''Gang War'' (released as ''All Square'' in the UK) is a 1928 American part-talking

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The ...

, best known for being the main feature attached to ''

Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celeb ...

'', the debut of

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

in sound. The film starred

Jack Pickford John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 – January 3, 1933), known professionally as Jack Pickford, was a Canadian-American actor, film director and producer. He was the younger brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford. After their father d ...

in his last major role as "Clyde", a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

player whose love for a dancer named Flowers (

Olive Borden Olive Mary Borden (July 14, 1906 – October 1, 1947) was an American film and stage actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was nicknamed "the Joy Girl", after playing the lead in the 1927 film of that same title. Borden ...

) traps him in the middle of a gang war. The film was released with talking sequences, as well as a musical score and sound effects for the silent sections. But despite the synchronised sound as well as the all-star cast, the film is largely unknown in its own right and is now a

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

film, being overshadowed by its far more famous preceding

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

Plot

The film follows the saxophone player Clyde, who busks on the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

waterfront. One night, he meets Flowers, and teaches her to dance, but finds that "Blackjack" (

Eddie Gribbon Eddie Gribbon (January 3, 1890 – September 29, 1965) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films from the 1910s to the 1950s. Gribbon began working in Mack Sennett films in 1916 and continued through the 1920s. He usuall ...

), the leader of a ruthless gang, is also in love with her. Despite the intense turf war between "Blackjack" and a rival gangster named Mike Luego ( Walter Long), "Blackjack" wins the heart of Flowers and marries her, but without consummating the marriage. Clyde is eventually able to win "Blackjack" over however, and "Blackjack" sacrifices himself to protect Clyde and Flowers from Luego.

Cast

as Clyde Baxter *

as Flowers *Lorin Raker as Reporter in the Prologue *Jack McKee as Reporter in the Prologue *

Mabel Albertson Mabel Ida Albertson (July 24, 1901 – September 28, 1982) was an American actress of television, stage, radio and film who portrayed Phyllis Stephens in the TV sitcom ''Bewitched''. Early years Mabel Ida Albertson was born on July 24, 1901, in ...

as Reporter in the Prologue *

as Blackjack * Walter Long as Mike Luego *Frank Chew as Wong

Production

''Gang War'' was produced in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

on Academy ratio

35 mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...

, and was originally to be a silent film. However, a spoken

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

was added, in which a group of reporters (including one played by

) discuss the events that are to come.

Reception

Reception to the film was rather muted; while ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "''better than the majority of its ilk''", the paper still dismissed it as "''More Gang Fights''". In particular, the paper found the film to be rather

cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...

— it balked at the sentimentality of "Blackjack"'s death scene and claimed the writers "''would confer a favor upon a patient public if they mutinied against the use of some words, especially that simple monosyllable, 'well' ''". The ''

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

'' rated the film just 1.5 stars out of 5, calling the prologue "irrelevant", but praising Long's performance as being "brutish" but "right in his element".

References

External links

* * 1928 films 1928 crime films American gangster films Lost American films Films directed by Bert Glennon American crime films Film Booking Offices of America films 1928 lost films Films with screenplays by Edgar Allan Woolf 1920s American films {{1920s-US-film-stub