UNDERWORLD
starring George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent and Clive Brook
SCREENLAND
November, 1927
Wear your bullet-proof vest when you go to see "Underworld." And don't forget to duck. Windy City-zens may feel at home, but everybody else had better do a little quiet target practice before venturing to join Josef von Sternberg's excursion into the underworld -- the subway of life, the bargain-basement of humanity. "Underworld" is a close-up of gunmen and their girl friends, -- whizz, bang! Almost got you that time!
No, really -- it's a corking picture. There's not a dull moment -- men falling to the right and women to the left of you. George Bancroft as Bull Weed falls for Feathers, (Evelyn Brent). Clive Brook as Rolls Royce, a drunkard who has seen better days, and nights, fall for her, too. Bull is a bluff, hearty crook -- a square-shooter in private life. But he shoots once too often, and -- I should give the end away! After that good Mr. von Sternberg has gone to all that work to build up such suspense, do you suppose I'm going to let him down? No, sir -- not after he provided splendid entertainment; it may make your teeth chatter, and you may be afraid of the dark afterwards, but it is good entertainment. The director went so far as to think up some brand-new camera-angles; and it wouldn't amaze me if some day he approaches von Stroheim's standards of realism, even if Josef doesn't use up half as much film.
"Underworld" is a great, big triumph for George Bancroft. He rises to real heights in a performance that even Emil wouldn't be ashamed of. Evelyn Brent has the part of her young life as one of those girls who finds her soul. You feel that Evelyn really has a soul to find. There's a quality about Miss Brent -- I don't know just what it is; she's not a raving beauty, nor a great actress; but she has -- sincerity, perhaps that's it. She can play a Feathers as no other picture girl can. More power to her. But it is Bancroft, as a tough guy with a peculiar code of honor, crashing through life robbing and killing, yet with all the time something fine in him untouched -- who makes the picture, with von Sternberg's help. Here's a character you won't forget. He turns his machine-gun on your emotions; he'll "get" you, see if he won't.
UNDERWORLD
starring George Bancroft, Clive Brook, Evelyn Brent and Larry
Semon.
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
November, 1927
When it was shown to the public for the first time at the Paramount Theater in New York, "Underworld" received notices studded with laudatory adjectives from virtually all of the criti8cs. They regard it as an unusual, vigorous and thrilling melodrama which will make a hit in most places where it is shown. Josef von Sternberg, the director who leaped into the limelight some time ago by his direction of "The Salvation Hunters," has definitely taken his place among the top-notchers, believe the critics, who heap praise on him for capturing unusually authentic atmosphere in this film. Goerge Bancroft, recently made a star, gives one of the finest performances seen in some time as the gangster, the reviewers opine. Clive Brook, who plays Bancroft's pal, and Evelyn Brent, the girl in the case, come in for similar notices. "This film," says Donald Thompson in the Telegram, "which opens with the dynamiting of a bank and ends with a machine-gun battle, to be followed, one presumes, with a first-rate hanging, is consistent melodrama, smoothly and convincingly done . . . 'Underworld' . . . is the most worthy offering of its kind to be shown at Paramount's pet theater since it opened." Langdon W. Post, the Evening World's reviewer, has this to say: "Ben Hecht . . . and Josef von Sternberg . . . have so manipulated George Bancroft, Clive Brook and Evelyn Brent that we are glad to announce that 'Underworld' is as good a picture of its kind as has come to Broadway in some months." Mordaunt Hall, writing in the Times, says that "although there are several episodes in this picture that could have been improved upon. . . it is a compelling subject, one that has a distinctly original vein." Declaring it to be one of the significant pictures of the year, Marquis Busby, in the Los Angeles Time, says that the film is played throughout "at terrific pitch suspense toward the end is almost nerve-racking, and there is raw, vivid drama from beginning to end. . . It is a true slice of life."