Musketeers Of Pig Alley

In keeping with recent "crime" thread

DW Griffith's 16 minute film, 'The Muskateers of Pig Alley' was produced in 1912, and is credited as being the first gangster film ever committed to celluloid. It was apparently influenced by the nationwide press attention of the murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal, and the subsequent trials of Harry Horowitz (Gyp The Blood), Louis Rosenberg (Lefty Louie), Jacob Seidenschmer (Whitey Lewis),Dago Frank and Liet. Charles Becker. Griffith was intrigued enough to take his camera to the Lower East Side and cast, apparently, actual street hoods and gangsters from the neighborhood as extras to authenticate his footage alongside his principle actors. While thematically has very little to due with the Rosenthal case, it was the first time the Lower East Side became a central backdrop to a story on film. It's a fascinating window into the past regardless if the use of actual criminal types was just early studio marketing savvy or the truth.
Another Griffith landmark and what could reasonably be considered the first gangster film ever made. Clearly this exercise in realism is the predecessor of the crime movies of later generations, The film is about a poor married couple living in New York City. The husband works as a musician and must travel often for work. During one of his away trips, he is robbed by a gangster. Later, he gets caught up in a shootout and recognizes one of the men as the gangster who took his money. Now he wants it back.
The film was released on October 31, 1912 and re-released on November 5, 1915 in the United States. The film was shot on location in New York City, and reportedly used actual street gang members as extras during the film.
Griffith shot the film on location and cast actual gangsters like 'Kid' Brood and 'Harlem Tom' Evans to play in the rival gangs. According to the Biograph Bulletin of October 31, 1912: "This picture production, which does not run very strong as to plot, is simply intended to show vividly the doings of the gangster type of people."
The episodic plot begins in "New York's other side ", "where a poor musician goes off to improve his fortune." On the way home, he shows his earnings to a friend in the street. The Snapper Kid, Chief of the Musketeers, sees the full wallet, follows the musician, hits him over the head, and takes the money. After recovering, the musician goes out to find his money, leaving the little lady, his girlfriend, worrying about his safety and the rent. A friend comes to cheer up the little lady and takes her to a dance - the gangster's ball. A respectable-looking gangster invites the little lady for a drink and slips a drug into it. The Snapper Kid watches the scene and stops the little lady before she downs the drink, thus provoking a gang war. During the shootout, the musician sees the gangster and grabs his money back during the confusion of the battle. The police break up the fight and arrest everyone but the Snapper Kid. He escapes to the little lady's flat, reminds her that he saved her from being drugged and invites her out. She refuses and says she'll stay with her husband. The gangster shrugs it off, thinking she must be crazy to prefer the musician, and leaves. A cop nabs him and begins to arrest him for taking part in the gun battle, but the Snapper Kid says he has an alibi - he was visiting his friends. The little lady and the musician back up the Kid's story because, as the title card reads, "One good turn deserves another". The Kid makes a gesture of friendship with his hands and goes out. After a title, "Links in the system", a mysterious hand slides into the picture from out of frame and gives the Snapper Kid some money. The couple embrace, and the film ends.
Griffith pictured the Snapper Kid sympathetically. Elmer Booth portrays a likeable, tough, coarse thief and killer. Lillian Gish has said that Elmer Booth was a distinct precursor of James Cagney. Like gangsters played by Cagney, the Snapper Kid is short, powerful, explosive, and expressive with his body, face and gestures. He is violent and quick to act in movements that snap out like his name. He is good-natured about the little lady's rejection, sly enough to avoid going to jail, wise enough not to fight in the Big Boss's place, and constantly putting plans into action to get what he wants. He exudes a healthy self-confidence and is proud of the snappy way he dresses. Griffith's mixing of a firm sense of realistic detail and a romantic bias have shaded the Chief of the Musketeers as more chivalrous than the movie gangsters who followed, but the Snapper Kid launched the central character of the genre - a sympathetic gangster - and the movie gangsters who followed shared many of his traits.
The Lower East Side locations in Musketeers provide an appropriate setting for the birth of the genre. "New York's other side", as a title describes the setting, is comprised of dingy rooms and hallways, saloons, narrow streets teeming with immigrants, and underworld alleyways filled with garbage cans, dust, and debris. City textures and dark places predominate. The action takes place around the bottoms of buildings, and we never see the sky. There are no country or uptown alternatives for the Snapper Kid - no penthouse aspirations. The gangster genre began in the slums, and the people who lived there appreciated the film. Billy Bitzer, who was Griffith's cameraman regularly and who shot MUSKETEERS, recalled an early preview of the film: "Another way we learned was through tryouts. Tryouts were usually in remote theatres, and it was to our advantage to be there. One memorable tryout was held in a converted store in the Lower East Side Jewish section of Manhattan. It was in 1912 for The Musketeers of Pig Alley, an early gangster film with Elmer Booth, much of which was filmed in that locale. We got very strong and favourable reactions - it was one of the first realistic films, one of our best."