The following review is an extract from the book "Mafia films - a guide", which is now available on Amazon. This book is very interesting not only for gangster movie lovers, but also for people who like to read about real Mafia history and facts, as the real events in which some of the movies are based are also analyzed.
"This classic of gangster cinema stars Edward G. Robinson, one of the great icons of the genre in the 1930s along with Paul Muni and James Cagney. The big physical resemblance between Robinson and Al Capone is striking.
(...) There is a scene where, during the party, photographers from some newspaper arrive at the Palermo club. Rico proudly poses, showing off in front of the cameras, while another member of the gang, more cunning and cautious, prefers to avoid drawing attention to himself. In that scene, the parallelism that more than 50 years later this situation in the film and all the great contrast that it implies would have in a case of real-life mafiosi stands out: For John Gotti, head of the Gambino family, had a narcissistic character very similar to that of this fictional Little Caesar and he also liked to be the center of attention (which in many ways contributed to his downfall). The other mafioso who avoids photos and hides when journalists come remembers Vincent Gigante, a taciturn and sneaky Genovese boss who, unlike Gotti, preferred to keep a low profile.
(...) The film was directed by Mervin Le Roy, who in 1951 would make the classic "Quo vadis", and in 1956 the also highly recommended "The bad seed", a film of suspense and psychological horror."
"This classic of gangster cinema stars Edward G. Robinson, one of the great icons of the genre in the 1930s along with Paul Muni and James Cagney. The big physical resemblance between Robinson and Al Capone is striking.
(...) There is a scene where, during the party, photographers from some newspaper arrive at the Palermo club. Rico proudly poses, showing off in front of the cameras, while another member of the gang, more cunning and cautious, prefers to avoid drawing attention to himself. In that scene, the parallelism that more than 50 years later this situation in the film and all the great contrast that it implies would have in a case of real-life mafiosi stands out: For John Gotti, head of the Gambino family, had a narcissistic character very similar to that of this fictional Little Caesar and he also liked to be the center of attention (which in many ways contributed to his downfall). The other mafioso who avoids photos and hides when journalists come remembers Vincent Gigante, a taciturn and sneaky Genovese boss who, unlike Gotti, preferred to keep a low profile.
(...) The film was directed by Mervin Le Roy, who in 1951 would make the classic "Quo vadis", and in 1956 the also highly recommended "The bad seed", a film of suspense and psychological horror."