''Gentleman's Fate'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Mervyn LeRoy and written by Leonard Praskins. The film stars John Gilbert,

Louis Wolheim Louis Robert Wolheim (March 28, 1880 – February 18, 1931) was an American actor, of both stage and screen, whose rough physical appearance relegated him to roles mostly of thugs or villains in the movies, but whose talent allowed him to fl ...

Leila Hyams Leila Hyams (May 1, 1905 – December 4, 1977) was an American film and stage actress, model, and vaudevillian, who came from a show business family. Her relatively short film career began in 1924 during the era of silent films and ended in 19 ...

, Anita Page, and

Marie Prevost Marie Prevost (born Marie Bickford Dunn; November 8, 1896 – January 21, 1937) was a Canadian-born film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films. Prevost began her career during the silent film era. She was d ...

. The film was released on March 7, 1931, by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, just seventeen days after Wolheim's untimely death.

Plot

Jack Thomas (John Gilbert) has grown up in the belief that he was an orphan. His guardian tells him that he has an elder brother in New Jersey named Frank Tomasulo (Louis Wolheim), and a dying father, Francesco (Frank Reicher), both of whom are in the bootlegging business during the

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

era. On his deathbed, Francesco gives Jack an emerald necklace. Jack gives it to his fiancée, Marjorie Channing (Leila Hyams), but it turns out to have been stolen. Frank does not want his father's name to be dishonored, so he forces Jack to falsely admit to having stolen the necklace. Marjorie breaks off the engagement and travels to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. After a brief spell in jail and Francesco's death, Jack realizes he can never resume his place in polite society and, with Frank's encouragement, decides to join the family business. During the attempted hijacking of the gang's booze by the Florio mob, he kills Dante (Ralph Ince), Florio's brother-in-law, saving Frank's life. Several months later, Jack returns to Jersey after having hidden out in Canada. Frank is throwing a "peace banquet" to show Florio (John Miljan) who's the boss, especially by fixing up Jack with Ruth (Anita Page), Florio's old girlfriend. Florio agrees to work with Frank's mob, splitting things 50-50, as long as he can kill the man who shot Dante. Jack enters the party, and Florio instantly recognizes him as the shooter, throwing out insinuations at both him and Ruth. Jack throws a punch at Florio and the gangs draw their guns, but the violence is cut short as cops raid the joint. Jack tells Frank that, with Marjorie due to return from abroad, he wants to quit the racket and get back together with her, but Frank shows him a newspaper story telling of her marriage. After drinking an entire bottle of whiskey, the drunken Jack marries Ruth. In revenge, Florio makes plans to kill Jack and Ruth as they're about to leave for their honeymoon. A waiter tips off Frank's men, but Florio anticipates the betrayal and shoots the waiter, revealing his plan to commit the murders immediately. Mabel (Marie Prevost), a moll in Frank's gang, sees Florio and his men approach Ruth's apartment, realizes what's happening, and alerts Frank. Jack arrives at Ruth's apartment and kills Florio's girlfriend. Florio, hearing the gunshots, draws his gun, but Ruth shoots him in the back. The wounded Florio turns, and Jack finishes the job just as Frank enters. Jack, having been shot himself, falls, mortally wounded. In Ruth's bedroom, Jack is lying in bed and a doctor tells Frank it's curtains for Jack. Jack tells his brother to get out of the racket, and as he dies, tells Frank to take care of his wife.

Cast

* John Gilbert as Giacomo Tomasulo / Jack Thomas *

as Frank Tomasulo *

as Marjorie Channing * Anita Page as Ruth Corrigan *

as Mabel *

John Miljan John Miljan (November 9, 1892 – January 24, 1960) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1924 and 1958. Biography Born in 1892, Miljan was the tall, smooth-talking villain in Hollywood films for almost four deca ...

as Florio * George Cooper as Mike *

Ferike Boros Ferike Boros (3 August 1873 – 16 January 1951) was a Hungarian-born American stage and movie actress. Biography Ferike Weinstock was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary, in 1873, Boros was on stage starting in 1893. She moved to London in 19 ...

as Angela *

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film, silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John Ince (actor), John E. I ...

as Dante *

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

as Papa Francesco Tomasulo *

Paul Porcasi Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

as Papa Mario Giovanni *

Tenen Holtz Tenen Holtz (born Alex Elihu Tenenholtz; February 17, 1887 – July 1, 1971) was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 60 films between 1926 and 1961. Biography Holtz was born in Imperial Russia, and came to the United States when he wa ...

as Tony

References

External links

* * * * {{Mervyn LeRoy 1931 films 1930s English-language films American drama films 1931 drama films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy American black-and-white films 1930s American films