Tonight's Movie: Gangs of Chicago (1940) at Cinecon

I've now reviewed all five of the feature films I saw on Labor Day earlier this month at the 2025 Cinecon Classic Film Festival. The review links to date may be found at the end of this post.

Now I'll back up to my first day at the festival, on Saturday, August 30th, and the Republic Pictures film GANGS OF CHICAGO (1940).

GANGS OF CHICAGO is a 66-minute "B" film starring Lloyd Nolan.

Nolan plays Matty Burns, who as the movie begins is a law student without much money.

Matty spends summers at the farm owned by the family of his roommate Bill Whitaker (Ray Middleton). Matty is accepted as one of the Whitaker family; he spends his days working on the farm and in the evenings is tutored in the law by Bill's father, Judge Whitaker (Howard C. Hickman).

Bill's sister June (Lola Lane, older sister of Rosemary and Priscilla) takes a shine to Matty as well, likely hoping they may have a future after law school.

Matty has the possibility of a good life ahead, but there's just one problem: He has reasons for hating the police and is learning everything he can about the law so that he can twist it inside out, using loopholes and tricks to get Chicago mobsters (including Jim Ramsey, played by Barton MacLane) off the hook for their crimes.

After graduation Matty's business serving the legal needs of shady characters quickly grows, and he also becomes financially secure.

The feds become suspicious of Matty's legal operations and start looking into his business...

The overall theme of one good and one bad adoptive brother or close friend is a familiar one to moviegoers, seen in movies such as MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934), ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938), EAST OF THE RIVER (1940), and NORTHWEST RANGERS (1942), to name just a few.

The storyline in GANGS OF CHICAGO follows a similar trajectory. I initially expected that the film would follow the path of a movie like HIDE-OUT (1934) and Matty would ultimately be reformed by the love of the farm girl and her Whitaker family; however, his ending is closer to that of Clark Gable in MANHATTAN MELODRAMA or James Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES.

Indeed, along with CITY GIRL (1938), GANGS OF CHICAGO was one of a couple films shown at Cinecon which strongly drove home the theme "crime does not pay."

As always, Nolan is highly watchable, and he's surrounded by a good cast of pros in a fast-paced movie. Astrid Allywn is particularly interesting as a tough-as-nails woman on Matty's staff. This is a very good "B," and I'd love to see more such films made by Republic Pictures.

GANGS OF CHICAGO was directed by Arthur Lubin and filmed in black and white by Woody Bredell. It was written by Karl Brown with uncredited input from future director Samuel Fuller.

The cast also includes Addison Richards, Charles Halton, Horace McMahon, Leona Roberts, and Jason Robards (Sr.).

Hard-to-find minor yet fun movies such as this one are why I love attending Cinecon!

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