User reviews

This 1937 film gave me a big surprise with the great acting of Edward G. Robinson, (Joe Krozac) who plays the role as a big time gangster who is a hard cold killer and will not let anyone get in his way in order to get just what he wants. However, Joe Krozac gets himself in trouble just like Al Capone with falling behind in his income tax and is sent to Alcatraz prison for ten years on the "Rock". Joe Krozac is married to a woman named Talya Krozac, (Rose Stradner) who is a foreign lady who does not understand English very well, but she loves Joe and gives him a baby boy just as Joe goes into Alcatraz. A man named Paul North, Sr., (James Stewart) who is a newspaper reporter who becomes involved with Talya while Joe Krozac is in prison and they both get married and raise Joe Krozac's young son. This story has many twists and turns and it has many surprises which you will never be able to figure out unless you view this film. Enjoy.

Criminal kingpin Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) returns from Europe with a new bride. Before long she's pregnant. But no sooner does she find out than Joe is arrested for income tax evasion. Before their son is born, Joe goes to prison. While he's in stir, his wife falls in love with a reporter (Jimmy Stewart) and divorces Joe. When Joe gets out, he plans to get his son back. But his old gang have plans of their own for Joe.

Robinson is the main attraction and shines in a role he could do in his sleep. But he's got able support from the likes of Lionel Stander, John Carradine, Edward Brophy, and Sidney Blackmer. Jimmy Stewart is fine but nothing special in an early role. This is a gangster flick with MGM polish. It was great entertainment any time Eddie G. was in a movie like this. Give it a shot and I'm sure you'll love it.

There are a lot of theoretical strikes against this movie-- Robinson playing a Capone lookalike for the zillionth time (right before he switched mainly to playing them for comedy in things like A Slight Case of Murder and Brother Orchid); post-Code MGM instead of pre- Code Warner Bros., which surely means a softer handling of the gangster theme; a no-name director and female co-star, Jimmy Stewart in a thankless good guy role; and, not least, a sort of gangster Sin of Madelon Claudet plot in which Robinson gets to get weepy about not knowing his son while he's in Alcatraz.

And amazingly, it's all handled remarkably freshly-- and toughly, especially from the point where the movie pulls the rug out from under big shot Robinson with a long and realistically bleak prison train sequence. Almost every opportunity to sink into cliche is rethought to find a fresher angle-- instead of the archetypal Warner Bros. tough-guy prison, with the warden acting like a crime boss himself to keep his charges in line, the movie's Alcatraz is a streamlined, impersonal machine for reducing men to numbers, the striking production design as institutionally cold as the manner of the warden. The classic welcome home from the boys (such lovable gangster lugs as Lionel Stander and Edward Brophy) takes a highly unexpected turn-- and keeps turning. Although the scenes where he finally meets his son again are hampered by unrealistic dialogue for the kid, in all this is a strong and thoughtful adult drama which brings emotional realism back to a genre usually riddled with cliches.

Edward G. Robinson stars in "The Last Gangster," with a cast that includes Lionel Stander, Rosa Stradler, James Stewart, John Carradine, and Sidney Blackmer.

As older men, Stander and Blackmer would be known for the TV show Hart to Hart (no mistaking that voice) and Rosemary's Baby, respectively.

Robinson is Joe Krozac, a powerful, ruthless mob boss who does not tolerate anyone moving in on his territory.

Joe takes a trip to Europe and returns with a bride, Talya (Rosa Stradner). Talya doesn't speak much English so she really doesn't know how Joe makes his living.

When she becomes pregnant, Joe is crazy with joy, absolutely obsessed with the idea of having a son, whom he dreams of taking over his crime business.

Joe, alas, taking a page out of Al Capone's book, lands in jail for ten years for tax evasion. He is determined to be a model prisoner so he can get out on time. When Talya brings the baby to see him, he only cares about the baby and not her.

When her son is called baby mobster in the newspaper, with a photo, Talya becomes disillusioned and stops bringing the baby. She also divorces Joe. Meanwhile, Joe left a lot of money somewhere and his old friends want it as soon as he's released.

This film went the typical gangster route until the end, and it's really very sweet. Robinson was such a wonderful actor - he could play a wimp or a bully, do drama and comedy - he was a real treasure.

James Stewart had an early role in this film. I thought he looked on the young side for Rosa Stradner, even though he was five years older. Toward the end of the film, I guess to show the passage of time, he has a mustache someone stuck on him, and it looks dreadful.

Rosa Stradner did a good job as an insecure woman from another country who marries the wrong man. She was married to Joseph Mankiewicz, during which time, she didn't work in the early years while he was out having affairs with Judy Garland and Linda Darnell.

But they stayed married, and she did a film, The Keys of the Kingdom, in which she was marvelous. At the age of 45, an alcoholic by now, she committed suicide. Very sad.

Supposedly the line from the Mankiewicz screenplay of All About Eve - "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night" was inspired by Rosa.

You won't have to fasten your seatbelts for this, but thanks to Robinson, it's good.

I saw "The Last Gangster" (1937) for the first time last night (7/18/2006) and found it to be a fairly entertaining film. Edward G. Robinson's acting,as per usual in gangster movies of this type, carried the film. It had its weak moments (like Rose Stander's acting) and its unlikely moments(like the final shooting scene), but it remained fairly entertaining just the same. There was one rather strange item about the film. One of the 1930s more identifiable "bad guy" actors (Edward Pawley) appeared only briefly in this film (in the scene where the mob tortures Robinson's character)and didn't have a single line of dialog! I found this rather odd after having seen Edward Pawley play featured roles such as: Public Enemy Number One in "G-Men", the head of a gangster mob in "King Solomon of Broadway", a crazed and rebellious convict in "Each Dawn I Die", a prominent gangster in "Smashing The Rackets" and in "Eyes of the Underworld", Bogart's bad-guy partner in "The Oklahoma Kid, et cetera. Perhaps this lends some additional credence to what some critics have claimed to be poor directing of this movie. Perhaps, also, the fact that there was no love lost between Robinson and Pawley had something to do with it. Interestingly, Pawley went on to replace Robinson as "Steve Wilson" in the long-running and highly popular radio drama series, Big Town, in the 1940s.

Made at MGM but starring a Warner Brothers icon, and this strange gangster pic has ample ingredients reeking of both studios. Edward G. Robinson, clanking on all cylinders, is a Capone-like capo who gets rich during Prohibition, is sent up the river for a decade, and becomes obsessed with the little boy his wife (Rose Stradner, unknown to me and quite interesting) bore. She's an immigrant and utterly, somewhat implausibly unaware of her husband's dirty business, but she gets educated by a newspaperman (James Stewart, not very compelling here, except for an uncharacteristic Cesar Romero mustache) who falls in love with and eventually marries her. The Warners influence is evident not just in Robinson's snarling and grimacing but in the stepped-up violence, quicker-than-usual editing, and hilariously overblown musical score, by Edward Ward. But the ideal home life of Stewart, Stradner, and their adorable little boy, complete with suburban trimmings and Louise Beavers doing maid things, are utterly MGM. There's some excitement, and a good supporting cast, notably Lionel Stander as Robinson's henchman, but it's all kind of predictable. And when you want it to settle down, another Edward Ward blast assaults the senses. But what's really interesting, and still timely, is how Robinson's character, Joe Krozac, is self-centered, not as smart as he thinks he is, used to getting his own way, outraged when he doesn't... he's Donald Trump!

This is one of Edward G. Robinson's best performances. He played the gangster with the expired use by date in a number of movies, most notably in "Key Largo", but here he takes the character on a fascinating journey. He starts as a newly-wed little Napoleon, is crushed by his conviction on tax evasion, degraded through ten years of prison, and tortured to near death by his former gang when released. Through all this he is motivated by a great love for a son he has never met - when he does meet him finally his tender side is released.

What a challenging role this is - and how brilliantly Robinson rises to the challenge. At times you'll hate him, but he is always so vividly real that it is impossible not to empathise. Less effective is Rose Stradner as his wife - she too often slips into melodrama. It is perhaps not surprising to learn that she only made one other film. How fabulous Luise Rainer would have been in this role. The rest of the cast is terrific - that great Warner Bros store of thugs and villains - with Lionel Stander and John Carradine particular stand-outs.

And a pre-star James Stewart is the good guy - he even has a Clark Gable moustache in some scenes (the studio never let him grow that again!). The little boy is very icky - seems more English than American and is far too boy scouty to be appealing.

But add to all this strong direction, a good script, and stunning camera-work and you have a minor masterpiece. The torture scene is really very harrowing and the passage of time in prison montage is excellent - and you've got to love the opening credits.

Anyone who's a die-hard Edward G. Robinson fan will probably already have seen The Last Gangster, a drama that tugs on your heart. Eddie G plays the titular character, a mob boss kingpin who gets sent to jail for scrimping on his income tax. His frustration is understandable, since he's gotten away with everything else and gets tripped up by a minor detail. Plus, his lovely wife, Rose Stradner, has just given birth to a little boy. Rose, an immigrant without a good command on the English language, is lost without her husband. She also doesn't have an income anymore and has to struggle as a new and single mother.

James Stewart plays a young newspaper reporter. He learns of Rose's plight and writes some articles sympathizing with her situation. As he gets to know her, he can't help himself from trying to help her and the little baby. As time passes, they start to fall in love. Obviously, the good guy vs. Bad guy element is pretty strong in this film. Eddie G is a gangster who abandoned his family, and Jimmy is an upstanding reporter who believes in doing the right thing. But you just can't help loving Eddie G and feeling terribly sorry for him - or at least I can't. When he pouts and starts to cry, it just tears me up!

MGM imported Edward G. Robinson over from Warner Brothers to star in The Last Gangster. Robinson brought over his Little Caesar character with him for this film.

Imagine if you will Little Caesar going back to the old country and importing a wife. We don't see anything of the courtship of Robinson and his bride Rose Stradner. My guess is that Robinson wants a dutiful stay at home wife to raise his children and the Twenties flappers that he would encounter in the illegal booze business don't fill that bill.

Anyway to say Rose is fresh off the farm is an understatement. She hasn't a clue what Robinson is involved in. And when Robinson goes off to Alcatraz like another well known mobster of the era for income tax evasion, she doesn't know what to make of it.

In the criminal business it's impossible to be nice to those on the way up, so when you're on the way down, it's a given people are going to dump all over you. A concept Robinson can't quite get into his head. But that's what happens.

The loyalest person to him is Stradner, but Robinson in no uncertain terms tells her the only function she has is to raise HIS son to whom she's given birth. After that Stradner takes up with James Stewart who plays a newspaper reporter and she marries him.

After Robinson serves his ten year stretch the story takes a maudlin and rather unrealistic turn. I won't say any more lest you care to see it the next time it's broadcast.

I think Edward G. Robinson knew what kind of inferior material he was in so he simply reverted to type and snarled his way through the film. James Stewart was certainly up and coming at MGM at this time, but he's given very little to do in the film, but be Rose's faithful second husband.

Best performances in the film are that of Lionel Stander as Robinson's number two guy who is not someone you want as a friend and Alan Baxter as the surviving brother of a family that Robinson ordered a hit on.

The sad thing was that at Warner Brothers Robinson was desperately trying to expand his range of parts and when he gets a loan-out assignment it's more of the same.

Starts out OK, obviously patterned on Capone's downfall resulting in him being shipped off to Alcatraz. And for about 10 minutes once Robinson gets there this promised to be a gripping gangster drama. But does it all slide downhill quick after that, turning into a bowl of sentimental slop about his redemption over the love of his son who is born while he's off to the bighouse.

Robinson does a stalwart enough tough guy turn here, but he's just doing what he did in his sleep back then, so the film cannot be recommended on his performance alone. It's a bad film. Very hackneyed script that fails its promise. James Stewart fans won't consider this his finest hour either. He's stuck in a contrived part as Robinson's ex wife's new hubby. The scene where he first meets her has to be seen to be believed. Then there's that Clark Gable moustache he's forced to wear after the story jumps ahead 10 years. His embarrassment shows.

Unless you're on a mission to see everything Edward G. or Jimmy Stewart ever appeared in, this one's really only good for a laugh.

The movies have always relied on clear-cut heroes and villains to either engage the sympathy or incur the animosity of members of the audience: simplistic, and far removed from real life. Much more thought-provoking are the occasional characters such as the lead in this film, an egotistical, tough-as-nails crime kingpin and killer, who nevertheless emerges convincingly as a man capable of sympathy and single-minded devotion. The scenario is to be commended for making the complexities and seeming contradictions in this character altogether believable. Of course it is the performer who must make this come alive on the screen, and here Edward G. Robinson succeeds brilliantly. In a gallery of great performances by such a fine actor, this one deserves to be much better known.

...from MGM and director Edward Ludwig. Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) is an infamous gangster who has just returned from Europe with a new bride, Talya (Rose Stradner). He soon learns that Talya is pregnant, but his joy is short-lived as the feds arrest him on tax evasion charges, sentencing him to 10 years in Alcatraz. Talya, who was unaware of Joe's criminal life, takes her new-born son and moves to a small town where no one knows who they are, accompanied by her new beau, reporter Paul (James Stewart). Years later, when Joe is finally released, he sets out to renew his criminal organization and reconnect with his son.

With the advent of the production code, the gangster movie genre took a big hit, and while there were a few more classics in the wings, for the most part the best days were behind them. The moralizing that the code demanded is in full effect with this film, which is less of a traditional gangster movie and more of a feature-length castigation of the gangster character. Robinson, forever linked to the type thanks to Little Caesar, spends the majority of the movie being humiliated in one way or another, disrespected, physically assaulted, verbally insulted, and losing everything he holds dear. It's one thing to say that crime doesn't pay, but this movie almost seems to revel in the abuse heaped upon Robinson's Joe Krozac.

Robinson is okay in the lead, over-the-top but in a way that fits with his character. Stradner, who I was unfamiliar with, is good as the naive foreigner wife. I looked up Stradner, and she had a short but interesting life. Stewart doesn't have a lot to do, and he looks very odd with a 30's-style pencil-mustache in his later scenes. Douglas Scott, as Krozac's 10 year old son, is awful. William Wellman worked on the script.

Such awesome hollywood royalty in this one... Edward Robinson is the gangster Krozac, in 1927. Ja-ja-ja Jimmy Stewart, and Lionel Stander (Max ! the butler from Hart to Hart!) Sydney Blackmer. and Grant Mitchell as the Warden. and...of course, goofy, corny Ed Brophy. Krozac goes off to jail for tax evasion, if nothing else, but leaves behind a pregnant wife. Stander is his sidekick Curly. and Alcatraz as it looked in 1937. that's where they end up. Krozac finds out pretty quickly that his name means nothing in the joint, and he's just one of the guys. Stewart is the newspaper reporter who starts out by writing all the bad that Krozac did, but now he feels remorse. and starts wooing the Mrs. Krozac... stand back! here we go! Krozac's son (Doug Scott) is a bit over the top, but was just a kid, so can be forgiven. Directed by Ed Ludwig. didn't win any oscars, but directed John Wayne in three films. Pretty good. a product of the troubled 1930s.

It's 1927. Murderous gangster Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) returns from Europe with new wife Talya. She is clueless about his crimes. He gets imprisoned for tax evasion. Reporter Paul North (James Stewart) plays a dirty trick on Talya and her baby.

It's early in Stewart's career but just for the sake of the story, his character needs to be inserted earlier than forty minutes. It's a love triangle and one side is missing for the first half of the movie. He could be part of the push to convict Joe. The baby gun issue is a little hard to swallow. I would give that to another reporter in his paper. Jimmy needs to play up his nice guy persona. This is an interesting trio and a fine film.

The poor "user reviews" are predicated on either the weak performance of the leading lady or they presumably don't recognize excellent acting by the leading men. The film unlike most in that era had multiple twits in the storyline and an unpredictable ending. Vintage RobinsonI and Stewart! Loved and highly recommend the movie!!!

First off, Rose Strander, who plays Edward G. Robinson's wife, is one of the worst actresses ever... at least here. The parts between her and a lanky James Stewart, who hadn't hit his stride yet as an actor... the war would flesh him out, and he got really good under Tony Mann's direction in those Noir Westerns...

Conversations between the title character's wife and nice guy Stewart are torturous. Leaving the best scenes to Robinson in Alcatraz where one scene is shown in Woody Allen's greatest film...

This is not Edward's greatest film; far from it. Even Tiger Shark, also on blue cover Warner Archive DVD, is far superior. There's not enough toughness to be in the gangster or prison category or workable pathos as a melodrama, and especially fails as a romance.

I was kind of enjoying it in the first 15 minutes when Edward G is getting c0cky with the district attorney. Then he gets shipped off to Alcatraz while handcuffed to a beautiful young John Carradine.

Problem is that prison is just a sideshow. An excuse for some brawling. None of those scenes really matter to the plot.

The meat of the story is that Robinson loves his newborn kid but treats the mom like she's merely the baby factory. Predictably, she wanders off with the sympathetic newspaper reporter played by Jimmy Stewart.

Who in 1937 was going to an Edward G picture to watch earnest Jimmy Stewart making moon faces at a baby. Or watch a marginally attractive actress spout her dialogue with a thick Austrian accent.

Last Gangster, The (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Strange but highly entertaining gangster film from MGM has Edward G. Robinson marrying a woman who doesn't know about his deadly pass. Robinson eventually has a son with her but before he meets the child he gets sent to prison for ten years. The mother then finds out about his past and decides to kidnap the kid so that he doesn't turn out like his father. She eventually marries another guy (James Stewart) but soon Robinson is out of jail and looking for revenge. This is certainly a lot tamer than the Warner gang pictures of the time but that's a good thing because there's a lot of heart and emotion in place of the violence. Robinson is very good and incredibly touching in the end and Stewart shines in his role. John Carradine has a very good part as a man picking on Robinson inside prison. The ending is predictable but the film still works very well.

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.