A 1937 Edward G. Robinson crime film. Robinson is a mobster about to marry but the government, pulling the Al Capone card, sends him up the river (namely Alcatraz) for tax evasion. Right before he's shipped off he finds out his wife, played by Rose Stradner, is pregnant & heartrendingly gives birth to a son while Robinson is in a train transpo. Robinson however is buoyant over the news even though whatever weight he carried on the outside is non-existent in stir (exemplified by the constant needling from a fellow inmate played by John Carradine). Meanwhile Stradner, locks horns w/newspapermen who've taken to exploiting her position as the wife of a mob man to sell papers but after hearing her story face to face, a reporter, played by James Stewart invests his time in her cause & they soon become amorous. A decade passes & Robinson is paroled hoping to resume his old criminal activities but his old running buddies, one played by Lionel Stander, thinking he had cash stashed away before he went in, beat him to a pulp & even kidnap his now grown son to compel him to squawk. Not believing Robinson is his father (he was primarily raised under Stewart's guidance) makes his reunion w/his pere a tempered one especially during the film's last third as Robinson manages to trick his captors as he escorts his son home to safety. Robinson is great here in last purported gangster role (he was tiring in playing them) w/the added benefit of him playing the role w/a note of regret as all his tough talk has come to naught in the twilight of his years. Stewart, in probably the only role he ever played sporting a 'stache, is upstanding & decent w/Stradner equal to the task standing up to a juggernaut like Robinson.
Review of The Last Gangster
