Outside the Law (1930)

Director:  Tod Browning

Writer: Tod Browning, Garret Fort

Composer:  Cecil Arnold, Sam Perry, Heinz Roemheld

Starring:  Mary Nolan, Edward G. Robinson, Owen Moore, Rockliffe Fellowes, Delmar Watson, Eddie Sturgis, John George

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  The most powerfully thrilling underworld melodrama of all!

Plot:  Fingers (Moore) is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' (Robinson) territory. Fingers and his gal, Connie (Nolan), try to bluff Cobra into thinking otherwise.  Once the job is done, Fingers and Connie stay holed-up while Cobra, and the police, try to find them.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Oh, boy!  It's an Edward G. Robinson picture I haven't seen before.  Oh, no, he's hardly in it.  I love that man's work but his earliest performances can be tough to watch sometimes.  But I think that a lot of it can be contributed to the early days of talkies and how rough they can be.  OUTSIDE THE LAW is a great example.  Tod Browning's camera doesn't move, the dialogue sometimes doesn't move smoothly between character exchanges and there's a noticable lack of music (except for the final act) is sorely missed, leaving scenes dragging.  Robinson is fine and my favorite moment of his is right at the start when he sees Fingers in a bank window.  His look is cold and menacing.

Now I'm intrigued!  What follows is a weak first act that gets too complicated for its own good.  Now that Fingers knows that Cobra is onto him, he gets his girlfriend, Connie, to join a sleazy sideshow-like job posing scantily in life-like recreations of famous sexy paintings for the horny male public just so she can get noticed by Cobra so she can seduce him or something to get him off the scent of Fingers.  Now that's a stretch!  What's great is Cobra is the fucking man and he's two steps ahead of them but they keep trying and failing.  Another neat thing about Cobra is you find out his mother is Chinese and the two speak to each other in Chinese.  It's a brief scene and it's a nice touch even though Cobra isn't referenced as being Chinese at any other point. 

After the robbery, the movie belongs to Fingers and Connie for most of the rest of the picture, holed-up in a small apartment.  That's where the dull stuff comes in.  Up to this point, actress Mary Nolan's been doing the standard tough girl act but now she's just a downright asshole to Fingers.  Part of it's because she's stuck with the stir crazy and happy Fingers.  But Nolan does this poorly and between her performance in these scenes plus the static camera, framing and slow dialogue exchanges, it's not interesting and drags the picture down.  Owen Moore, on the other hand, outshines Nolan and he's fun to watch, especially every time the kid (Watson) shows up.  He and the kid are great together. 

 

 

See?  She even makes kids cry!  Fortunately, things pick up considerably in the final act when the shit hits the fan when Cobra shows up and throws a massive monkey wrench into the works.  This is easily the best part of the picture.  A lot happens in a short period of time and one of them is Connie having to be nice for a change.  Suddenly Nolan shows some good acting chops and she's killing it!  After the tense build-up to the finish line, the ending is satisfactory and surprising.  It benefits from being made before the Hayes Code set in. 

It's worth a look for fans of Eddie G. but that second half hour in the apartment can by trying yet rewarding in a way.