The history of crime films
Crime stories highlight the life of a crime figure or a crime’s victims. The
conflict may be between the criminals and representatives of law and order or
even rival gangs. It is usually related to the society of the time and the type of
criminal activity depends on what people are and what they do in society.
The silent era
Criminal films date back to the early days of silent movies. The Great Train
Robbery in 1903 was a classic hold-up story. The Musketeers of Pig Alley in 1912
was about organised crime. The film Regeneration in 1915 featured violent
lawlessness on the streets of New York. American gangster movies showed
the complex political, social and economic circumstances of the 1930s
prohibition era. To make money, criminals, businessmen and corrupt cops
fought for control of the illegal (bootleg) liquor market at a time when
drinking was forbidden.
The sound era
In the sound era, after the 1930s, crime films became very popular. There were
many real-life criminals and audiences were thrilled to see their lives on the
big screen and to experience the way organised crime defeated the forces of
law and order. They loved the swaggering criminals and the sound of the
chases with machine gun fire, screeching brakes and squealing tyres. The first
sound gangster movie was The Lights of New York in 1928.
Scarface, made in the USA in 1932, was an ultra-violent film with 28 deaths
and the first use of a machine gun by a tough criminal. It was set in the
prohibition era in Chicago and featured Italian-American immigrant
gangsters. They were poor and had no other way of making it to the top. The
main character was modelled on Al Capone, a real life mobster and brutal
gang leader.
Censorship
Later in the 1930s, serious censorship of crime films began. The Hays Office in
the USA forced studios to emphasise that crime doesn’t pay. The criminals
had to be shown as psychopaths who paid for their sins. The gangster could
no longer be a Robin Hood character or a ‘tragic hero’. From then on the
racket-busting federal agents, private detectives or the ‘good guys’ became
the heroic crime busters.
The 1940s
Investigative detectives became more sympathetic characters. Rising stars
were Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Edward G Robinson. Raymond
Chandler stories appeared on screen; they featured the hard-boiled detective
and the femme fatale.
The 1950s
In England, comic heist films such as The Lavender Hill Mob were popular
along with the more dramatic versions of organised robberies such as Rififi
(France, 1955) and American courtroom dramas such as Twelve Angry Men
and Anatomy of a Murder. Alfred Hitchcock was a major influence with his
films Rear Window and North by Northwest featuring amateur private eyes and
espionage.
The 1960s
Crime films tended to be set in an ordinary world where people were looking
for escape and thrills; the younger generation was feeling alienated and
looking for excitement. Bonnie and Clyde were two such confused and
restless characters who took to robbing banks in the film of the same name.
Late twentieth century
Many films continued to focus on international organised crime, the heist and
espionage. They were influenced by the drug culture, terrorism, corporate
raiding and forensic themes.