The Musketeers

of Pig Alley
(1912)
Little Caesar
(1931)
The Public Enemy
The God Father
(1972)
The Goodfellas
(1990)
1900 2000
The first gangster pictures were released in the early 1930s.
What was the first ever gangster film?
The first ever gangster genre film was called The Musketeers of Pig Alley
which was aired in 1912, which was about organised crime. It was directed
and written by D.W Griffith. It was a short American drama film. The entire
movie profit was
The narrative of this movie was about a poor married couple living in New
York City. The husband works as a musician and must travel often for work.
When returning, his wallet is taken by a gangster. His wife goes to a ball
where a man tries to drug her, but his attempt is stopped by the same man
who robbed the husband. The two criminals become rivals, and a shootout
ensues. The husband gets caught in the shootout and recognizes one of the
men as the gangster who took his money. The husband sneaks his wallet
back and the gangster goes to safety in the couple's apartment. Policemen
track the gangster down but the wife gives him a false alibi.

https://archive.org/details/TheMusketeersOfPigAlley
(film opening)

Though mob films had their roots in such silent films, the genre in its most durable form was defined in
the early 1930s. It owed its innovations to the social and economic instability occasioned by the Great
Depression, which galvanized the organized crime subculture.

The failure of honest hard work and
careful investment to ensure financial security led to the circumstances reflected in the explosion of mob
films in Hollywood

and to their immense popularity in a society disillusioned with the American way of
life.
The years 1931 and 1932 saw the genre produce three enduring classics: Warner Bros.' Little Caesar and
The Public Enemy, which made screen icons out of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, and Howard
Hawks' Scarface starring Paul Muni, which offered a dark psychological analysis of a fictionalized Al
Capone and launched the film career of George Raft. These films chronicle the quick rise, and equally
quick downfall, of three young, violent criminals, and represent the genre in its purest form before moral
pressure would force it to change and evolve. Though the gangster in each film would face a violent
downfall which was designed to remind the viewers of the consequences of crime,

audiences were often
able to identify with the charismatic anti-hero. Those suffering from the Depression were able to relate
to the gangster character who worked hard to earn his place and success in the world, only to have it all
taken away from him.
Over the years gangster films have been based on society and how its affects can cause huge uproars
and damages to the public and how it can cause and result to very dangerous and consequential actions.
Due to this Hollywood used motion pictures to address to the public what the great depression was
creating such as deaths and protests resulting in severe injuries. Due to this other directors have taken
this realisation to the public as a type of serious entertainment towards the public. Due to this it has
created many villains who the audience may become attached to due to witnessing their point of view of
the movie.
The first inspirational gangster film was the musketeers of pig alley
(1912) directed by D.W Griffiths as it was the first gangster motion
picture used as a short American drama silent movie to address the
public how society has driven citizens to do crazy things. By showing this
to the audience it helped bring them a sense of realisation to help them
over come and build strength to decrease the amount of street crime.
By having different types of gangster genres brings a wider range of
audiences to the overall genre of gangster films. Due to having mob
gangster and crime films and film noir helps open the eyes of the public
into different gender strengths focussing on a wider range of crimes and
various ways to solve them. For instance crime films /detectives may
interest the audience as a way of involving them to think about the
movie and who could of committed the crime; on the other hand in tv
shows such as Criminal minds they sometimes may show the audience
the point of view of the killer to enlighten them to reasons of why they
may have turned out the way they have such as being bullied or ignored,
mainly vulnerability and isolation. Due to this it inspires many people into
different scenarios of crime.