In a message dated 3/6/03 10:15:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<<
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 13:04:52 -0500
From: Robison Michael R CNIN <
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil>
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Gangster novels
I read somewhere that, although many gangster novels
preceded
Burnett's LITTLE CAESAR, it was the first one to look
at it from
the gangster's end instead of from law enforcement.
What other
hardboiled gangster novel preceded it? What other
hardboiled
gangster novels came out in the 1930s? I can think of
FAST ONE,
GREEN ICE, and, marginally, SANCTUARY.
>>
A belated addition to those already listed: THE SECRET SIX By
Frances Marion
(1931). This was a novelization by Marion of her screenplay
for the MGM gangster film of the same name with the
remarkable cast of Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable,
Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown and Ralph Bellamy. Rather
overshadowed by the "Scarface," "Public Enemy," "Little
Caeser" and other great gangster films of that era, "The
Secret Six" is worth seeking out. While it has been years
since I saw the movie I recall Beery's performance as the
racketeer Scorpio as being very tough and very good.
Richard Moore
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