An urtext for all crime films and film noirs to come, UNDWERWORLD is an early Josef von Sternberg masterpiece. Featuring the sultry Evelyn Brent as the unflappable mob moll, “Feathers” McCoy, it established von Sternberg’s ability to harness supreme feminine powers and prepared him for his discovery of Marlene Dietrich a short time later.
With an Oscar-winning screenplay penned by Ben Hecht, UNDERWORLD established the gangster genre and all its iconography – as well as the trope of fantastically named gangsters and affiliates. Beyond Brent’s “Feathers,” we have George Bancroft as kingpin “Bull” Weed and Clive Brook as his new righthand “Rolls Royce” Wensel as they attempt to defend their Chicago territory from “Buck” Mulligan (Fred Kohler). Hecht, formerly a Chicago crime reported based the screenplay on real-life escaped convict “Terrible” Tommy O’Connor—a mafia henchman who escaped prison days before his execution and was never apprehended. Despite its studio refusing to promote it, UNDERWORLD was a box office phenomenon ushering it round-the-clock screenings at New York’s Paramount Theatre.
Live accompaniment by Tania Gill
Silent Revue is curated by Alicia Fletcher and is sponsored by Hollywood Suite