Anything But Silent Live Piano Accompaniment by Andrew Simpson
UNDERWORLD On 35mm!
Monday, April 30 at 7:30 pm | Members $11 | Public $16
Long before The Sopranos and The Godfather, legendary director Josef von Sternberg pioneered the gangster genre with this dramatic saga of guns, greed, and desire
Josef von Sternberg’s (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress, The Last Command) riveting breakthrough is widely considered the film that launched the American gangster genre as we know it. George Bancroft plays heavy Bull Weed, a criminal kingpin whose jealous devotion to his moll, Feathers (Evelyn Brent), gets him into hot water with a rival hood and, ultimately, the authorities. Further complicating matters is the attraction that blossoms between Feathers and an alcoholic former lawyer (Clive Brook). With its supple, endlessly expressive camera work and tightly wound screenplay based on a story by legendary scribe Ben Hecht (who won an Oscar for it the fi rst year the awards were given), Underworld solidifi ed von Sternberg’s place as one of Hollywood’s most exciting new talents. (USA, 1927, 81 min., B/W)
