Product Details

• Actors: George Bancroft, Clive Brook, Evelyn Brent, Fred Kohler, Larry Semon
• Directors: Josef von Sternberg
• Format: Black & White
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Grapevine Video
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000NQGWZS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #624,234 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

'Nobody helps me -- I help them!' boasts open-handed gangster Bull Weed, handing over what will prove to be the best investment in his high-spending career: a thousand dollars that will put the literate 'Rolls Royce' of vagrants back on his feet. Living it up in the Twenties with the aid of cool but smouldering moll Feathers, the Bull lords it over the law and his rivals alike -- specifically big Buck Mulligan, whose floral-tributes business echoes that of a certain real-life Chicago gangster... Yet Feathers, prize possession and object of envy, proves his weak point; and in the end, Bull Weed will indeed come to need help from others, and more than he has ever needed it before. But can Rolls Royce and Feathers still give it to him? And will the Bull accept? (Complete credited cast) George Bancroft ... 'Bull' Weed Evelyn Brent ... 'Feathers' McCoy Clive Brook ... Rolls Royce Wensel Fred Kohler ... 'Buck' Mulligan Helen Lynch ... Meg, Mulligan's Girl Larry Semon ... 'Slippy' Lewis Jerry Mandy ... Paloma more -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Known As:Paying the Penalty (UK) Runtime:80 min / Portugal:87 min (director's cut) Country:USA Color:Black and White Sound Mix:Silent Certification:Finland:K-8 (1992) / Finland:(Banned) (1929) / Portugal:17 (director's cut) Trivia:The film was predicted to be a flop, was shelved by Paramount and eventually released in only one theater in New York. Screenwriter 'Ben Hecht' demanded that his name was taken off the credits. As a result of strong word-of-mouth the movie became an enormous hit and won Hecht the first of his two Academy Awards. more

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Narratively Uneven but Visually Striking, with a Winning Second Half., August 29, 2010

By 

mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Underworld (1927) (VHS Tape)

"Underworld" was the first studio film directed by Josef von Sternberg, a surprise hit for Paramount in 1927. Ben Hecht wrote the story, inspired by a couple of real Chicago gangsters, but was so disappointed by the sentimentality of von Sternberg's film that he wanted his name removed from the credits. Even so, Hecht had the honor of winning the first ever Academy Award for Best Original Story for "Underworld" in 1929. It's a gangster movie, romance, comedy, and action film, all rolled together, amid the glamour and revelry of the Roaring Twenties.

Bull Weed (George Bancroft) is a bank robber who lives large and generously. He adores his flapper girlfriend Feathers (Evelyn Brent), called that because she favors feathered fashions. He bankrolls a drunkard whom he met on the street, cleans him up and christens him Rolls Royce (Clive Brook), who becomes the brains of the operation. But the police are determined to capture Bull Weed. Bull's fun-loving nature conceals a jealous rage that surfaces if another man should look at Feathers. And Bull's hatred of rival gangster Buck Mulligan (Fred Kohler) may be his undoing.

"Underworld" showcases von Sternberg's talent for striking lighting and composition. It's fantastic to look at. I found the characters underdeveloped, though, and the story uninteresting until about the halfway mark, when events at an annual amnesty ball turn ugly and set the film in motion. The pace picks up, relationships become more complex, and the characters and the story engage. Von Sternberg's representation of the empty values of the ball is hard-hitting. His talent for explosive action is undeniable. And drama is interspersed with comedic moments, without ever undercutting it.