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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Lloyd Bacon
Cast:
Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Willard Parker, John Litel, Edward Brophy, Harold Huber
Writing Credits:
Damon Runyon (play), Howard Lindsay (play), Earl Baldwin, Joseph Schrank

Tagline:
High finance teaches a racketeer new tactics!

Synopsis:
Prohibition's ban on booze is over, and that means bootlegger Remy Marco must make some changes. Don't go calling his beer-peddling enterprise a racket. It's now a business. Employees are no longer lugs or palookas, they're associates. And don't refer to Marco as da boss. Use sir. He's gone legit, see? Edward G. Robinson plays Marco, spoofing his Little Caesar persona in a comedy spree based on Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay's Broadway play. Lloyd Bacon, director of Robinson's gangster sendups Brother Orchid and Larceny, Inc., guides with screwball flair as corpses, creditors, the swellest of swells and more mayhem descend on Marco. Allen Jenkins, Edward Brophy and Harold Huber with 340+ career credits between them are among the lugs-cum-associates. You're about to open a major case of laughter.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Fullscreen 1.33:1
Audio:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Closed-captioned

Runtime: 85 min.
Price: $19.97
Release Date: 7/18/2006

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Robert Sklar
• “Prohibition Opens the Floodgates” Featurette
• “Warner Night at the Movies” Short Subjects Gallery
• Trailer


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Sony 36" WEGA KV-36FS12 Monitor; Sony DA333ES Processor/Receiver; Panasonic CV-50 DVD Player using component outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Sony SA-WM40 Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS

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A Slight Case Of Murder (1938)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (Juky 19, 2006)

Legendary tough guy Edward G. Robinson pokes fun at his image with 1937’s gangster spoof A Slight Case of Murder. Robinson plays former bootlegger Remy Marko. With the end of Prohibition, he needs to go straight – sort of. Instead of illegal beer, he plans to run “Gold Velvet Brewery”. This means he’ll sell the same crummy suds but in a legal manner.

This doesn’t go well, mostly because Gold Velvet beer stinks. Four years down the road, Remy and his wife Nora (Ruth Donnelly) need to economize, so they bring their daughter Mary (Jane Bryan) back from school in France. She brings her own news, as she’s engaged to Dick Whitewood (Willard Parker). She tells Nora but they keep this from Remy at first, a factor complicated by Dick’s new career as a state trooper.

When the family goes to vacation in Saratoga, additional problems ensue. To present a positive model, Remy takes along a rough orphan named Douglas (Bobby Jordan). We also see that some gangsters got offed in the vacation home before the family’s arrival. The movie follows all of the wacky action that surrounds these threads.

Here’s a tip: Murder will probably work best for folks who’ve seen 1931’s gangster classic Little Caesar. Granted, Robinson’s shtick is so well-known that Murder works fine with no direct exposure to Caesar, but I still think it’s more fun if you know the earlier film.

Not that I feel Murder becomes that terrific in either case. At best, it’s a moderately amusing and entertaining flick. On the positive side, the comedy stays more subdued and subtle than expected. I thought we’d get a broad farce, and the movie occasionally veers into that territory. However, the film usually stays restrained, and that helps make it more effective.

Unfortunately, Murder really exists as a one-joke story. The whole thing revolves around the attempts of Marko and company going legit and trying to stay straight. This presents a mix of predictable complications that toss out some laughs, though we see them coming from so far in advance that they lose their impact.

Robinson shows a good flair for comedy. He spoofs his established film personality just enough to give matters a twist. He resists the temptation to go too broad, though, as he makes Marko a slightly skewed twist on his usual gangster.

At a mere 86 minutes, at least A Slight Case of Murder knows better than to overstay its welcome. The movie never quite zings, but it also maintains a decent level of entertainment across its running time. If you go in with moderate expectations, you’ll probably get some pleasure from Murder.

Continuity issue of the day: though everything in the movie refers to him as “Marko”, the end credits call him “Marco”. Odd!


The DVD Grades: Picture B/ Audio B/ Bonus B-

A Slight Case of Murder appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; due to those dimensions, the image has not been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The transfer showed some minor flaws but usually looked quite good.

Sharpness caused few concerns. Occasionally I thought the movie was a little soft, but those instances were infrequent. The majority of the movie was nicely distinctive and concise. No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and only a little edge enhancement could be seen.

Source flaws were reasonably modest for a nearly 70-year-old film. I saw some specks, marks, grit and lines at times, and the movie was a bit grainier than expected. Nonetheless, the image was pretty clean given its age. Blacks came across with nice depth and clarity, while shadows showed good detail. This was a solid presentation.

Similar thoughts greeted the monaural soundtrack of A Slight Case of Murder. Once I factored in the flick’s age, I noticed no significant issues. Speech showed a little edginess at times, but I didn’t think the lines were problematic. Dialogue seemed easily intelligible and without concerns.

Music appeared clear, though it lacked heft. Effects were clean and concise. They also failed to demonstrate much range, but they were acceptably accurate and lacked distortion. No problems with source flaws marred the presentation. Again, the track wasn’t special, but it was pretty solid for a product of its era.

As we move to the DVD’s extras, we start with an audio commentary from film historian Robert Sklar. He provides a running, screen-specific discussion. Actually, Sklar doesn’t usually focus on the material that appears on-screen, as he prefers to follow his own thoughts.

And that technique usually works well. Sklar starts with notes about writer Damon Runyon and the project’s development. He then gets into the career of Edward G. Robinson and issues connected to the studio. From there the commentary looks at the movie business in the late Thirties as well as production specifics such as cast and crew, censorship code concerns, and other general topics.

Ironically, I think the fact that Sklar watches the movie as he talks creates some problems. Since he usually focuses on his pre-determined notes, the presence of the film appears to distract him; he sometimes stammers and loses his train of thought, and I think this occurs because he starts to follow the flick. Nonetheless, Sklar offers a ton of good information here. He digs into the historical issues well and makes sure we learn a lot about the movie and its background. This is a consistently strong commentary.

A creative and fun addition to the set, Warner Night at the Movies attempts to replicate the cinematic experience circa 1937. This feature starts with a preview for The Dawn Patrol. We also get a period newsreel, an animated short called The Night Watchman and a patriotic historical short entitled The Declaration of Independence. These are the kinds of pieces that might have preceded a theatrical showing of Murder, so if you activate this feature, you get an attempt to duplicate a night at the cinema. I like this program and think it’s quite clever.

Next comes a new featurette called Prohibition Opens the Floodgates. This 17-minute and 58-second piece features movie clips and interviews. We discover notes from film historians Drew Casper, Rick Jewell, Anthony Slide, Eric Lax, Vivian Sobchack, Lincoln D. Hurst, and Patricia King Hanson, producers Robert Evans and Irwin Winkler, directors Lili Fini Zanuck and Larry Cohen, screenwriters Michael B. Druxman and Nicholas Pileggi, and actors Michael Madsen, Theresa Russell and Talia Shire.

“Floodgates” looks at the effects of Prohibition and its depiction in movies. We see how gangster flicks embraced that period and showed its events. The piece looks at organized crime and its involvement in illegal liquor along with how cinema displayed those stories. “Floodgates” offers a pretty good snapshot of the era. We find decent information about the way things worked in that period and how those elements emerged on the big screen. A little more detail would be good, but the show touches on the general issues well.

When A Slight Case of Murder works, it does so due to a fun, self-effacing performance from Edward G. Robinson and a good level of restraint. When it flops, it does so due to predictable guys and its one-note nature. The DVD boasts pretty positive picture and audio, and it tosses in a few nice extras highlighted by a good audio commentary. This isn’t a great movie, but the DVD presents it well.

Note that you can buy A Slight Case of Murder alone or as part of a six-movie “Tough Guys Collection”. The latter packages Murder with San Quentin, Each Dawn I Die, Bullets or Ballots, ”G” Men, and City for Conquest. This set is a steal for folks who want to own the various movies. It retails for about $60, which equals the list price of three of the DVDs separately. It’s like a “buy three, get three free” deal and is a serious bargain.

Viewer Film Ratings: 4.5 Stars Number of Votes: 2
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