The Racket (1928)

Set in Chicago during the Prohibition gang wars. A policeman (Thomas Meighan) tries to keep the peace but he is hampered by massive corruption in the city's politics. Based on the play by Bartlett Cormack and directed by Lewis Milestone (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT). The film was nominated for a best picture Oscar and later remade in 1951. It's a strong crime film with noir-ish trimmings long before Hollywood went full noir in the 1940s. It's a cynical movie that ends with the corruption still firmly in place unlike the 1951 remake where it's suggested that the bad guys will be exposed. Along with Josef von Sternerg's UNDERWORLD (1927), one of the best gangster movies of the silent era. The transfer I saw had a very good newly written score by Neil Brand. With Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost, Lucien Prival and George E. Stone.