This week, gangster films take over UCSD-TV’s World Cinema Saturdays. Watch gritty performances from leading actors including James Cagney, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Edward G. Robinson.
The night begins with Angels with Dirty Faces directed by Michael Curtiz. The film, starring Cagney and Bogart, explores the idolization of gangsters, chiefly through the eyes of young people. The Dead End Kids, featuring a noted group of young actors in their day, disrupt the friendship between the local priest and a big-time gangster, played by Cagney.
Later, Edward G. Robinson joyously portrays the gangster Caesar Enrico Bandello in the 1931 classic, Little Caesar. This film is a first-rate example in which cinema audiences experience the thrill of gangster violence while also seeing that violence turned against the gangster, himself. This is Edward G. Robinson’s breakthrough performance placing him permanently on the Hollywood landscape. Little Caesar garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the fourth (that’s right — the fourth) annual Academy Awards.
The Petrified Forest, The Public Enemy, and White Heat round out the star-studded lineup!
Visit UCSD-TV’s World Cinema Saturdays for a complete schedule and upcoming films.