Edward G. Robinson

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

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March 16, 2017December 17, 2022

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), starring Edward G. Robinson, Agnes Moorehead, Margaret O’Brien

Synopsis of Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

An endearing and quietly rhapsodic slice of Americana about a single year among the Norwegian immigrants in a Wisconsin farm town, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes enthralled 1945 audiences and critics with its timeless joys. Told from the viewpoint of little Selma (Margaret O’Brien), the film explores grand childhood adventures: making friends, a pet calf, Christmas, a terrifying trip down a flood-swollen river, a barn fire and a ride on a circus elephant’s trunk. In a change-of-pace role, Edward G. Robinson is a revelation of wisdom and compassion as Selma’s father, leading a fine cast that illuminates the profound power of everyday triumphs and sorrows.

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March 15, 2017October 15, 2022

A Hole in the Head (1959), starring Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eddie Hodges, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones, Keenan Wynn directed by Frank Capra

Synopsis of A Hole in the Head

Frank Sinatra stars as Tony Manetta, a widower living well beyond his means. He lives in Miami where he’s raising his young son, Alvin (Eddie Hodges). With a limited understanding of the word “responsibility,” Tony, finding himself in debt. With his back against the wall, decides to reach out to his older brother, Mario. For yet another in a string of loans. He lies that the money is needed for Alvin who has taken ill. The plot takes full-swing when Mario and his wife decide to pay Tony and Alvin a visit.

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March 14, 2017January 10, 2022

The Woman in the Window, starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon, Dan Duryea

Synopsis of The Woman in the Window

When a conservative middle-aged professor engages in a minor dalliance with a femme fatale, he is plunged into a nightmarish quicksand of blackmail and murder.

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March 14, 2017November 3, 2021

The Stranger (1946) starring Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young

Synopsis of The Stranger

In The Stranger, Wilson of the War Crimes Commission is seeking Franz Kindler, mastermind of the Holocaust, who has effectively erased his identity. Wilson releases Kindler’s former comrade Meinike and follows him to Harper, Connecticut, where he is killed before he can identify Kindler. Now Wilson’s only clue is Kindler’s fascination with antique clocks; but though Kindler seems secure in his new identity, he feels his past closing in.

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March 13, 2017September 18, 2021

Bullets or Ballots, starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh

Synopsis of Bullets or Ballots

A tough New York cop goes undercover to crack an influential crime ring in this well-done gangster movie starring Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart.

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February 25, 2016November 2, 2021

House of Strangers (1949) starring Edward G. Robinson, Richard Comte, Susan Hayward

House of Strangers is supposedly a film noir, but it doesn’t feel like one. Instead, it’s the story of an immigrant family, with a controlling, hard father who runs the family with an iron fist, and his anger and control extends beyond the grave. It’s also the story of the favored son, who goes to prison for his father’s crime — and after his father’s death, manages to break free of the anger and bitterness that his father used to control him.

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February 16, 2016June 12, 2022

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), starring Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins

Editorial review of The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, courtesy of Amazon.com

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse is a stylish, often amusing crime drama, this 1938 feature revolves around a central, improbable plot twist that consciously serves its casting against type: as the eponymous doctor, Edward G. Robinson, who had helped define the Warner Bros. style for gritty gangster sagas, jettisons his signature snarl in favor of a plummy, vaguely English accent that underlines his urbane sophistication. Dr. Clitterhouse is a creature of privilege who embarks on a criminal life not out of desperation, but rather through intellectual curiosity; instead of slouch hats and suits, he has marcelled hair and first appears in white tie and tails. He begins pulling off “perfect” jewel thefts as research into the criminal mind, but his gradual immersion in New York’s shadowy demimonde of thieves and fences eventually finds the good doctor between those two worlds.

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February 4, 2016October 30, 2021

Five Star Final (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson, Boris Karloff, directed by Mervyn LeRoy

Five Star Final is a film that stands out primarily due to a great performance by Edward G. Robinson, who plays the part of newspaper editor Joe Randall, who is being pressured by his boss to increase the news circulation by running some sensationalistic news stories. Against his better judgement, he does so — and digs out the decades-old story of a convicted murderess, Nancy Voorhees (played well by Frances Starr) — the murder was actually a justifiable homicide, but that doesn’t sell newspapers. In the intervening time, Voorhees has lived quietly, married and changed her last name, and raised a daughter — who is about to be married.

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May 23, 2015March 25, 2023

movie review of the classic film Key Largo, where a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) breaks into a hotel during a storm, taking the innkeeper (Lionel Barrymore) and his daughter-in-law (Lauren Bacall) – who’s only hope is the returned G.I. (Humphrey Bogart) who can stand up to the gangster; if he can find his courage again.

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April 22, 2015May 4, 2023

Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944) starring Edward G. Robinson

review of an excellent patriotic war movie, Mr. Winkle Goes to War, where Edward G. Robinson gives a truly wonderful performance as the title character