Underworld

Synopsis

Bull Weed, a boisterous crime boss, rises to power but finds his loyalty tested by his intellectual sidekick and his girlfriend, 'Feathers' McCoy. This gritty drama established the template for the modern gangster genre, featuring violent gunfights and a tense police standoff. Josef von Sternberg’s moody lighting and focus on the criminals' psychology elevate the material. It won the first Oscar for Best Original Story and defined the crime aesthetic.

Critique

Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld is the father of the modern gangster film. Before Little Caesar, this film established the genre’s tropes: the tragic anti-hero, the gun moll, and the violent urban setting. Sternberg overlaid the crime plot with his signature atmospheric style, using shadow and smoke to create a poetic, dreamlike underworld. It won the first Oscar for Best Original Story. By humanizing the criminal and focusing on loyalty and betrayal, it elevated pulp fiction into art, setting the visual and thematic template for Film Noir decades later.

Technical sheet

Director

Josef von Sternberg

Year

1927

Country

United States

Running time

87 min

Genre

Drama, Crime, Romance

Written by

Ben Hecht, Charles Furthman, Robert N. Lee

Cinematography

Bert Glennon

Cast

George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, Fred Kohler, Helen Lynch, Larry Semon

Production

Paramount Pictures

Music

Newly composed original score

Licensing