The big gangster
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The big gangster |
| Original title | The big shot |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Lewis Seiler |
| script |
Bertram Millhauser Abem Finkel Daniel Fuchs |
| production | Walter MacEwen |
| music | Adolph German |
| camera | Sidney Hickox |
| cut | Jack Killifer |
| occupation | |
| |
The big gangster (Original title: The Big Shot ) is an American gangster film from 1942 by Lewis Seiler . The script was written by Bertram Millhauser , Abem Finkel and Daniel Fuchs . The film premiered on June 13, 1942 in the USA. In the Federal Republic of Germany it had its premiere on June 24, 1967 in the third program of Westdeutscher Rundfunk ( WDR ).
action
Joseph "Duke" Berne is an outsider to society. Too often the judges have hammered their verdicts into his ear. Now he's got "afraid of his own shadow". He's not cured; out of fear he wants to become decent, because the next sentence would mean "life sentence" for him. Berne has no desire to spend the rest of his life behind prison walls. That is why he, who was once “a big shot”, a big and in his circles “respected” gangster, now looks at every police officer with fearful looks and lets himself be humiliated by Frenchy, a little bush thief, without defending himself. Frenchy was looking for "Duke" Berne in order to persuade him to undertake a new coup: the robbery on a money transport. The man behind the plan is the lawyer Fleming, an old acquaintance of Bernes, who, to his surprise, finds his girlfriend Lorna - as Mrs. Fleming.
The shock willingly turns "Duke" into a gangster bit, but Lorna, who still loves him, prevents him from participating at gunpoint. Nevertheless, Berne comes under suspicion when an eyewitness of the attack, urged by the police, recognizes him in the "criminal album". Bernes alibi is Lorna. However, because Fleming is not allowed to know about his wife's visit, a "hot" alibi has to be obtained. Frenchy, who shot a policeman during the robbery, reveals Lorna to Fleming, who then breaks “Dukes” alibi. Verdict: Life sentence for "Duke", as well as imprisonment for the young George Anderson, who had got "Dukes" alibi.
With Lorna's help, "Duke" breaks out of prison. While escaping, a fellow refugee stabs a guard to death - a murder that, through unfortunate circumstances, is blamed on the innocent Anderson. Found by the police in hiding, "Duke" has to flee with Lorna. One shot hits the woman fatally. "Duke" Berne appears as the avenger in Fleming's apartment. In the subsequent pistol duel, "Duke" shoots the lawyer; he himself is seriously injured. He dies in the clinic after exonerating Anderson.
criticism
The Protestant film observer sums up his opinion as follows: “The average flick is worth seeing because of the portrayal of the gangster hero Humphrey Bogart.” The lexicon of international films came to a similar assessment : “Mediocre gangster film from 1942, the only one because of the acting The performance of Humphrey Bogart gains a certain profile. ”Bogart's performance is viewed quite differently by Prisma :“ This film was more of a step backwards in Bogart's flourishing career. Because here he plays listlessly in a rather poor story from the prison world. "
Web links
- The big gangsters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Table of contents on moviepilot.de
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Evangelischer Filmbeobachter , Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 373/1967, pp. 476–477.
- ↑ Lexicon of International Films , rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 1419.
- ↑ See prisma.de