The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse (1938)

As I had just recently discovered Edward Robinson, and was not only amazed at his performance but also surprised to find that he had worked in an number of films with Humphrey Bogart.  This film seemed especially odd, as I had never even heard of it's existance and it's rather odd title.  Is Clitterhouse an actual family name??

This film was amazing to watch as it was a completely different character for Edward Robinson, and to see him and Humphrey Bogart essentially switch roles from the film Key Largo.  Edward Robinson plays such a refined and well spoken doctor, it's hard to believe that he is the same actor who practically created the persona of 30's gangsters.

Key Largo (1948)

After watching Little Caesar and finding that Edward Robinson was a big actor in the 30s and 40s with a lot of films to his credit, I decided to check out more of his films.  I was quite surprised to find he was in a film with Humphrey Bogart (as it turns out, several films).

I thought I had watched a lot of Humphrey Bogart films, and even thought I had seen this one before, but after the first few seconds I realized I had never seen a second of this film.

This film is another excellent example of film noir.  I expected to see more of the Florida Keys, but little was shown. While the stars and their acting was good, the ending was a bit of a case of deus ex machina, but was saved by the fact that Humphrey Bogart's character is one of the few characters (in any movie) who acted extremely intelligently in his confrontation with this villain of the picture.

Little Caesar (1931)

After watching Scarface (1931) I read a little about the Hays Code, and pre-code films as well as pre-code gangster movies.  There was a list of three films that were considered a seminal part of the gangster film genre, as well as the first gangster film "Underworld".

While a very good film in its own right, the performance of Edward Robinson as gangster was outstanding, setting the style for 30's gangsters in film.  Even those who have never seen a gangster film will recognize Edward Robinson's likeness as Rocky in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Racketeer Rabbit.