The little giant 1933 - Full of laughs and wonderful moments

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IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Helen Vinson, Russell Hopton

"Retiring bootlegger Edward G. Robinson wishes to go straight and has recently become, as he puts it, 'positively crawling with culture'. 'Ever seen anything like that before?' He inquires of former henchman Russell Hopton, proudly displaying a newly obtained abstract. 'Not since I've been off cocaine', comes the deadpan answer. Ah, yes, nothing beats pre-production code Warner Bros. for tough talk or, for that matter, for spoofing its own blockbusters. And a spoof Little Giant certainly is, what with Robinson turning his Little Caesar character upside-down and inside out. That the comedy is still funny today is not only due to Robinson's virile performance but also to writers Robert Lord and Wilson Mizner, who took a topical event, the repeal of the 18th amendment, and created one of the era's livelier parodies." - www.allmovie.com

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Tiger shark 1932 - The root of all the remakes

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IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Richard Arlen, Zita Johann, Leila Bennett, J. Carrol Naish

"Legend has it that director Howard Hawks filmed Tiger Shark for Warner Brothers while on a fishing trip in Hawaii. Despite the off-handed nature of the production, the film - based on the play, They Knew What They Wanted - still manages to touch upon many of Hawks' signature themes. There's a morally complex love triangle, an examination of trust and loyalty, and the impending doom of an outside instrument of death (the sharks). Tiger Shark's driving story line is delivered in a typically Hawksian, no-nonsense style; the fishing scenes are highly charged and very realistic, significant for a film made in the 1930s. Two years after his breakthrough role in Little Caesar (1930), Edward G. Robinson proves his versatility as the Portuguese tuna boat skipper with a bitter, resentful side. Warner Bros. would unofficially remake Tiger Shark several times over the next ten years; while the professions of the two leading male characters would change, the basic 'triangle' plot remained the same." - www.allmovie.com

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