Product Description

The Public EnemyThe taut realistic time capsule of the Prohibition Era. James Cagney's breakthrough role! With 2 minutes of Recovered Footage not seen in over 70 years.White Heat"Made it Ma! Top of the world!" Cagney's psychotic Cody Jarrett sparks this searing classic.Angels with Dirty FacesBest Actor James Cagney: New York Film Critics/National Board of Review Awards! Ghetto kids admire a swaggering killer. With Humphrey Bogart Pat O'Brien and the Dead End Kids.Little CaesarLoosely based on Al Capone! Edward G. Robinson dishes it out in a fiery masterwork.The Petrified ForestBogie grabs notice as fugitive and hostage-taker Duke Mantee. With Bette Davis.The Roaring Twenties"He used to be a big shot." Cagney vs. Bogie in a racketeer rumble.System Requirements:Length: 541 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569672826

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16682 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-01-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 541 minutes

Amazon.com
For a knock-out combination of timeless entertainment and vintage studio history, you can't do much better than The Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount specialized in glossy comedies, MGM popularized lavish musicals, Universal produced signature horror classics, and Fox scored hits with sophisticated dramas. But it was Warner Bros. that generated controversy--if not always box-office profits--with so-called "social problem" films, and that meant gangsters. When viewed in their pre- and post-Prohibition context and in chronological order (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, 1931; The Petrified Forest, 1936; Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949), these six films definitively capture Warners' domination of the mobster genre, and to varying degrees, they all qualify as classics.

With its stilted visuals and pulpy plot, Little Caesar remains stuck in the stiff, early-sound era, but it's still a prototypical powerhouse, with Edward G. Robinson's titular "Rico" setting the stage for all screen gangsters to follow. The Public Enemy made James Cagney a star (who can forget him smashing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face?), and Humphrey Bogart repeats his Broadway success in The Petrified Forest, a stagy adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play, still enjoyable for Bogey's ever-threatening malevolence. Then it's a Cagney triple-threat in Angels (with Pat O'Brien), racketeering in The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), and especially the jailbird classic White Heat, with a fiery finale and an exit line ("Made it Ma! Top o' the world!") that epitomized Cagney's iconic, tough-guy image. In many ways Cagney was Warner Bros., and this Gangsters Collection pays enduring tribute to him and the important films that forged the studio's rugged reputation. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

GANGSTERS, GANGSTERS and CAGNEY!!!!!
I haven't watch ALL of them yet, but if you're into classic GANGSTER Noir from the 1930's and 1940's..... THIS IS THE ONE TO HAVE......
Bogart, Robinson, and Cagney..... What more needs to be said, but....
"I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD, MA!!!!!" The heavies today could take some seriouys lessons in meanace from these boyo's.......

A forest of Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

classic gangster films
If you want the classic Gangster films,that are the Genesis of
the Godfather,and Goodfellows and the Sopranos this is the set
for you!

Nice Collection of Classics
This is a great starter set at a very reasonable price. Some of THE essential early gangster films. Highly recommended.