A Slight Case of Murder (1938)

Film: A Slight Case of Murder (1938)

Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Willard Parker, Bobby Jordan

Director: Lloyd Bacon

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

We are continuing our look at some of the films of 1938 with a movie that Oscar did not pay attention to, despite it having a pretty fun premise (and the 1930's being the rare decade where Oscar was actually into comedy (he'd lose his sense of humor by the late 1940's): A Slight Case of Murder.  This is one of several films that Edward G. Robinson did throughout the decade riffing on his his tough guy persona, and was one of the rare films between the very popular gangster films of the early 1930's and the film noir pictures that were about to become the rage with the success of 1941's The Maltese Falcon.  As these are two of my favorite genres, I figured this was a great movie to investigate during our look at the pictures of 1938, and so that's what we're going to do today.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film takes place at the end of Prohibition, where bootlegger Remy Marco (Robinson) has decided to go legitimate, selling his beer legally and buying his wife Nora (Donnelly) and daughter Mary (Bryan) a spot in proper society.  There's a problem though-Remy's beer is terrible, and has only been successful because there wasn't any competition on the market.  Flash forward a few years, and Remy is broke (and his crew is still getting used to being "legitimate"), and needs money to save his brewery.  This seems to fall right into his lap when four dead mobsters show up in his house, complete with $500k worth of loot, but Marco's problems aren't entirely solved-his daughter has brought home her fiancé, who just happens to be a cop.  The film follows what happens as Marco tries to stay legitimate, and how his yes men eventually let him know that his beer is, well, terrible.

A Slight Case of Murder is not a complicated film-this isn't something that stands up with the great pictures of Robinson's later career like Double Indemnity and The Woman in the Window which are challenging and take a look at the tougher parts of human nature (and give him some boffo acting moments).  But it is hilarious, genuinely, and Robinson is pitch perfect for the part.  Robinson was a bit of a precursor in some ways to figures like Robert de Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino, aging stars who knew that they couldn't compete with a new generation of leading men as "tough guys" on their own, so instead they began to make a profit spoofing that persona for box office points.  Like these later movie stars, Robinson didn't do this to the chagrin of his career-he was able to play the kinds of dramatic roles that made him famous into the 1950's, but he added to his persona in a smart way by giving us comedy (and opening up a whole new type of movie that the studios knew they could find success with him in).  Robinson is one of the most baffling actors when it comes to the Oscars and why he was never nominated, particularly when seen in the light of something like A Slight Case of Murder, as he makes comedy look so easy after making his name in drama...he could genuinely do it all.

The film's supporting cast is also spry-these aren't breaking any molds (pretty much everyone is playing to stereotype), but great acting doesn't always require you to standout-sometimes it's important just to make the script the winner, and they all feed into the comedic gags throughout the film. The movie's look at the nouveau riche and "be careful what you wish for" would've played well with a destitute Depression-era audience, as well as the decadence of the Marcos' lifestyle.  I also want to call out that Bobby Jordan (as a young hoodlum orphan) is fun a year out from his big break in Dead End.  It's nice to see him get such a plum central part here, as Jordan's life would be rough in the years that followed: World War II would essentially cut him out of the Dead End Kids franchise as it transformed into the lucrative Bowery Boys series, and eventually he'd become a divorced alcoholic who would die of cirrhosis at the age of only 42.