Outside the Law ** (1930, Edward G Robinson, Mary Nolan, Owen Moore) – Classic Movie Review 13,525

Tod Browning’s 1930 American Pre-Code crime thriller film Outside the Law is a tale of rivalry among gangsters, and stars Edward G Robinson as Cobra Collins and Mary Nolan as the moll Connie Madden. 

Director Tod Browning’s 1930 American Universal Studios Pre-Code crime thriller film Outside the Law is a relatively rare remake of a film by the original director, and stars Edward G Robinson, Mary Nolan, and Owen Moore.

Ten years on, co-writer/ director Tod Browning remakes his 1920 silent Outside the Law (with Lon Chaney Sr) but to lesser effect, and in one of his less interesting films, and made immediately before his 1931 Dracula too.

A youthful Edward G Robinson is satisfyingly typecast as Cobra Collins, the ruthless boss of a criminal gang. Owen Moore plays Fingers’ ODell, who is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery on Cobra Collins’ patch. Mary Nolan plays Fingers’s moll Connie Madden, who tries to make Cobra think the job won’t be for another week when it’s actually now. But Cobra Collins is prepared to stop at nothing to prevent his rival pulling off the bank robbery.

This creaky crime thriller is of considerable historical interest, but it is all but sunk by its rather feeble script by Tod Browning and Garrett Fort, and quite weak performances, apart from Edward G Robinson, who however gives his usual strong, solid acting turn.

The 1920 silent Outside the Law survives. It was considered lost until the 1970s, when a nitrate print was discovered in a barn in Minnesota and donated to the American Film Institute for preservation. But Browning’s 1927 film London After Midnight is believed no longer to exist, the last print destroyed in the MGM vault fire in 1965.

John George also played Humpy in 1920 film.

Release date: August 1930.

Running time: 70 minutes.

Browning is most famously known as the director of Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932).

The cast are Edward G Robinson as Cobra Collins, Mary Nolan as Connie Madden, Owen Moore as Fingers’ Odell, Eddie Sturgis as Jake, John George as Humpy, Delmar Watson as The Kid, DeWitt Jennings as Police Chief, Rockliffe Fellowes as Police Captain, Frank Burke as District Attorney, Sidney Bracey as Assistant District Attorney, Rose Plumer as onlooker, Louise Beavers as Judy the maid, Matthew Betz as Stage Manager, Charley Rogers as Cigar Clerk, Edwin Sturgis, Delmar Watson, DeWitt Jennings, and Rockcliffe Fellows.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,525

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com