Outside the Law
About Outside the Law
Gang leader Cobra Collins demands half of a bank robbery planned by Fingers O'Dell. Connie, working with Fingers, gets close to Cobra to throw him off, and Fingers robs the bank anyway. They hide in an apartment and befriend a four-year-old whose father, a police captain, lives next door. Cobra finds them. In the shooting all three men are badly wounded, Cobra dies trying to leave with his share, and Connie and Fingers later get light sentences for saving the captain.
Cast & crew
More about Outside the Law
Tod Browning directed and produced this sound remake of his 1920 film, with Carl Laemmle Jr. and E. M. Asher, and wrote it with Garrett Fort. Roy Overbaugh photographed it, Milton Carruth edited, and David Broekman wrote the music. Universal released it in August 1930.
Themes
Making
Browning had just remade another Chaney silent, The Unholy Three, before this one.
Look
Roy Overbaugh photographed the robbery hideout and the gunfight in the apartment.
Music
David Broekman wrote the music. C. Roy Hunter recorded the sound.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- Edward G. Robinson plays Cobra, Mary Nolan plays Connie Madden, and Owen Moore plays Fingers O'Dell. Delmar Watson is the child. John George plays Humpy, the role he had in the 1920 film.
- Every name from the silent version was changed. Cobra had been Black Mike Sylva, and Connie had been Molly Madden.
- The 1920 story's Chinatown plot, and Chaney's disguise as Ah Wing, was dropped.
- Lon Chaney was too ill with throat cancer to repeat his role. He died on 26 August 1930.
Scenes
- Connie tells Cobra the job is still a week off, and the call comes that it is happening now.
- They discover the little boy's father is the police captain next door.
- Cobra, shot, hunts for his share of the money and dies trying to get out.
Influenced by
- Tod Browning's 1920 film Outside the Law
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Outside the Law (1930).webm)
