The Underworld

George Bancroft   d/ Josef von Sternberg

Restored silent from 1927. As always much of the acting was clownishly overdone but one character was subtle and well-written enough to work for me. I was detached for 45 minutes or so but as the drama went on I found myself engrossed and held on to see how the plot was resolved.

This film was written by Ben Hecht and it showed. It is said to have begun the gangster genre that was so prevalent in hollywood in the 30's.

Mostly historical value at this point.

5