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Little Caesar
First Published: 1929
184 pages
 About the Book
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About The Movie
In the title role of the 1930 Warner Bros. film Little Caesar, Edward G. Robinson creates one of the most indelible characters in the history of
American film-the fierce, remorseless gangster Rico. Robinson´s portrayal is so imbedded in the collective memory that people who have
never seen a frame Little Caesar know the snarl of his voice and his unforgettable exit line (sanitized a bit for the screen) -- "Mother of mercy,
is this the end of Rico?"
Little Caesar is a fascinating artifact of the Depression era and the early days of sound film. (It was released the year after the stock market
crash that triggered the Depression and three years after Warner Bros.´ release of the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer.) Directed by Mervyn
LeRoy, with Francis Faragoh and Robert N. Lee adapting W.R. Burnett´s novel, the film is lean and tough, in the Warner Bros. style. Still, it
seems a bit stilted today, like many other early talkies of those early years-all the more so, in this case, because of the staccato dialogue.
Film critic Pauline Kael has suggested that "the actors seem to be transfixed by the microphone," which is probably true.
In addition to Robinson, the cast includes Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, George E. Stone, Sidney Blackmer, William Collier Jr. and
Stanley Fields. The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar in 1930-31 for Best Adaptation, though Robinson was passed over for a
nomination for Best Actor; in fact, throughout his long and memorable career, he never received a nomination for an Academy Award.
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