Underworld (1927)

A notorious gangster (George Bancroft) takes an alcoholic ex-lawyer (Clive Brook), who's fallen on hard times, under his wing. Complications ensue when an obvious sexual attraction occurs between Brook and the gangster's moll (Evelyn Brent). This film was a breakthrough for director Josef von Sternberg in Hollywood after several false starts, both critically and financially. Based on a film treatment by Ben Hecht (who would later write SCARFACE for Howard Hawks). Von Sternberg's film is rich in texture, a visual feast with three strong central performances especially Bancroft who gives a fierce performance. Von Sternberg neatly orchestrates the frantic and feverish underworld of mobsters living a precarious existence while balancing it with the poignant romance between two people looking for a second act in life. Hecht (who won an Oscar for his original story here) disliked the affecting coda that von Sternberg gave the film, referring to it as sentimental. I think he's being unfair because it works wonderfully, adding another layer to Bancroft's character. If you get an opportunity to see the film with the score by the Alloy orchestra, it's preferable to the recently composed score by Robert Israel which is too busy.