| Gang War | |
| Music: | Al Sherman |
| Cinematography: | Virgil Miller |
| Editing: | Archie Marshek |
| Studio: | Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) |
| Distributor: | Film Booking Offices of America |
| Runtime: | 70 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Sound (part-talkie) English intertitles |
Gang War (released as All Square in the UK) is a 1928 American sound part-talkie gangster film directed by Bert Glennon, best known for being the main feature attached to Steamboat Willie, the debut of Mickey Mouse in sound.[1] In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system. Despite the synchronised sound as well as the all-star cast, the film is largely unknown in its own right. One reel of an original 35mm positive print of nitrate film survives at the BFI film archive. The rest of the film appears to be lost.[2] The film has been overshadowed by its far more famous preceding short, Steamboat Willie. The film starred Jack Pickford in his last major role as "Clyde", a saxophone player whose love for a dancer named Flowers (Olive Borden) traps him in the middle of a gang war.[3]
The film follows the saxophone player Clyde, who busks on the San Francisco Bay waterfront. One night, he meets Flowers, and teaches her to dance, but finds that "Blackjack" (Eddie Gribbon), 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.[4] Clyde is eventually able to win "Blackjack" over however, and "Blackjack" sacrifices himself to protect Clyde and Flowers from Luego.
The film featured a theme song entitled "My Suppressed Desire" which was composed by Chester Conn and Ned Miller. Another song entitled "Ya Comin' Up Tonight Huh?," which was composed by Abe Lyman, Al Lewis and Al Sherman, was also featured on the soundtrack of the film. Other songs heard on the sound are "Low Down" by Jo Trent and Peter Rose and "I Love Me" by Will Mahoney.
Gang War was produced in black and white on Academy ratio 35 mm film, and was originally to be a synchronized sound film without audible dialogue.[5] In order to be able to advertise the film as a talkie, a spoken prologue was added, in which a group of reporters (including one played by Mabel Albertson) discuss the events that are to come.[3]
Reception to the film was rather muted; while The New York Times 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 – 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' ".[6]