Director
Howard Hawks
Leading Actors/Actresses
Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Boris Karloff, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, George Raft
Genre
Crime Drama / Gangster Movie
Language
English
Awards
The movie was given the Best Movie of the Year award by the American Movie Board in 1932
Date of Release
1932
Producer
Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes
Setting and Context
Chicago, 1920, against a backdrop of Prohibition and increasing crime chiefly by the Mafia syndicates controlling the North Side and the South Side of Chicago
Narrator and Point of View
There is no narrator but the movie is shot from the point of view of the public, calling on the police and law enforcement to do something about the lawlessness in the city
Tone and Mood
Violent and threatening
Protagonist and Antagonist
Tony is the protagonist of the movie and anyone who stands in his way becomes his antagonist
Major Conflict
The movie is based on conflict. There is conflict within the South Side gang as each tries to get rid of the leader and assume the role. The more major conflict occurs between the South Side and North Side gangs especially when Tony provokes a gang war by trying to take over the business interests of the Irish gangs
Climax
Tony is shot and killed by the police
Foreshadowing
The assassination that Tony is happy to commit on his behalf at the beginning of the movie should foreshadow for Johnny the fact that in time Tony will also make a move on his position at the head of the organization and try to get rid of him as well
Understatement
There is no particular incidence of understatement in the movie
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
No particular innovations in the movie
Allusions
Tony and his friends go to see a "serious play" which is based on W. Somerset Maugham's story "Miss Sadie Thompson"
Paradox
Guino is Tony's best friend yet when he sees that he has been with his sister an not asked his permission he kills him without any emotion at all
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the main character of Tony, facial scar and all, and Al Capone, who ruled Chicago's underbelly in the same way that Tony did during the time in which it is shot
