JLRMovieReviews Edward G. Robinson was Little Caesar, a tough guy to be taken seriously. But he made fun of the tough-guy image with this film, A Slight Case of Murder. It seems a bunch of gangsters who were his enemies, held up a bank and went out to his hide-out to settle a score with him. But one of them double-crosses them all and shoots them and leaves their dead bodies for Eddie to discover, wanting to take the loot with him. But, before he could make a break for it, he has to hide in the house, when Eddie and his men show up. Therefore he's always around, hiding from room to room. And, the men try to dispose of the bodies, but find out there's a reward for them, dead or alive. Meanwhile Eddie's daughter is getting married, but what she doesn't know is the new line of work her fiancé has picked, that of a state patrolman. The law getting into Eddie's family! He'll hit the roof. A particular highlight is when Eddie and his wife have a party, inviting the in-laws, and actress Ruth Donnelly, who's his wife and is very good in her role, tries to act so upper-class and trying to make a good impression on her guests. I had seen the film years ago, not knowing this was a parody of the genre and didn't care for it, but this time around I couldn't stop laughing. I think a viewer's high expectations of a film may hinder the enjoyment of it if it's not as good as you wanted or not what you thought you were getting. But, if you want a spoof of the gangster's life and troubles, look no further than this "slight case of moider."

Michael O'Keefe Veteran actor Edward G. Robinson with tongue-in-cheek pokes fun at his gangster movie image in this comedy about the end of Prohibition. Alcohol once again is allowed to flow freely and former bootlegger Remy Marco(Robinson)decides to go legit, but after four years he faces a money problem. His beer tastes so foul that no one wants to drink it...even legally. He renames his beer and his brewery is about to be taken by the bank...time to take a trip to the vacation house. Headaches don't go away easily when you find four corpses of former enemies in a room upstairs. They are remnants of a gang that robbed a syndicate of bookies. Its really interesting that Marco's daughter(Jane Bryan) is home from school abroad and her new boyfriend(Willard Parker) is a new state trooper...and Marco hates cops, period.This fast paced comedy also stars:Ruth Donnelly, John Litel, Joe Downing, Edward Brophy and Bobby Jordan. A fun look at a different side of tough guy Robinson.

blanche-2 Edgar G. Robinson has the hounds yapping at his rear in "A Slight Case of Murder," a very funny 1938 comedy from Warner Brothers. Robinson sends up his gangster image as Remy Marko (who speaks of himself in the third person), who is a legit brewer now that Prohibition has been repealed. He has a daughter (Jane Bryan) in one of the best schools in Europe. However, his brewery has been steadily failing because his beer tastes horrible - and no one's told him. The bank is calling his half a million dollar mortgage, his daughter comes home engaged to a state trooper, and when he arrives at his country home, one of his men finds four dead bodies who had been playing cards in an upstairs bedroom. On top of all of this, he's chosen a young boy from his alma mater, an orphanage, to spend the summer in Saratoga. Let's put it this way - the head of the orphanage asked that this kid, Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom, be released from the cellar in order to accompany Remy. No bright spots anywhere.Robinson is a riot as a complete thug who believes he should be President of the Community Chest, and Ruth Donnelly is good back-up as his wife who yells at the gangsters who surround her if they don't call her ma'm and act like servants. When their daughter's fiancé arrives in uniform, the couple is thrown into a complete panic because they think the police want them for something. When his well-to-do parents arrive, Remy agrees to accept them even though they have a cop in the family, to the complete effrontery of the boy's father. Then the four dead bodies - who are believed disposed of on the various porches of Remy's enemies - show up again, and the orphans finds the spoils of a robbery.It's non-stop chaos and giggles. Robinson plays his part like he's Little Caesar and he's fabulous. Allen Jenkins is very good as one of his henchmen, and Jane Bryan, who would quit her career to marry the owner of Rexall Drugs, is lovely as his daughter. Her fiancé, played by tall, athletic Willard Parker, may be recognizable to baby boomers from "Tales of the Texas Rangers." Here, he's serious and uptight, which the role calls for, and seems older than his 26 or so years.Extremely enjoyable and really shows that Robinson, like Bogart and Cagney, could do just about anything.

MartinHafer This is a funny and relatively fast paced gangster comedy--yes I did say "ganster comedy". It's about a gangster boss trying to go legitimate after prohibition was repealed. He tries, unsuccessfully, to market the same horrible beer that sold well during prohibition (the clientèle was less choosy when that's all they had to chose from). The problem is that in addition, bad stuff keeps happening around him that he had nothing to do with, but with his reputation he certainly would get the blame for! Try as he might, bad stuff just keeps happening.Edward G. Robinson does a very good job with comedy. If you liked this film, try The Whole Town's Talking or Larceny, Inc. to see more of his comic talents.By the way, I have absolutely no idea why, but the studio remade this film as "Stop, You're Killing Me" in 1952 (with Broderick Crawford in the lead). My advice is just stick with the original--it's better in every way.