Konterr Brilliant and touching

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

bkoganbing Edward G. Robinson certainly showed what the movie going public were destined to see in The Widow From Chicago. It was the film immediately proceeding his breakthrough and forever identifiable role as and in Little Caesar.He's got a job to do and need's some out of town talent so he imports Neil Hamilton sight unseen. But the police get wind of it and have a cop gain entree to Robinson's gang by posing as Hamilton. Then Robinson gets wise and the cop is bumped off.After that both Hamilton does show up and the sister of the slain officer shows up claiming to be Hamilton's wife. I have to say these two think fast on their feet and Hamilton decides to not expose Alice White the sister.White was very effective in her role though I think for propriety's sake her sending Hamilton out of her room was a bit much even for 1930 audiences to follow. I mean they could have done a Walls of Jericho like arrangement.It's sad what happened to Neil Hamilton who went from an A list player gradually down to some really horrid B flicks. That strong voice and clear diction should have made him a big star in talkies, bigger than the silent screen. But the man did have a thirst problem. He did bounce back as a character player later on and is now best known as the Caped Crusader's number one fan Commissioner Gordon on Batman.Still this film is Robinson's show, but he had a much bigger show just awaiting him.

MartinHafer This is a very forgettable gangster film that Edward G. Robinson made a year before becoming a mega-star with his breakout movie, "Little Caesar". While he isn't bad in "The Widow From Chicago", the film itself is really ridiculous and I am sure it didn't do much for his career.When the film begins, Polly (Alice White) learns that her brother is a cop and is planning on infiltrating Dominic's gang. He's going to pretend he's Swifty--a gangster who the authorities believe is dead. However, his real identity is discovered and he's soon murdered...perhaps by Dominic (Robinson) himself. The spunky Polly decides her next course is to infiltrate Dominic's mob and she gets a job as a dance hall girl. She quickly gains Dominic's trust by pretending to be Swifty's wife but a serious glitch occurs when the REAL Swifty (Neil Hamilton) arrives! Here is where it gets REALLY hard to believe...as Swifty decides to go along with it and pretends Polly really IS his wife!! Why?? I have no idea!! The rest is exciting...but ultimately completely ridiculous due to the inexplicable relationship between Swifty and Polly. Well worth seeing but totally ludicrous.

drednm Alice White stars in this 1930 crime drama that also boasts an early starring role for Edward G. Robinson. He plays a nightclub owner and bootlegger; she plays the widow. She shows up in his club looking for work and claiming to be the widow of a gangster (Neil Hamilton) who was killed when he jumped off a train in an attempt to escape the cops. In reality she's the sister of the cop who was tracking Hamilton. Now she's out to track down her brother's killer.Smart dialog and solid story here with White in a slightly different role. Although she masquerades as a floozie she's really a pretty smart cookie as she leads to police to her brother's killer. Although the setting is a nightclub, White does not do a musical number (perhaps cut from the final print?) as she usually does in her talkies.Although White was not an actress in the way Bette Davis or Joan Crawford were, she's got a great screen presence and holds her own here in scenes with the great Robinson. Hamilton is also solid as the undead gangster who returns to cause problems for White.Co-stars include Frank McHugh, Harold Goodwin (as the brother), Betty Francisco, Brooks Benedict, and Anne Cornwall and Dorothy Mathews as the dance hall babes.Worth a look.

brliqq A clever crime movie in which a woman seeks to put a mob boss behind bars for killing her brother, who was a cop. Polly gets inside Dominic's circle by posing as Swifty's wife, but when the real Swifty shows up things get interesting, and very unpredictable. Polly's brother was killed for impersonating Swifty, so now she is impersonating Swifty's wife for revenge. An entertaining movie that has humorous points and look out for an unusual place to see a SWATSTICKER, years before Hilter's rise.