Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection (Bullets or Ballots / City for Conquest / Each Dawn I Die / G Men / San Quentin / A Slight Case of Murder)

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Say "Warner Bros. in the '30s" and you're talking, first and foremost, about the tough, gritty, urban, street-smart movies that help define that American decade for us. Which means you're talking about James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart: unpretty but charismatic guys with lived-in faces, and bodies that always seemed cocked, ready to spring. When one of them entered a room, he owned it, no matter how many people were there already. Their most celebrated habitat was the gangster picture. The genre didn't originate with them, but they, more than anybody else, defined it, gave it a face and a silhouette and a heartbeat.

The films in this set were produced half a decade and more after Little Caesar and The Public Enemy made stars of Robinson and Cagney, respectively, and after repeal had begun to lend Prohibition the patina of nostalgia. The studio's gangster franchise was evolving, and so were the careers of its top stars. When it came to toughness, the boys could still dish it out, and take it, too. But increasingly they were doing it on the other side of the law-and-order divide.

Cagney was first to reform. In 1935's "G" Men he plays a lawyer put through college by the avuncular neighborhood crimelord. After a law-school pal turned F.B.I. agent is murdered, Cagney abandons his (resolutely legit) one-man practice and joins the Bureau. The film memorializes several big moments in F.B.I. legend, but what's grabbiest is the personal drama growing out of Cagney's lingering underworld friendships. William Keighley directs the murders and shootouts with jolting ferocity, Barton MacLane and Edward Pawley supply flavorful villainy, and there are times when Sol Polito's cinematography literally glows (all these films have been restored, but "G" Men looks especially terrific). One gripe: The movie should have been presented without the F.B.I.-classroom intro tacked on for 1949 reissue (which belongs under "Special Features").

In Each Dawn I Die (also Keighley, 1939), Cagney teams with George Raft making his Warners debut. It's mostly a prison picture, with muckraking reporter Cagney behind bars after being framed by crooked politicos. Career felon Raft has little sympathy for him till Cagney proves to be a stand-up guy, whereupon the two bond in mutual loathing of sadistic guards, rat-fink convicts, and the endlessly malleable system. The movie boasts one indelible scene (involving a movie screening for the cons), some evocative prison workhouse detailing, and a fine Cagney performance as always. But it's undone by a script cluttered with melodrama and contrivance.

Bullets or Ballots (Keighley yet again, 1936) is much more satisfying. Again we get two icons for the price of one, with Robinson as a tough but square-shooting police detective and Bogart as the ambitious number-two man to a big-time racketeer. Bogart's effectively the co-star, albeit fourth-billed behind Robinson, Joan Blondell, and Barton MacLane. But it's Eddie G.'s movie, and he walks the line beautifully as an honest cop who, unjustly jettisoned from the force, signs on with the mobster he's long pursued. Despite a rhetorical reference to "ballots" as the public's means of combatting crime, it's bullets that get the job done. Bullets and fists: the movie makes clear that Robinson has beaten confessions out of people plenty of times, just as it has no illusions about the empty symbolism of crime commissions and grand juries.

The only other Bogart vehicle in the set is San Quentin (Lloyd Bacon, 1937), a scrap-work effort below the standards of everybody involved. Bogart's a small-time crook whose arrest at a nightclub occasions a meet-cute for his big sister Ann Sheridan and Army training officer Pat O'Brien--who's on his way to become yard captain at the penitentiary where Bogart will be interred! O'Brien tries to reform the lad, but with corrupt/sadistic guard Barton MacLane on one side and sociopathic con Joe Sawyer on the other, Bogart never has a chance. Neither does the viewer.

Lloyd Bacon, normally one of Warners' zippiest directors, is back on his game with A Slight Case of Murder (1938), a delicious gangster comedy. Robinson plays beer baron Remy Marco, who craves respectability as a legitimate businessman once beer is legal again. Problem is, nobody has ever had the heart to tell him his product tastes like varnish, and soon the bank is out to foreclose on his brewery. At which point Remy learns that his summer home upstate is full of fresh gangland corpses.... Based on a play by Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay, the picture gives a trio of glorious goons--Allen Jenkins, Edward Brophy, and Harold Huber--a rare chance to shine as Marco's house staff.

City for Conquest (1940) ought to be the showpiece here. It's the longest and most ambitious entry, with prestige-picture scale and production values (including Polito and James Wong Howe as cameramen) and a cast including Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Frank McHugh, Donald Crisp, Anthony Quinn, Jerome Cowan, and--in his first of only two film performances--future directorial giant Elia Kazan. Working-stiff Cagney loves his gifted musician brother (Kennedy) and childhood sweetheart (Sheridan), a dancer with her own aspirations for the limelight; he becomes a boxer in order to pay for the brother's musical education. Triumph and tragedy ensue. The film's avowed aim, and Kennedy's, is to create an urban symphony of New York and the many little people striving against all odds to rise; there's even a one-man Greek chorus--Frank Craven, the Stage Manager of the recent Our Town--to hammer the theme periodically. But over the previous decade Warners' honest, hard-charging, small-scale movies had collectively achieved that "symphony," without the pompous flourishes Anatole Litvak's direction brings to the project. Here's hoping DVD showcases more of them. --Richard T. Jameson

Packin' A Punch.and Packin' Heat! On the heels of the success of the Warner Bros. Gangster Collection, the Warner Bros. Tough Guys Collection delivers six all new to DVD Classics featuring Hollywood's greatest Academy-Award winning Tough guys - James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and Edward G. Robinson. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION Rating: NR Age: 012569679528 UPC:&nbs

Product Reviews

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[+] 10.0 BEWARE OF DUPLICATION OF TITLES!!!

Beware - titles in this box-set originally issued in 2006 are identical to the more recently issued WARNER GANGSTERS COLLECTION VOLUME 2.
Major disappointment as family members purchased both sets as Christmas presents for me this year.
Other than that the titles are just dandy - preference depends on which box art you find more appealing.

Reviewer [A3O7KZF9RZ9DAH] | Date [January 18, 2009]

[+] 10.0 Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guy's Collection

If you remember Million Dollar Movie or the Late Show (New York & N.J.) You will love this box set, Picture quality and sound are excellent. This is a "MUST HAVE" in any collection. ...

Reviewer [A3554UWMVO5OWY] | Date [December 30, 2007]

[+] 8.0 Positive Tough Guy's Collection

This pack is very entertaining, with excelent movies. If you like noir or 30's films this is a must. All the movies are enjoyable, but are not truely GREAT. San Quentin and A Slight Case of Murder were the two worst of the pack I would only give these movies a 3 star rating. As for G men and Each Dawn I Die are marvalous films; and deserve a 4 star rating. Bullets or Ballots is a interesting movie featuring a feindish Bogart and a well known ruff and tough by the book cop played by Robinson. Its an OK flick but yet again a 3 star film. However, the real surprise was City for Conquest. I went into the movie thinking it would be the one I would dred; this was not the case at all. Though it has a few odd moments, for the most part the movie is brilliant. Without a dought one of Cagneys best preformances, and the movie mixes heart ach, boxing, and music into something that works. I would rank this as probably my favorite boxing movie. Maybe its from the way it peaks and falls and repeats until the passive yet memorable climax. This is defently a 5 star film and was a real treat. The whole set is well worth it if you like 30's humor and lingo.

Reviewer [A3PI416G5W6FK2] | Date [August 7, 2007]

[+] 10.0 Tough guys abound in a wide variety of films

This is a great and worthy companion to the Warner Gangsters Collection. However, this collection of films is much more varied than what you found in the Warner Gangsters bunch of films. It's not so much that we have a pre/post code comparison here of how Warner handled tough guys and gangsters in their films - there were only two precode gangster films in the Gangsters collection. Instead, we have WB's top three tough guys of the 30's - James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart - taking the lead in a variety of roles and films that often aren't about guys that are gangster tough, or even cop tough for that matter.

Edward G. Robinson stars in "Bullets or Ballots" and "A Slight Case of Murder". In the first film, he is the hard-working cop turned out to pasture by a past associate the minute that associate gets a promotion. Now, suddenly past offers for employment by underworld figures in return for big bucks look pretty good. Will Robinson's character turn against the system and department he has worked for his whole career? In "A Slight Case of Murder" Robinson ably shows his hand at dark comedy as a gangster who is made legitimate by the end of prohibition. Now he can sell his beer legitimately. The only problem is, nobody has the heart to tell him that his beer is awful.

James Cagney, Warners' number one gangster picture star of the 30's, shows up in three films. In "G Men" he is a lawyer who decides to go to work for the F.B.I. His education was bought and paid for by a local mobster, and thus his new associates are suspicious of him although Cagney's legal career has been on the up-and-up. This is an action-packed film with Cagney as a new G-Man who eventually has his loyalties to his old friends somewhat tested. "Each Dawn I Die" has Cagney as a crusading journalist set up on a manslaughter charge and wrongly sent to prison by the corrupt officials he was trying to expose. Month after month passes as he is sure he will be vindicated and released - but nothing happens. Only his convict friend - played by George Raft - who escapes while Cagney is inside, can find the witness that can free him. But will Raft's character bother to keep his promises once he is out? Cagney gives a top-notch performance of a straight guy turned bitter and hopeless as he realizes he may never get out of prison. Cagney's final film in the set "City for Conquest" is a very good film that has little or nothing to do with tough guys and a lot to do with tough breaks and melodrama, all of which Cagney's character gets. He and Ann Sheridan are sweethearts in a tenement district. Ann seeks escape from poverty with her dancing skills, Cagney with his boxing. Unfortunately, Cagney's character runs across a corrupt boxer who rubs a corrosive material into his gloves to temporarily blind Cagney so he can win the match. It works a little too well as Cagney's blindness is more than temporary. This film is a real tear-jerker that is a favorite of mine.

Finally, Humphrey Bogart headlines a very short "San Quentin" at only 70 or so minutes in length. Bogart is a tough-as-nails convict who believes that his special treatment by Pat O'Brien - captain of the yard at San Quentin - may be because he is exchanging Bogart's treatment for his sister's romantic favors, to put it politely. However, Bogart's character has misunderstood the entire situation. The two knew each other and began falling for one another before Bogart's character even went to jail. He decides to escape and give O'Brien the 38-calibre reward he thinks he deserves for dishonoring his sister. Will he come to his senses in time?

Bogart shows up as a supporting player in "Bullets or Ballots" in this set and as a supporting player in several films in the Warner Gangsters Collection. It's hard to believe that Humphrey DeForest Bogart - now recognized as the greatest actor of the 20th century - had to spend a decade slumming at Warner Bros. in supporting roles before his talent was finally recognized for what it was in 1941's "High Sierra". The rest, of course, is history.

In summary, this really is a great set of films supplemented by Warner's Night at the Movies treatment, commentaries on the films by film historians, and various featurettes on the gangster genre. Highly recommended.

Reviewer [A2E3F04ZK7FG66] | Date [August 3, 2007]

[+] 8.0 Superb 30's movie collection but...

This movie collection of the depression era is AWESOME but the reason that Im dissapointed is that G-Men is the ONLY action-packed movie of the collection, the rest of the movies have all the action in the end! except for Bullets or Ballots and A Slight Case of Murder which they didn't have ANY action at all!!!
But at least! the movies that have action are GREAT! they have car chases, lot's of shooting, boxing (City of Conquest) and cool dialoges!

I HOPE that the Gangster collection is the one that Im looking for because the ONLY thing that I care about theses movies is the action!!!!

Adios.

Reviewer [APW72P4COWTBK] | Date [June 20, 2007]

[+] 10.0 Dames, Gunsels, the cars, you know, noir

Great selection of noir era films and every one a hit. Just work through the selections and imagine what they would be like if the directors had color, better sets and modern effects. This is when men were men and women were glad of it. And if the dame ruined your life, so be it, you were the sap this time. Great value for the money!!!

Reviewer [A2VN5C9ZNDPL12] | Date [November 3, 2006]

[+] 10.0 A box of good stuff

A couple years ago, Warner Brothers issued a top-notch set of its classic gangster movies. Included were such all-time greats as Little Caesar, Public Enemy and White Heat. On the heals of that boxed set, a new one was issued: the Tough Guys boxed set. This companion piece to the Gangster set features slightly less well-known movies but is definitely worth watching.

The big difference in the two sets are the roles of its principal players. In the Gangster set, the stars - in particular, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson - were criminals. As the studio got more pressure to stop producing movies in which the heroes were crooks, they merely switched their actors from one side of the law to the other.

In more-or-less chronological order, the first in this six-movie set is G-Men, featuring Cagney as a struggling lawyer who joins the fledgling FBI. This puts him at odds with his friend, a genial crime boss who opts to retire rather than contend with Cagney. Unfortunately, his successors are not so nice, setting up a lot of gunplay. Of the three Cagney movies in this set, this is the weakest, although it is still decent.

Also relatively weak is Bullets or Ballots which features Robinson as a cop who joins the mob after he is fired (an obvious ruse that not even the villains totally buy). Once again, there is a "good" mob boss who is Robinson's friend. Humphrey Bogart, in a standard role for him in the 1930s, is a much more evil gangster.

Bogart returns in San Quentin as a small-time crook sent to the title prison. The principal character, however, is Pat O'Brien as a reform-minded Captain of the Yard, who tries to turn Bogart around, partly out of good intentions and partly because he's dating Bogie's sister. Unfortunately, as also shown in Angels with Dirty Faces (in the Gangster set), O'Brien isn't that interesting a character: he's too straight and narrow and this allows Bogart and the other cons to steal the show.

If the first three movies are merely good, the next three are top-notch. A Slight Case of Murder is a comic gangster movie with Robinson as a crime lord gone legitimate after Prohibition ends. He sells the same beer that he sold in the speakeasy days, little realizing that the only reason people bought his stuff was because it was the only drink available. It tastes like swill, however, but before Robinson can do anything about it, he faces financial ruin. Complicating things are some dead bodies, some missing bank loot and his future son-in-law, a law officer. It may be an old movie, but the humor still works well.

Probably the best movie in the set is Each Dawn I Die, with Cagney back as a reporter who is framed for a crime after reporting on corrupt politics. Initially convinced that the truth will set him free quickly, he soon realizes that it's not going to be that easy; as time goes by, he begins to fall apart. George Raft also stars as a fellow con who is wise to the ways of prison.

Finally, there is City for Conquest, which is more of a romance than a crime movie (although there is a little bit of crime). Cagney is a boxer who is strung along by his long-time girlfriend Ann Sheridan. Her ambitions to become a famous dancer will override her love of him, with bad consequences. Among other actors, this movie features Elia Kazan in a rare acting role.

Besides the fact that these movies probably average a high four stars, we get a lot of extras, including commentaries on all the movies and "Warner Night at the Movies" for all the films as well: in addition to the movie, you get an old movie trailer, a news reel, a short subject and a cartoon. Add to this a set of mini-documentaries and some miscellaneous shorts (including several blooper reels) and this set easily rates five stars and should be watched by anyone who enjoys crime films.

Reviewer [A2F3M93RRLFQNJ] | Date [October 2, 2006]

[+] 10.0 tough guys abound

these movies are well made, and being a classic movie fan like these titles and stars. keep it up warner brothers

Reviewer [A3MKCR0EU13O16] | Date [August 18, 2006]

[+] 10.0 Another superb Warner's collection

As a follow up or merely a companion to Warner's Gangster Collection, here is another great set of films to enjoy. Reviews of each film can be viewed under their individual titles, but by way of summary:

- "G Men" (1935) and "Bullets or Ballots" (1936) are direct responses to the imposition of the Hays Code in 1934. By switching Cagney in the former and Robinson in the latter to the other sides of the law, Warner Brothers cleverly maintained the momentum of the earlier pre code films but shifted the emphasis to the crime fighters. Both films are as exciting as their predecessors and much better made.
- in 1937, "San Quentin" was a programmer starring the second rung Pat O'Brien with Bogart and Ann Sheridan in support. It does not have the budget of the other films and is much more routine. Ann Sheridan sings for the first time on screen though and very well too. This is the weakest film in the set.
- 1938 brought "A Slight Case of Murder", an hilarious Damon Runyan send up of the gangster with Edward G Robinson relishing his comic role and with a brilliant supporting cast including the memorable Ruth Donnelly, Allen Jenkins and Ed Brophy.
- In 1939, "Each Dawn I Die" was the best of the prison films, with convincing detail of the violence and boredom of prison life. George Raft, the weakest of the actors who played gangsters, rises to the level of colleague Cagney in this one and the film has great suspense.
- "City for Conquest", made in 1940, is the most ambitious film of the group based on a pretentious novel which was not a great critical success in the late thirties. The poetic quality of the script is exactly what dates the film more than all the others in the collection but the fight scenes are as harrowing as any on film. Cagney is superb as usual and Ann Sheridan has a starring role. It is great to see her paired with him on an equal basis.

ALL the DVDs are good quality and the list of extras are endless - commentaries, newsreel, short films, cartoons and trailers. There is something for everyone here. One of the highlights is the group of blooper reels from the Warners' cutting room floor, good fun for those who know their Warner's films.

Like other DVD collections from Warners, this set is excellent value.

Reviewer [A19U5RYULZ0Z72] | Date [August 11, 2006]

[+] 10.0 ALL THE GREAT ONES AND QUALITY DVD TRANSFERS TO BOOT! - These DVD's were done right!

You have all the great one's here and doing some of their best work. I love Edward G Robinson see, which makes this DVD set worth its price for me right there but, there is so much more to this DVD set. You get Cagney flexing his full and substantially talented acting muscle in the films in which he stars.

The funniest of the lot by far is A Slight Case of Murder, who knew you could make a funny movie about a former gangster wanting to go straight as an honest brewer of fine upscale beer. Problem was the beer recipe that sold during prohibition really sucked as in tasted absolutely aweful. I mean this beer was so bad it even put his own crew off of drinking his swill. Edward G played a former gangster so used to having a captive audience during prohibition when the public would drink anything containing real alcohol just to catch their buzz. Problem was how do you tell a former gangster he is selling skunky beer so bad it litterally assulted the taste buds without ending up doing some serious sleeping in a violin case laying down on the job with the fishes.

The end of prohibition was like the emancipation proclaimation when newly minted respectable drunks could finally start drinking beer based on odd ball consumer values like quality, flavor, brand, mouth feel, aroma, head and other quirky things. Needless to say Edward G's character almost goes bankrupt trying to sell horrid beer. the scene where Eddie G finally gets around to drinking his own beer is totally priceless. Edward G. Robinson has an expressive face anyways and to see the frowns and contortions his face undergoes on tasting his beer simply make this movie a keeper for that alone.

All the movies included in this series are strong, well acted and the sound and picture quality are first rate. No hissing popping, flashing, rips or bad film quality issues in any of them that I saw. The films were not too dark, grainy, light or washed out. The sound quality with very few exceptions was first rate and the few times it dropped off I suspect it was original to the film as you know talkies were still new back then. San Quentin was kind of funny because, the plot was hollywood prison not prison reality I can never imagine prison ever being pleasant a place as shown in that movie.

The better prison movie was Each Dawn I Die, it captured better the ugliness of prison life back then. Brainless guards, bulls, screws, it captured more the prison lingo of the time, it captured the mindless work inmates did. Cagney did an excellent job of protraying a prisoner you liked. The ending of Each Dawn I Die was the kind that made me clap, hoot, holler and howl just straight up nice. Bullets or Ballots was pretty predictable so I won't go into it here but, even as one of the weaker of this lot of movie it is still plenty good a must see. G-Men started slow but man did it get intense quick, this was Cagney at his best.

This is a really good set every movie in this set holds its own in DVD transfer quality, star power and storyline if you like old film's staring the true greats of this bygone era as I do. I most highly recommend this film collection to anyone who loves old gangster movies as these are some of the finest out there.

Reviewer [A1SDPA1J98UP4L] | Date [July 24, 2006]

[+] 10.0 The extras

I am a big Cagney fan, so this set is great for me. I might have considered just buying the 3 Cagney films all by themselves if not for the incredible extras. I have the Flynn collection as well as the Gangster collection and they are all done with such love and care, it is unbelieveable. You really feel like you are sitting and watching a movie in the theatre in the 30's and 40's. With newsreels, cartoons, and shorts, this set is a real treat. Warner did not censor the period racism, so everything is as it was originally presented. This is a must have for any film fan. Other studios should watch this to see how box sets should be done.

Reviewer [A4JP4T1F95D0A] | Date [July 15, 2006]

[+] 10.0 Here comes another one...

The descriptions of each film in the product information are comprehensive enough so I won't go on about the story-lines of individual titles, this review is just to highlight the fact that this set is, in format, a follow-up to the Warners' Gangsters Collection. That is, each disc not only has a magnificently restored print of the film, but a set of extras to watch before and after the film hosted by Leonard Maltin, the 'Warner Night at the Movies' section. These extras more often than not run even longer than the film and are thankfully relevant both to the film and to the year that it was released.
Typically you get a cartoon, a newsreel, a preview for another movie of the same year and a short film. At the end there is invariably a ten or fifteen minute retrospective in the form of interviews with leading film critics and sometimes even cast and crew associated with the film (if they're not dead).
The value for money with sets like these (see also Errol Flynn Signature Collection and Film Noir Collection) could not be better, highly recommended.

Reviewer [A30J4XGVPPLYB3] | Date [June 14, 2006]

[+] 10.0 july 18th can't come soon enough...

Wow, when I found out about this, I freaked. I can hardly contain myself because this DVD set is going to be amazing. All of these films are great and they showcase Bogart, Cagney, and Robinson quite well. The Warner Brothers Gangster Collection was stunning, so I'm sure this will be too; and the fact that the Film Noir Classics Collection Vol. 3 is released the same day...this is too much. Thank you Warner Brothers!!!

Reviewer [A3OCY3BNEX2ROL] | Date [June 10, 2006]

[+] 10.0 Thank You Warner Bros.

Robinson Cagney and Bogart are Back. This Time in Warner Bros.Tough guys Collection.I'm Very Looking Forward to is Collection. im Very glad to see Bullets or Ballots 1936 on DVD for the first time. I love the gangster films of the 30's and 40's. I Wish this set had smart money 1931 and Doorway to hell 1930 may be next time. This set comes with Bullets or Ballots G-men slight case of murder Each Dawn i Die and more.

Reviewer [A2W5TFPYAVTXHJ] | Date [May 2, 2006]