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His ultimate goal is to become involved in construction planning. Allen follows a hobo he met at a homeless shelter into a cafe, taking him up on his offer of a free meal. When the hobo attempts to rob the eatery, Allen is charged as an accessory, convicted of stealing a few dollars, and sentenced to ten years in a chain gang. The men are chained together and transported to a quarry to break rocks every day. Even when unchained from each other, shackles remain around their ankles at all times. Allen convinces a large black prisoner who has particularly good aim to hit the shackles on his ankles with a sledgehammer to bend them. He removes his feet from the bent shackles, and in a famous sequence, escapes through the woods while being chased by bloodhounds. On the outside he develops a new identity and becomes a respected developer in
Chicago. He is blackmailed into marriage by a woman he does not love who finds out his secret. When he threatens to leave her for a young woman he has fallen in love with, she turns him in. His case becomes a
606:. When the film begins, Camonte works for Johnny Lovo but is unhappy being a subordinate, and is attracted to Lovo's girlfriend Poppy. He has a deep love for his promiscuous sister, who he expects to remain chaste, which has often been deemed incestuous. Lovo warns Camonte to leave the North Side alone as it is controlled by a rival mob. Camonte ignores this warning and begins a series of executions and extortions that result in a war with the North side gang. Camonte then takes the gang over from Lovo, at which point Lovo tries to kill him but fails. Camonte murders Lovo and Poppy becomes his girl. When Camonte finds his missing sister in a hotel room with his closest friend, the coin flipping gangster Guino Rinaldo (played by
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scenes involving stabbing or knife brandishing (stabbings were considered more disturbing than shootings by audiences), most whippings, several involving choking, torture, or electrocution, and scenes which could be considered educational in their depiction of crime methods. Sadistic violence, and reaction shots showing the faces of individuals on the receiving end of violence were considered especially sensitive areas. The Code later recommended against scenes showing "robbery", "theft", "safe-cracking", "arson", "the use of firearms", "dynamiting of trains, machines, and buildings", and "brutal killings" on the basis that they would be rejected by local censors.
47:. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later. Although the Hays office had specifically recommended removing profanity, the drug trade, and prostitution from pictures, it had never officially recommended against depictions of violence in any form in the 1920s. State censor boards, however, created their own guidelines, and New York in particular developed a list of violent material which had to be removed for a picture to be shown in the state. Two main types of crime films were released during the period: the gangster picture and the prison film.
416:), move to Chicago. Joe wants to go straight and meets a woman. Rico, however, seeks a life of crime and joins the gang of Sam Vettori, rising to the rank of boss in the crime family. After becoming concerned his friend will betray him, he threatens him, at which point Joe's girlfriend goes to the police. Unable to bring himself to kill Joe and thus eliminate the witness against him, Rico goes into hiding. He is coaxed out by the police who publish that he is a coward to the press, and Rico is shot and killed by the police. As he is dying, he says "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?"
625:. Hughes sent the picture to numerous state censorship boards, saying that he hoped to show the film was made to combat the "gangster menace". After failing to get the film past the New York State censor board (then headed by Wingate) even after the changes, Hughes decided to release the movie in a version close to its original form. When other local censors refused to release the edited version, the Hays Office sent Jason Joy around to ensure them that the cycle of gangster films of this nature was coming to an end.
348:, were incredibly violent films that created a new type of anti-hero. Driven by the performance of one protagonist, they were considered "actors' vehicles". Nine gangster films were released in 1930, 26 in 1931, 28 in 1932, and 15 in 1933, when the genre's popularity began to subside after the end of Prohibition. The backlash against gangster pictures was swift. In 1931 Jack L. Warner announced that his studio would stop making them, and that he had never let his 15-year-old son see one.
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depicted the inhumane conditions in prisons in the early 1930s. The genre was composed of two archetypes: the prison film and the chain gang film. In the prison film, large hordes of men move about in identical uniforms, resigned to their fate, they live by a well defined code. In the chain gang film, Southern prisoners were subjected to a draconian system in the blazing outdoors where they were treated terribly by their ruthless captors. The prototype of the prison genre was 1930's
863:
641:, said that the film blends "comedy and horror in a manner that suggests Chico Marx let loose with a live machine gun." In one scene, Camonte is inside a cafe while a torrent of machine gun fire from the car of a rival gang is headed his way. His bumbling assistant, following orders from Camonte, keeps trying to answer the phone instead of ducking even after the gangsters make several passes by the cafe. After the barrage is over, Camonte picks up a
129:
302:, Hays recruited former police chief August Vollmer to conduct a study on the effect gangster pictures had on children. After he had finished his work, Vollmer stated that gangster films were innocuous and actually too favorable in their depiction of the police. Although Hays used the results to defend the film industry, the New York State censorship board was not impressed and from 1930 to 1932 removed 2,200 crime scenes from pictures.
835:
279:. Gangsters like Capone had transformed the perception of entire towns. Capone gave Chicago its "reputation as the locus classicus of American gangsterdom, a cityscape where bullet-proof roadsters with tommygun-toting hoodlums on running boards careened around State Street spraying fusillades of slugs into flower shop windows and mowing down the competition in blood-spattered garages." Capone appeared on the cover of
22:
788:, and he agrees to turn himself in under the agreement that he will serve 90 days and then be released. He is tricked however, and not freed at the agreed upon time. This forces him to escape again, and he seeks out the young woman, telling her that they cannot be together because he will always be hunted. The films end with her asking him how he survives, and his ominous reply from the darkness; "I Steal".
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621:, the film's producer, not to make the film. He ignored their pleas telling Hawks: "Screw the Hays Office. Start the picture and make it as realistic, as exciting, as grisly as possible." When the film was completed in late 1931, the Hays office demanded numerous changes, including a conclusion where Camonte was captured, tried, convicted, and hung, and demanded the film carry the subtitle
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the film should have been released as it was; Joy argued that "the more ghastly, the more ruthless, the criminal acts, the stronger will be the audience reaction against men of this kind, and organized crime in general." Despite a personal letter from Joy pleading the film's case, Wingate, then head of the New York censor board, extensively edited the film, as did
Pennsylvania's board.
546:, Thalberg remarked "that's not a motion picture. It's beyond a motion picture." While Wingate conceded that the film "was a story that needed to be told", other states were less convinced. Maryland and Ohio cut the grapefruit scene. All states cut a scene where Powers sleeps with a gang den mother while drunk, then slaps her when he wakes up and realizes she took advantage of him.
708:. The picture features future staples of the prison genre such as solitary confinement, informers, riots, visitations, an escape, and the codes of prison life. The protagonist, Montgomery, ends up being a loathsome character, a coward who will sell anyone in the prison out to get an early release. The film was banned in Ohio, the site of the deadly prison riots that inspired it.
359:
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814:. O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage, and is sent to prison. The dead man's brother ends up being the warden of the prison and torments O'Brien's character. O'Brien and several others revolt, killing the warden and escaping. The film, which was previously thought
514:
in that it follows Tom Powers (Cagney) from his rise to his eventual fall in the world of crime. Cagney's character contrasts his puritanical brother who wants him to go straight and their mother, who is at the center of the conflict between her two sons. Tom Powers is egotistical, amoral, heartless,
221:
The Hays Office had never recommended banning violence in any form in the 1920s—unlike profanity, the drug trade or prostitution—but advised that it be dealt with carefully. New York's censor board was the most active board of any state, reviewing around all but 50 of the country's 1,000–1,300 annual
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characters. Originally
Robinson was cast in a small role but convinced the film's producer to let him play the lead. Wingate told Hays that he was flooded with complaints from people who saw kids in theaters nationwide "applaud the gang leader as a hero." Jason Joy and Wingate disagreed over whether
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magazine had published Burns' work over six issues, and it was released as a book in
January 1932. Decorated veteran James Allen (Paul Muni) returns from World War I a changed man, and seeks an alternative to the tedious job that he left behind. He travels the country looking for construction work.
518:
The most famous scene in the picture is referred to as the "grapefruit scene"; when Cagney is eating breakfast, his girlfriend angers him, so he cruelly shoves half of a grapefruit in her face. The scene became so famous that for the rest of his life when Cagney dined at a restaurant, other patrons
305:
One of the factors that made gangster pictures so subversive was that in the difficult economic times of the
Depression there already existed the viewpoint that the only way to get financial success was through crime. Many were convinced they would lead to higher rates of juvenile delinquency. The
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later described as "a virtual remake" of the film. Motivated by financial gain in an increasingly competitive film market, and motivated by the fact that provocative pictures sold tickets, these movies pushed the boundaries of film violence. Other late 1920s crime films depicted organized crime on
419:
The film is characterized by its tight, lean narrative, and runs at a brisk pace for its 79 minutes. The Rico character is not portrayed as admirable, and is shown to possess little intelligence. The picture has a simple, obvious storyline and is filmed in brighter images during Rico's triumphant
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scene in which several black men were hanged. Reports vary if the blacks were hanged alongside other white men, or by themselves. The New Age (an
African American weekly newspaper) film critic praised the filmmakers for being courageous enough to depict the atrocities that were occurring in some
225:
In 1927–8 the violent scenes they most removed were all instances where the gun was pointed at the camera, some instances where guns were pointed "at or into the body of another character", many shots where machine guns were featured, scenes where criminals shot at law enforcement officers, some
671:
In contrast to the crumbling social system outside their walls, the prison film portrayed a universe where the state was all powerful and orderly. Sparked by the Ohio penitentiary fire on April 21, 1930 in which guards refused to release prisoners from their cells causing 300 deaths, the films
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which was still operating in the red at the time. This embarrassed Hays who had remarked at the film's opening that "the greatest of all censors—the
American public—is beginning to vote thumbs down on the "hard-boiled" realism in literature and on the stage which marked the post-war period."
312:
argued that while adults may not be affected by these films, they were "misleading, contaminating, and often demoralizing to children and youth." Exacerbating the problem, local theater owners advertised gangster pictures with a singular irresponsibility. Theaters displayed tommy guns and
156:
is one of the earliest
American films to feature urban organized crime. Prohibition's arrival in 1920 created an environment where anyone who wanted to drink had to interact with criminals, especially in urban areas. Nonetheless, the urban crime genre was ignored until 1927 when the film
285:
magazine in 1930. He was even offered seven figure sums by two major
Hollywood studios to appear in a film but declined. Dillinger became a national celebrity as a bank robber who eluded arrest and escaped confinement several times. He had become the most celebrated public outlaw since
294:
joked "if
Dillinger remains at large much longer and more such interviews are obtained, there may be some petitions circulated to make him our president." Hays wrote a cablegram to all the studios in March 1934 decreeing that Dillinger should not be portrayed in any motion picture.
732:, and others, from no less than seven studios, followed. However, prison films only appealed to men, and had weak box office performances as a result. Studios also produced children's prison films which addressed the juvenile delinquency problems of America in the Depression.
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changes the facts slightly to appeal to Depression era audiences by making Allen's return home one to a country that is struggling economically, even though Burns returned to the roaring twenties. The film's bleak, anti-establishment ending shocked audiences.
99:. The picture features future genre staples such as solitary confinement, informers, riots, an escape, and the codes of prison life. Never box office hits, prison pictures failed to attract the female audiences they needed to achieve financial success. The
260:
No motion picture genre of the Pre-Code era was more incendiary than the gangster film; neither preachment yarns nor vice films so outraged the moral guardians or unnerved the city fathers as the high caliber scenarios that made screen heroes out of stone
420:
rise, and at night and darkly shot during his fall. Among later film critics, Robinson's performances is frequently cited as the film's saving grace. The role typecast Robinson and led to caricatures from comedians, comic impressionists, and animated
662:
was released however, Capone adored the film, and purchased a personal copy. The film remained out of circulation, until Hughes's death in 1976. Universal then re-released the picture, but some scenes from the film's original cut are lost.
610:), he goes into a rage and kills Rinaldo. After he finds out that they had become married and wanted to surprise Camonte he becomes despondent. The film ends with first Camonte sister then Camonte being gunned down by police at his home.
251:" ever filmed. The Western was a subgenre of crime films. Scenes where criminals aimed guns at the camera were considered inappropriate by many state censor boards in the pre-Code and Code era, and were removed from public viewing.
169:, "The film established the fundamental elements of the gangster movie: a hoodlum hero; ominous, night-shrouded city streets; floozies; and a blazing finale in which the cops cut down the protagonist." Other gangster films such as
74:. All featured the rise and eventual fall of an organized criminal. As described by crime film scholar Jack Shadoian the maxim became, "If the films insist that one can't win, under that given it's how you lose that counts."
93:, which resulted in 300 deaths when guards refused to let inmates out of their cells, Hollywood produced movies which depicted the harsh conditions in prisons at the time. The prototype of the prison genre was 1930's
645:
one of the mobsters dropped, and exhibits child like wonder and unrestrained excitement over the new toy. Civic leaders became furious that gangsters like Capone (who was also the blatant inspiration for
537:
and others shot a horse. The film's trailer featured no scenes from the movie; it merely contained a warning of the picture's intensity and showcased a gun being fired at the camera. Zanuck also produced
542:, and was heavily involved in the film's production. He aimed for a movie where the characters were not just immoral, but free of morals, and devoid of conscience. When he showed the film to MGM's
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were so obviously taken from Capone, and the detail so close, that it was impossible not to draw the parallels. Capone sent several members of his gang to threaten screenwriter
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and real-life murders were tied into promotions. The situation reached such a nexus that the studios had to ask exhibitors to tone down the gimmickry in their promotions.
142:" ever filmed. Scenes where criminals aimed guns at the camera were considered inappropriate by the New York state censor board in the 1920s and usually removed.
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plays a squirmy inmate who is sentences to six years after committing vehicular manslaughter while under the influence. His cell mates are a murderer played by
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290:. His father appeared in a popular series of newsreels giving police homespun advice on how to catch his son. Dillinger's popularity rose so fast that
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films were produced in a similar response to the callous inhumanity of the chain gang system which was prevalent among states in the southern US.
78:
was the most controversial and violent; the film took nearly a year to reach theaters due to battles with censors. Obviously based on the life of
533:, and a scene in which Cagney kills a horse that caused the death of a friend was inspired by a similar real life event where O'Banion underling
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777:(1932), which is based on the true story of Robert. E. Burns, is by far the most famous example of those films. In the first half of 1931,
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decided to make a gangster picture in 1930 after one of his close friends was killed by a bootlegger. He purchased the rights to the novel
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771:(1932), are usually used to promote awareness about the brutal conditions that prisoners were subjected to in most Southern prisons.
113:
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650:) were being applauded in movie houses all across America. Some of the biographical details that were used for Muni's character in
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provoked outrage mainly due to its unprecedented violence, but also because of its shifts of tone from serious to comedic.
2132:
490:(1931) was released by Warner Brothers the following year and features another career defining performance, this time by
271:
In the early 1930s, several real life criminals became celebrities. Two in particular captured the American imagination:
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35:. The Hays office wanted this ending of the gangster film replaced with one where Muni's character is tried and executed.
525:, where he knocks out an amorous woman he is not interested in and violently throws her into the back seat of his car.
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and others like it outraged civic leaders who felt that movies were glorifying the lifestyles of criminals.
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376:(1931). The public's fascination with gangster films, in the early 1930s, was bolstered by, the constant
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would send his table a grapefruit. Cagney was even more violent towards women in his 1933 gangster film
1944:
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for instance, featured kids killing a murderously abusive reform school overseer without retribution.
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In the early 1900s America was still primarily a rural country, especially in terms of self-identity.
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for $ 15,000. Burnett had penned the gangster story after seeing the aftermath of the Capone ordered
95:
206:, and investigated the connection between mobsters and Broadway productions in films such as 1929's
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prepares to have his ankle shackles bent, via sledge hammer, by the prisoner, in the background in
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28:(as Tony Camonte) taunting and laughing at police officers he has just shot at in the trailer for
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161:, which is recognized as the first gangster movie, became a surprise hit. According to the
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Classical Film Violence: Designing and Regulating Brutality in Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1968
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The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the
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is considered the seminal film of the chain gang genre. Although the chain gang film
658:, but Hecht was able to convince them the picture was based on other gangsters. When
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68:(1932)—which were built on the template created by the first gangster movie, 1927's
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Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934
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446:, but the next big Hollywood gangster came from another Warner Brothers picture.
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Youth, Popular Culture and Moral Panics: Penny Gaffs to Gangsta Rap, 1830-1996.
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takes place from 1909 until 1920. The film is similar to the template set in
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Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie
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Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration
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The most violent and controversial pre-Code gangster film was undoubtedly
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and starring Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, the film is based on the life of
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was a massive box office success, and helped the financial fortunes of
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588:. Due to battles with censors, the film was delayed for almost a year.
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starred as "Bronco Billy Anderson", leader of an outlaw gang from the
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Hollywood: Social dimensions: technology, regulation and the audience
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to the screen two months earlier, it exerted nowhere the influence.
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A triumvirate of gangster pictures were released in the early 1930s—
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Pre-Code.Com – Covering All of Pre-Code Hollywood Cinema, 1930–1934
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Children, Cinema and Censorship: From Dracula to the Dead End Kids
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who was himself a fugitive at the time of the picture's release.
412:, Robinson as Rico, and his close friend Joe Massara (played by
21:
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is considered the seminal movie of the genre, and was based on
132:
A famous shot, of "Bronco Billy Anderson", from the 1903 film
1868:
Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies
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408:. Generally considered the grandfather of gangster films, in
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in a career defining performance as gangster Rico Bandello.
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The genre entered a new level following the 1931 release of
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Mob culture: hidden histories of the American gangster film
2122:
1910:
Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Crime Movies
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388:, upon whom characters like Robinson's were often based.
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Pre-Code Film at the UCLA Film & Television Archive
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Grieveson, Lee, Sonnet, Esther, and Stanfield, Peter.
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was troubled from the start. The Hays office warned
1746:
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757:(1932). Based on the autobiographical memoirs of
2154:
1741:
494:. It was adapted from the unpublished novelette
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1606:Cinema: The New Pictures: Apr. 18, 1932
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370:) when Joe wants to leave the mob in
2143:Sexual Classic Films at Filmsite.org
2027:. 2nd edition Checkmark Books 2004.
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678:I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
266:Pre-Code historian Thomas Doherty
109:I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
1989:. Rutgers University Press 2003
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89:Stirred into action by the 1930
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193:were released to capitalize on
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229:
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1580:(1932), United States:
704:and a forger played by
515:and extremely violent.
244:The Great Train Robbery
135:The Great Train Robbery
2069:. Public Affairs 2004
877:List of pre-Code films
762:
589:
478:
414:Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
389:
269:
143:
91:Ohio penitentiary fire
43:in 1934 is denoted as
36:
1528:The Chicago Sun-Times
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570:
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368:Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
361:
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131:
24:
1912:. I. B. Tauris 2006
1691:Doherty. pgs. 159-60
855:United States portal
598:(1932). Directed by
400:by Chicago reporter
324:. The film featured
1717:Wollstein, Hans J.
1280:Null, Christopher.
1262:Shadoian. pgs. 40–2
1141:Springhall. pg. 100
1102:Doherty. pgs. 137-8
574:in the trailer for
366:) confronting Joe (
247:(1903), the first "
190:The Doorway to Hell
2037:Springhall, John.
1971:Parkinson, David.
1866:Black, Gregory D.
1727:The New York Times
1521:2013-02-13 at the
1322:2006-10-20 at the
1287:2011-04-15 at the
1242:The New York Times
892:Pre-Code sex films
887:Pre-Code Hollywood
763:
613:The production of
590:
479:
440:, and Paramount's
390:
364:Edward G. Robinson
326:Edward G. Robinson
178:Lights of New York
144:
45:Pre-Code Hollywood
37:
1985:Prince, Stephen.
1759:Black. pgs. 158–9
1486:"Scarface (1932)"
1041:Prince. pgs. 27–8
1032:Prince. pgs. 23–8
823:southern states.
734:The Mayor of Hell
723:Shadow of the Law
717:The Criminal Code
698:Robert Montgomery
635:, writing in the
623:Shame of a Nation
309:Kansas City Times
197:popularity, with
124:Early crime films
114:the autobiography
2195:
2079:Vieira, Mark A.
2065:Turan, Kenneth.
2006:Shadoian, Jack.
1999:Schatz, Thomas.
1939:Leitch, Thomas.
1908:Hughes, Howard.
1854:
1851:
1842:
1839:Laughter in Hell
1836:
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474:The Public Enemy
451:The Public Enemy
394:Darryl F. Zanuck
334:The Public Enemy
300:The Public Enemy
267:
235:Justus D. Barnes
59:The Public Enemy
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1973:History of Film
1961:. ABL-CIO 2006
1957:Niemi, Robert.
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683:Hell's Highway
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431:The Secret Six
386:John Dillinger
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2178:Crime films
1941:Crime Films
1417:Dirk, Tim.
1404:Dirk, Tim.
841:Film portal
808:Pat O'Brien
686:had beaten
608:George Raft
500:John Bright
498:written by
471:'s face in
288:Jesse James
239:silent film
222:releases.
199:Thunderbolt
172:Thunderbolt
165:s entry on
2157:Categories
953:Underworld
949:Kehr, Dave
898:References
869:Law portal
793:Chain Gang
469:Mae Clarke
465:grapefruit
463:smashes a
434:and Fox's
344:featuring
315:blackjacks
209:Tenderloin
184:The Racket
167:Underworld
159:Underworld
101:chain gang
71:Underworld
1723:All Movie
1578:Scarface.
1343:Film4.com
749:Paul Muni
676:. 1932's
656:Ben Hecht
643:tommy gun
633:Dave Kehr
604:Al Capone
586:Al Capone
584:gangster
572:Paul Muni
382:Al Capone
346:Paul Muni
336:starring
273:Al Capone
80:Al Capone
41:Hays Code
26:Paul Muni
1561:Scarface
1541:Scarface
1519:Archived
1516:Scarface
1320:Archived
1285:Archived
827:See also
820:lynching
688:Fugitive
660:Scarface
652:Scarface
629:Scarface
615:Scarface
595:Scarface
577:Scarface
562:Scarface
378:newsreel
342:Scarface
264:—
261:killers.
230:Westerns
215:Broadway
204:Broadway
84:Scarface
76:Scarface
65:Scarface
56:(1931),
31:Scarface
1860:Sources
1545:Variety
582:Chicago
477:(1931).
292:Variety
249:Western
140:Western
2109:
2087:
2073:
2059:
2045:
2031:
2014:
1993:
1979:
1965:
1951:
1933:
1916:
1902:
1888:
1874:
512:Caesar
410:Caesar
362:Rico (
340:, and
330:Caesar
187:, and
33:(1932)
1947:2004
1929:1988
540:Enemy
527:Enemy
508:Enemy
467:into
2107:ISBN
2085:ISBN
2071:ISBN
2057:ISBN
2043:ISBN
2029:ISBN
2012:ISBN
1991:ISBN
1977:ISBN
1963:ISBN
1949:ISBN
1931:ISBN
1914:ISBN
1900:ISBN
1886:ISBN
1872:ISBN
1611:TIME
816:lost
384:and
282:Time
275:and
212:and
693:In
484:'s
116:of
2159::
1943:.
1846:^
1798:.
1743:^
1721:,
1704:,
1664:^
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1493:^
1435:^
1359:^
1341:,
1331:^
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1240:,
1203:^
1155:^
1107:^
1055:^
980:^
964:^
955:,
951:.
905:^
726:,
720:,
714:,
241:,
218:.
181:,
175:,
82:,
1584:.
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