Origins of the Gangster Film (1995)

Synopsis: These two silent films from the Library of Congress represent a real find for both film historians and crime movie fans. The longest of the two is the recently rediscovered ALIAS JIMMY VALENTINE... These two silent films from the Library of Congress represent a real find for both film historians and crime movie fans. The longest of the two is the recently rediscovered ALIAS JIMMY VALENTINE (from 1915, directed by Maurice Tourneur). Based on an O. Henry story, VALENTINE chronicles the adventures of a safecracker (Robert Warwick) who gets reformed by love after spending time "up the river" in Sing Sing. A detective (Robert Cummings) hounds the struggling ex-con's new life as a respectable bank employee. Things come to a head when a child becomes locked in a bank vault and no one knows the combination. The other film in this collection is D.W. Griffith's short THE NARROW ROAD (1912). This film features an unbilled Mary Pickford (then just nineteen years old) as a devoted wife trying to keep her freshly released jailbird husband (Elmer Booth) from falling back into crime with his old counterfeiting buddy. Both of these films are solid, early efforts of cinema, well worth a look. [More]

Starring: Mary Pickford

Starring: Mary Pickford

Director: D.W. Griffith, Maurice Tourneur

Director: D.W. Griffith, Maurice Tourneur

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