Classic Gangster Movies (BFS)

 

             Picture:     Sound: C     Extras: D    Films: C+

 

Ma Barker’s Killer Brood (1960)          C-

Gangs, Inc. (1941, aka Paper Bullets)   C-

Gangster Story (1960)                      C

 

 

With new DVD versions of the first two Godfather films due, the mixed results of the Scarface re-release on DVD, the continued success of The Sopranos and a special edition of Goodfellas (and hopefully Casino) on the horizon, the Classic Gangster Movies 3-in-1 DVD BFS issued back in 2002 makes for a nice break from the current state of the genre.  Two of the films are from a period just after Film Noir, while one arrived in its first year.

 

Ma Barker’s Killer Brood offers Lurene Tuttle in the title role being amusingly disturbing as the motherly killer seven years before Shelley Winter’s more explicit send-up in the Batman TV series.  It is not a great film, but has enough moments to give it a watch-through.  Not bad for a cheapie.

 

Gangs, Inc. is another little B-movie hoot from the short-lived PRC Studio, who managed top leave a mark for good, despite a six-year lifespan.  Journeyman director Phil Rosen was used to handling these kinds of stories and the twist here is the woman who suddenly finds herself a gangster, about to go to war with a double crosser in that realm.  It has Alan Ladd in an early role and runs only 72 minutes, but is entertaining all the way.  The camerawork is not Noir by any means, but it is solid black and white, which is not bad.

 

Gangster Story is the only film Walter Matthau ever directed and has a Jazz attitude to match its music score, though it eventually turns more standard and dramatic.  I have to wonder if this was at least 1.66 X 1, but we have no evidence of this at press time.  It also foresees some of what Matthau brought to Stanley Donen’s Charade three years later.  Too bad there was not anything more here, because this could have been even more interesting.

 

The full frame image on all three films are in black and white and the quality is usually not great.  Gangster Story looks a bit better than the others, but they are all lacking in sharpness and detail.  The gray scale is a bit off on all of them, except Gangs, Inc., which is sometimes too black, insofar as details are lost in this print that were there in the original release.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on all of them has the usual background noise and limits from latter generation monophonic sound.

The extras are very minimal, as is always the case with these DVDs, with brief bio/filmography text and some brief trivia.

 

So this DVD does not live up to its name, but it is an interesting set of B-films from the Genre and that’s not bad, especially for the price.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo