless antagonist. From playing a gangster on the run in "The Petrified Forrest", to a backstabbing racketeer in "The Roaring Twenties", Bogart's career would finally take new heights in "High Sierra". Unlike Bogart's previous roles as a gangster, his character Roy Earle is portrayed in more of a sympathetic light. After his release from prison, Roy (a gangster who specializes in robberies) plans to do one last heist before retiring from his life of a crime. While acting aggressive, and showing no problems with killing a man, Roy shows genuine wishful fulfillment of wanting to go straight. When he is not dealing with amateur hoodlums in preparation for the heist, he finds comfort with a farmer (Henry Travers) and his granddaughter Velma (Joan Leslie) who walks with a limp because of her clubbed foot. His interaction with the family reminds him of his life as a farmer before he started doing jobs for the mob. Roy eventually falls in love with Velma to the point where he pays for her operation on her foot. As Roy sets his heart on Velma, a moll named Marie (Ida Lupino) shows feelings for him. Despite that Roy has no interest in a love relationship with her, he is protective of her from the men he works with in the heist due to their abusive nature. Unfortunately for Roy, his quest for freedom doesn't get him far. Velma turns him down for a man she already loved. People fear and scorn at Roy for his reputation in the underworld when he's doing no harm. And after finding love with Marie and scoring big dough, he becomes a wanted criminal for the heist forcing him to hide up in the Sierra mountains making his last stand before being shot down.

For many fans of classic films (particularly for gangster films), the pre-code era was indeed an ambitious time for Hollywood that has given us some of the greatest baddies who have left their mark on cinema. Though many gangster films would suffer from being dumbed down too much when the code forced Hollywood to change how they made films, there are still plenty of great post-code films during that time that made classics within their limitations. It's always entertaining to watch Cagney intimidate people in "The Public Enemy", but it's also nice to see him play a tough guy who isn't heartless or completely selfish. Bogart was perfect playing villains, but it took a temporary change in film-making to prove that he can do more than just play the bad guy. Gangster films sadly wouldn't be as strong as they once were for a while until Film-Noirs would progressively help revolutionize the genre and the art of film-making. In 1965, the Hays Code finally fell in place for a rating system that is still around today. With the Hays Code no longer in control, filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, and Quentin Tarantino have made gangster films unlike any others that has helped make the genre popular again by showing content that wouldn't be suitable in early gangster films.

FILM ESSAY: MY GUYS CHARLIE CHAPLIN, THE MARX BROTHERS, AND WILLIAM POWELL

Back in October, I provided early examples of Psychological Thrillers based on the genres definition by exploring how their characteristics are presented. Well now, I'd like to dive-in into a genre that everybody likes which is comedy. It's a vague topic given that there are so many different kind of sub-genres in comedy to explore such as parody, romantic comedies, dark comedies, and animation. Not to mention there being tons of classics to touch upon. Therefore, to keep it simple I will discuss two sub-genres of comedy from early cinema, starting with slapstick.

The dictionary defines slapstick as "comedy based on deliberately clumsy actions and humorously embarrassing events." During the silent era of cinema slapstick was highly popular in comedies, as many of the popular ones would feature stars like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and of course Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin has done a number of comedic shorts at the time playing his trademark character the Tramp, a child-like vagrant who tries to behave like a sophisticated gentleman yet always finds himself getting into trouble. The first full length that Chaplin starred in as his trademark character was the 1921 silent classic "The Kid" which he also directed, produced, and written. The film has been praised enormously for its emotions, social commentary, and touching bond between Chaplin and the kid. As it succeeds incredibly as a drama, it also works perfectly as a slapstick comedy.



A film involving Chaplin's Tramp character would never be complete if we did not see him getting into trouble at the cost of himself or others. As soon the Tramp enters the film, already he finds himself in a situation that he has trouble getting out of, resulting with him being humiliated at every turn. Upon finding a baby that was abandoned in an alley, the Tramp tries various attempts to get rid of the child. He tries to put the child in a woman's baby carriage with another infant, only for him to be yelled at. When that doesn't work he places the baby back in the alley where he found him to then instantly retrieve him when a cop watches this action. Upon coming across another bum on the street, he gives the baby to him, only to place the child back inside the baby carriage by the same woman the Tramp met earlier. Once she sees the Tramp passing by, he gets blamed for it, resulting with him being dragged and hit by her umbrella as she summons the same police officer he met earlier.



The highlight of the film demonstrating its physical humor at its strongest is without question the fight scene in the alley. The kid gets into a fight with another kid, which gains the neighborhood's attention. The people watching this aren't exactly against seeing two kids fight; if anything, they're thrilled by it (including the Tramp), treating it like a boxing match. The Tramp is excited to see the kid he raised win until the other kid’s larger than life brother walks in threatening the Tramp that he will beat him up if his brother loses. The other kid loses, as the Tramp tries to make him look like he won the fight, only to see his own kid still attacking his opponent. The older brother tries to hit the Tramp as he ducks his punches and hides. While being attacked the brother swings punches at a cop, punches through a brick wall, and causes a lamppost to tilt. The fight comes to a halt by the film's leading female star, who forces the two to shake hands. The man offers the Tramp to hit him on the cheek as an excuse for him to attack him. The Tramp does so, and then proceeds to hit him on the head with a brick, followed by a kick, and another hit to the head (through one of the oldest tricks in the book). Once again, the Tramp keeps ducking his opponent’s punches, as well as hitting him. And at the climax of it all, the Tramp retreats inside a building where the bully decides to politely knock on the door (as opposed to bursting inside), where the Tramp answers by giving him another hard hit to the head, making the other man walk away exclaiming that "he isn't home".



One person can be all you need for slapstick, but let’s not forget the many teams who doubled the amount laughs. The late 20s through the 50s was practically the golden age for comedy teams that have provided laughs that are still as hard as they were back when they came out. We've had Laurel and Hardy, the Little Rascals, Abotto and Costello, Martin and Lewis, and the Three Stooges. A team who is up-there with the greats are the famous Marx Brothers who were witty, spontaneous, over the top and insanely funny (with the exception of the fourth Marx that nobody cares about Zeppo). As the early 20s gave Chaplin a chance to star as the Tramp in a full-length film that he created, the late 20s gave the Marx Brothers their start in starring in an hour and half film titled "The Cocoanuts". The film is a mess full of contrived musical numbers, a convoluted plot with little focus, and a romance involving Zeppo that just exists. What saves the film from being an uneventful mess is when Groucho, Chico, and Harpo appear on-screen. Groucho's cynical sense of humor and his exchanges with the dimwitted Chico are always filled with such roaring laughter that proves you don't always need to swear to be insulting and funny. But when regarding the Marx Brothers from a slapstick stand-point, most of the physical humor comes from the mute of the group Harpo. Everything he does in the film is highly unpredictable. Sometimes he'll just eat random props (such as a phone, buttons on a bellhop,s jacket). Other times he'll just goof around with a random stranger for no reason. And half of the time he would be able to steal items without you noticing it, as you're left baffled with how he managed to achieve this (he steals a guy's jacket from under his trench-coat without him noticing or ripping it off). Harpo's spontaneous personality usually results with him either harming others (like a bellhop who he thinks is stealing his suitcase), or himself (when trying to break Zeppo out of jail).



Harpo's funny on his own; however, when the Marx Brothers (with the exception of Zeppo) all get involved into the slapstick, what we see is pure comedy gold. A scene that is perfectly timed, written, and choreography involving the three Marx Brothers is the Door Routine sequence. The scene takes place in two rooms in the hotel that are next door to each other. In room 320 we witness the film's scheming antagonist Penelope plan to steal the necklace from the rich women in room 318, Mrs. Potter, who's currently not in her room at the moment. A simple scheme that should be finished in a snap, until Harpo sneaks under Penelope's bed undetected, as Chico (who was invited to her room earlier) tries woo her. Next-door Groucho plans to strike up a deal with Mrs. Potter only to find her gone, yet checks on the other room. For about 5 minutes, we see the Marx Brothers running around in circles from both rooms and the hallway by trying to accomplish their desires while also avoiding each other. To make things more chaotic, Mrs. Potter eventually shows up to her room as all this mayhem is happening around her, consequently making things difficult for Penelope to steal her necklace. And if that isn't enough, a detective who's suspicious of Chico and Harpo gets involved in this crazy chase. Neither one of the Marx Brothers gets what they want in the end of the scene; therefore, through all this nonsense involving their physical comedy, they are left in embarrassment.



 Another form of comedy that was popular in the 30s were Screwball comedies. This kind of comedy is defined as a "genre of motion picture or play where opposites were juxtaposed; characterized by snappy dialog, and a blend of sophistication and slapstick." A fine example of a classic screwball comedy would be "My Man Godfrey, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard. The film portrays an upper class rich family as wild spoiled fools who pass judgement on people who aren't part of the same class. That all changes when a bum named Godfrey is found at the city dump during a scavenger hunt by one of the daughters, Irene, who eventually decides to hire him as a Butler. Godfrey proves himself to be more than just a typical bum; he's in many ways very sophisticated who speaks his mind condemning the upper class for acting less civilized when compared to the lower class. To him, after being let down by the rich due to a broken love affair that cost him everything that he had and nearly led him to suicide, he discovers that the poor are willing to support each other and fight for their beliefs as opposed to just complaining about everything, as they selfishly think about themselves and money. By being brought back to the upper class performing his duty as a Butler, while noticing their flaws he acknowledges the good in them as well as learning from each member of the family, and so does the family when they discover how smart and hardworking a “forgotten man” can be.



 As the film explores the conflict through social classes between Godfrey and the family, all kinds of comedic mayhem ensues. There are many times in the film Godfrey is put in situations that could get him into serious trouble. As Cornelia (one of the daughters), tries to put him in jail by framing him that he stole a necklace after failing to make him miserable. Godfrey off-screen removes the necklace from the hiding place, as a disappointed Cornelia accidentally spills the beans that she orchestrated it, leaving her humiliated. At another point Godfrey sees one of his friends at a party he's serving, who he tries to avoid meeting to keep his past private, where he eventually asks him to take part in his lies about his past to the family after they meet up. Some of the film's comedy does include elements of slapstick. Take the scene when Irene who's madly in love with Godfrey fakes swooning to get his attention. Godfrey's knows well that she's faking it, so instead of leaving her, he puts her (fully clothed) under a cold shower. Rather than being upset by this action, she rejoices that he did it because he loved her, which Godfrey denies. The characters in the film are all played for comedy given how silly, and exaggerated, their personalities are where the majority of the film's humor relies on jokes based on their characters. Most of the witty humor comes from Godfrey himself for his comments of the odd behaviors he serves for, as we ourselves as laughing with him while also being as weirded out by their actions as he is.

I can go on forever talking about the great comedians who specialize in slapstick in early films, and more gut busting works from Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. There are tons of rich Screwball comedies that can be used as a prime example of the genre (such as "The Awful Truth", "Bringing Up Baby", "Some Like It Hot"). These are all just a taste of the kind of comedies you'd expect from both genres and some of the comedians. If there is one thing to take away from any of these films when judging them on a level of comedy, they prove that no matter how old they are, they can be just as big with their laughs as they were when they first came out.