Dial G for Robinson 5: The Widow from Chicago
Alright, this is what I expected from an Edward G. Robinson movie, this is the EGR I’ve received second hand from Bugs Bunny cartoons. A cold blooded crime boss named Dominic in 1930’s primordial gangster flick, The Widow from Chicago.
Alice White (who you may remember from Sweethearts on Parade, Naughty Baby, or Hot Stuff) plays Polly Henderson, sister of cop who’s gunned down while attempting to infiltrate the underworld as a presumed drowned Front Door Man named Swifty Morgan. She seeks revenge by going undercover as the Swifty’s widow. Just when she gets close to her brother’s killer—the ruthless Dominic, who runs a nightclub where the Charleston never ends—who turns up but the living, breathing Swifty Morgan himself! This complicates Polly’s vendetta in more ways than one.
The Widow from Chicago is a pre-code treat. Alice White is still roaring like the 1920s hadn’t ended yet. She’s got a voice made for talkies! The G Man here is inventing the mannerisms he’d become famous for, carving the iconic movie gangster out of raw materials. There are scenes that remind me they were still shooting silent movies when this was made. The climactic shootout in Dominic’s night club is a ballet of shadows and light.
Angel-faced Frank McHugh as a low level hood named Slug O’Donnell keeps one foot in the silent era in this flick that really makes the most of the thrilling new cinematic tool of dialogue.
Dialogue? More like banter, see? Patter, huh? Razzle dazzle verbal ping pong.