The Grandaddy of gangster movies appears cliched today only because so many movies have used its plot as a template, but it still throbs with raw energy thanks to a powerhouse performance from burly George Bancroft. He plays Bull Weed, a notorious - but essentially kindhearted - mobster, who pulls an unconvincingly down-and-out Clive Brook out of the gutter only for Brook to fall for his moll, 'Feathers' McCoy (Evelyn Brent). Shot with an agreeable eye for the gritty milieu of the underworld, Josef von Sternberg's drama builds to the kind of violent stand-off with the cops that would become a staple of the genre.
Review of Underworld
