From Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar to TV's The Sopranos, stories about gangsters have enthralled the American public. On Saturday, September 9, we'll be presenting five outstanding examples of the genre; here is the lineup. 8:30 p.m. (ET)/5:30 pm (PT) INSIDE THE MAFIA (1959) Most people probably wouldn't expect much from the director who was responsible for Riot in Juvenile Prison or Dragstrip Girl, but Edward L. Cahn could turn out some tough little B-movie gems when given half the chance. And Inside the Mafia is a perfect example of Cahn at his best. Reportedly based on a real incident, the film charts the return of Johnny Lucero (Grant Richards), a former mob boss who was deported from the United States ten years earlier. With the assistance of several armed followers, Lucero plots to settle an old score with his former organization. He's not the only one who wants to settle scores. Tony Ledo (Cameron Mitchell), another mob boss who was almost assassinated by Lucero, wants a little respect as well. As these two men travel toward a fateful rendezvous at an upstate New York airport, some innocent characters, such as the airport manager and his two daughters, get caught in the middle. By fifties standards, Inside the Mafia is uncommonly violent but it is completely appropriate for the story which is, after all, about the Mafia. In fact, the mere mention of the infamous crime organization was not yet taboo when this film was made. It wasn't until The Godfather was released in 1972 that the word "Mafia" was banned from a film due to extensive lobbying by the Italian Anti-Defamation League. Director: Edward L. Cahn Producer: Robert E. Kent Screenplay: Orville H. Hampton Cinematography: Maury Gertsman Editor: Grant Whytock Principal Cast: Cameron Mitchell (Tony Ledo), Elaine Edwards (Anne Balcom), Robert Strauss (Sam Galey), Jim L. Brown (Doug Blair), Ted de Corsia (Augie Martello). BW-73m. 10:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 pm (PT) LITTLE CAESAR (1930) Can you name the notorious mobster that the title character is modeled on in Little Caesar? If your answer is Al Capone, you are correct. However, there are other real-life counterparts to the fictional characters in this quintessential gangster drama, the first of its kind in the early sound era to explore the lifestyles of underworld characters outside the prison wall. In a performance that became a prototype for all future movie gangster portrayals, Edward G. Robinson captured the essence of a ruthless killer like Capone with his portrayal of Cesare Enrico Bandello. He was well supported by Ralph Ince as Diamond Pete Montana, a character modeled on Big Jim Colisimo, who was murdered by Capone; and Sidney Blackmer as "The Big Boy" (based on corrupt politician Big Bill Thompson, Mayor of Chicago). The underworld banquet sequence was also based on a real event - a notorious party in honor of two gangsters, Dion "Deanie" O'Bannion and Samuel J. "Nails" Morton, which received unfavorable coverage in the Chicago press. The making of Little Caesar is just as fascinating as the film's real-life parallels. Producer Hal Wallis originally auditioned Edward G. Robinson for the supporting role of Otero (played in the film by George E. Stone) before deciding he was perfect as Ricco. Clark Gable had been the first choice of director Mervyn LeRoy for the role of Joe Massara, Ricco's sidekick, but was rejected when Warner Brothers production head Darryl F. Zanuck saw Gable's screen test. In his autobiography, Mervyn LeRoy: Take One, the director recalled that Zanuck said," You've just thrown away five hundred bucks on a test. Didn't you see the size of that guy's ears?" Needless to say, Gable was out and the role went to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. As for the actual filming of Little Caesar, Edward G. Robinson's aversion to the sound of gunfire was obvious from the beginning. According to LeRoy, "Every time he squeezed the trigger, he would screw up his eyes. Take after take, he would do the same thing. In the end, we had to tape up his eyelids to make sure it wouldn't show." Offscreen, Robinson was just the opposite of the vicious thugs he played onscreen. He was a kind and gracious gentleman and had a great appreciation for the fine arts - particularly painting, which he took up as a hobby. Although Little Caesar is considered one of Robinson's most memorable performances, it was overlooked by the Academy Awards committee that year (the film only received one Oscar nomination for Best Writing Adaptation) and forever typecast Robinson in the type of role he learned to loathe. Director: Mervyn LeRoy Producer: Hal B. Wallis Screenplay: W. R. Burnett, Francis Edward Faragoh, Robert N. Lee, Robert Lord Cinematography: Tony Gaudio Editor: Ray Curtiss Music: Erno Rapee Art Direction: Anton Grot Principal Cast: Edward G. Robinson (Cesare Enrico Bandello), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (Joe Massara), Glenda Farrell (OLga Strassoff), Stanley Fields (Sam Vettori), Sidney Blackmer (Big Boy), Ralph Ince (Pete Montana). BW-80m. CC. 11:30 p.m. (ET)/8:30 pm (PT) THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935) If you think you're seeing double in The Whole Town's Talking, you're right. You get two Edward G. Robinsons for the price of one in this black comedy with a favorite Hollywood plot device - mistaken identity. At the opening of the film, you meet Arthur Ferguson Jones (Robinson), a timid hardware-store clerk with a crush on fellow worker Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur). Without warning, he is arrested by the police who have mistaken him for his dead ringer, 'Killer' Mannion (also played by Robinson), a notorious public enemy. Once his innocence is quickly established, he is provided with an identity card to avoid future altercations and released. Naturally, Mannion gets word of this and shows up at Jones' home, demanding the use of the card so he can move easily about the city. To insure that Jones doesn't notify the police, Mannion takes Jones' girlfriend and his aunt (Effie Ellsler) as hostages. The Whole Town's Talking managed to sneak past the Hays office and its stringent censorship of gangster pictures because the film was treated as a farce. Nevertheless, it's hard to ignore a darker side to the proceedings which seem to endorse an extreme solution for justice. The milquetoast clerk experiences a sense of power and self-confidence only by assuming the identity of his evil doppelganger, and his manhood is confirmed when he orders mob members to carry out a death sentence. Edward G. Robinson was already tired of being cast as gangsters when he learned through his agent as well as gossip columnist Louella Parsons that Jack Warner had loaned him out to Columbia to make The Whole Town's Talking. He wasn't at all happy about making the film, which was adapted from a novel by William R. Burnett, the author of Little Caesar. Once he read the screenplay by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin, he changed his mind and rose to the challenge of playing dual roles. He also enjoyed an excellent working relationship with director John Ford and co-star Jean Arthur of whom he wrote in his autobiography, All My Yesterdays: "She was whimsical without being silly, unique without being nutty, a theatrical personality who was an untheatrical person. She was a delight to work with and to know." Director: John Ford Producer: Lester Cowan, John Ford Screenplay: W. R. Burnett, Robert Riskin, Jo Swerling Cinematography: Joseph H. August Editor: Viola Lawrence Principal Cast: Edward G. Robinson (Arthur Ferguson Jones/'Killer' Mannion), Jean Arthur (Wilhelmina 'Bill' Clark), Wallace Ford (Healy), Arthur Hohl (Michael F. Boyle), Edward Brophy ('Slugs' Martin), Donald Meek (Mr. Hoyt). BW-95m. 1:30 a.m. (ET)/10:30 pm (PT) THE BLACK HAND (1950) Set in New York's "Little Italy," The Black Hand was one of the first crime thrillers to explore the terrorist tactics of the Mafia at a time when the criminal organization still had a low profile. Although the film begins at the turn of the century, it paints an accurate portrait of how the "Black Hand" organization preyed on immigrants and extorted money from them by threats of violence. Gene Kelly, in one of his rare non-musical roles, plays Johnny Columbo, a man determined to avenge the death of his father by the Mafia. By working with police inspector Louis Lorelli (J. Carrol Naish), Johnny attempts to bring crime boss Caesar Xavier Serpi (Marc Lawrence) to justice despite constant life-threatening situations. The Black Hand was modeled on the real-life story of Joseph Petrosino, a New York City police lieutenant who traveled to Palermo, Italy, to investigate the Mafia. He was shot and killed by snipers on the evening of March 12, 1909 while waiting for an informant at the Garibaldi statue in downtown Palermo at Piazza Marina. The Louis Lorelli character is a stand-in for the real Petrosino in the film, but some aspects of the case are fictionalized. Regardless, the result is a taut suspense thriller that is greatly enhanced by Paul C. Vogel's cinematography, which captures the appropriate "film noir" look, and Albert Colombo's atmospheric music score. Gene Kelly and J. Carrol Naish were so convincing at playing men of Italian descent in this film that audiences were fooled over their true ancestry. Kelly came from a line of Celts, and Naish was Irish despite the fact that he played Italians often and had a long-running radio series called "Life with Luigi." The majority of the other cast members in The Black Hand were Italian; foremost among them was Teresa Celli in the role of Isabella Gomboli. Despite her impressive performance, Celi's Hollywood career was brief and she would only make three more films before fading into obscurity. Director: Richard Thorpe Producer: William H. Wright Screenplay: Luther Davis, Leo Townsend Cinematography: Paul Vogel Editor: Irvine Warburton Music: Alberto Colombo Principal Cast: Gene Kelly (Johnny Columbo), J. Carrol Naish (Louis Lorelli), Teresa Celli (Isabella Gomboli), Frank Puglia (Carlo Saballera), Marc Lawrence (Caesar Xavier Serpi). BW-93m. CC. 3:30 a.m. (ET)/12:30 am (PT) LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955) Love Me or Leave Me was the second time Doris Day and James Cagney had appeared together in a film but it was their first feature for MGM and quite a departure from The West Point Story, an innocuous musical they made for Warner Brothers in 1950. For one thing, Love Me or Leave Me could not be classified as a musical despite the inclusion of several nightclub numbers. It was a dramatic biography of Ruth Etting, the Prohibition-era torch singer whose career was promoted by Chicago gangster Marty Snyder. The latter was known by his nickname "The Gimp" because of a pronounced limp in his left leg. The film was also a departure from Doris Day's previous films for Warner Brothers where she was usually cast as the cheerful, pretty girl-next-door. As Ruth Etting, Day had one of the most challenging roles of her career and risked alienating her many fans with the hard-edged subject matter. In fact, in the biography, Doris Day: Her Own Story by A.E. Hotchner (William Morrow & Co.), Day describes a powerful scene with Cagney that was trimmed by the censors: " He attacks me savagely; and the way Cagney played it, believe me, it was savage. He slammed me against the wall, ripped off my dress, my beads flying, and after a tempestuous struggle, in which I tried to fight him off with every realistic ounce of strength I had, he threw me on the bed and raped me. It was a scene that took a lot out of me but it was one of the most fully realized physical scenes I have ever played...it wasn't until I saw the movie in its release that I became aware that most of the scene had been cut. I was told that it couldn't get by Ôthe Code.' " Love Me or Leave Me was an unqualified success and earned six Oscar nominations including a third Best Actor nod for James Cagney. It might have turned out differently if the director had been George Cukor with the Etting role played by Ava Gardner, both of whom were originally considered for the film. One person who wished it HAD turned out differently was Ruth Etting, who reportedly said, "I never at any time was a dancehall girl. It was just a means of working in ÔTen Cents a Dance.' They took a lot of liberties with my life but I guess they usually do that kind of thing." A final irony about Love Me or Leave Me is the fact that the relationship between Ruth Etting and Marty Snyder had some disturbing parallels to the relationship between Doris Day and her husband Marty Melcher. Like Snyder, Melcher also controlled Day's business affairs, made creative decisions for her even though he had no musical experience, and lived through her work. When Melcher died in 1968, Day discovered that he had mismanaged her entire life savings of $20 million dollars, leaving her completely broke. Director: Charles Vidor Producer: Joe Pasternak Screenplay: Daniel Fuchs, Isobel Lennart Cinematography: Arthur E. Arling Editor: Ralph E. Winters Music: Nicholas Brodszky, Percy Faith, George E. Stoll Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary Principal Cast: Doris Day (Ruth Etting), James Cagney (Martin Snyder), Cameron Mitchell (Johnny Alderman), Robert Keith (Bernard V. Loomis), Tom Tully (Frobisher). C-123m. Letterboxed. -written by Jeff Stafford LIST OF FILMS 9 Saturday 8:30 PM   Inside the Mafia (1959) A mobster out to rule the underworld takes hostages at an international airport. Cameron Mitchell, Elaine Edwards, Robert Strauss. D: Edward L. Cahn. BW 73m. 10:00 PM   Little Caesar (1930) A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?. Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Glenda Farrell. D: Mervyn LeRoy. BW 80m. CC 11:30 PM   The Whole Town's Talking (1935) A gangster hides from the law by trading places with a mild-mannered double. Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Wallace Ford. D: John Ford. BW 86 m. 1:30 AM   Black Hand (1949) In turn-of-the-century New York, an Italian seeks vengeance on the mobsters who killed his father. Gene Kelly, J. Carrol Naish, Teresa Celli. D: Richard Thorpe. BW 93m. CC 3:30 AM   Love Me or Leave Me (1955) True story of torch singer Ruth Etting's struggle to escape the gangster who made her a star. Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell. D: Charles Vidor. C 123m. LBX