Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
Direction
Von Sternberg's shadows basically invented noir.
Acting
Bancroft's swagger without words — devastating.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a fever dream.
Director
Josef von Sternberg
George Bancroft
Bull Weed
Evelyn Brent
Feathers
Clive Brook
Rolls Royce
Fred Kohler
Buck Mulligan
Helen Lynch
Mulligan's Girl
Larry Semon
Slippy Lewis
Jerry Mandy
Paloma
Alfred Allen
Judge (uncredited)
Shep Houghton
Street Kid (uncredited)
Ida May
Laughing Woman at the Ball (uncredited)
Bob Reeves
Detective at Railroad Station (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Scorsese called this 'the mother of all gangster films' and modeled Mean Streets' bar scenes after it.
This won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Original Story — the gangster genre's literal blueprint.
US
