Just Off Broadway (1929) (Silent) / The Final Extra (1927) (Silent) (DVD)

These rare silent crime melodramas offer two-fisted action in the style of 1920's pulp magazines, and served as a template for the Warner Bros. gangster pictures, whose popularity would explode in just a few short years.

Just Off Broadway (Silent, BW, 1929): Tom Fowler watches in horror as his brother Ed is gunned down in cold blood. With his dying breath, Ed asks his brother to bring the killer to justice. Discovering that the hit was ordered by the city's top mobster, Marty Kirkland, Tom takes an undercover job at the racketeer's Broadway nightclub. Avenging his brother is momentarily forgotten when he falls in love with a gorgeous chorus girl, Nan Morgan. But Tom is shocked to learn that Kirkland is the flapper's boyfriend. Now with the life of the woman he loves at stake, Tom vows to take down the mob boss once and for all...even if he has to punch out every crook from Brooklyn to the Bowery. Starring Ann Christy, Donald Keith, and Syd Saylor. Directed by Frank O'connor.

The Final Extra (Silent, BW, 1927): Pat Riley is an enthusiastic cub reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper. His mentor, Tom Collins, is working on exposing a bootlegging ring run by "Boss" LeRoy. When his friend is murdered after digging up hard evidence against LeRoy, Pat vows to bring the gangster to justice. It won't be easy for the amateur newsman...particularly when he discovers his girlfriend is a dancer in LeRoy's speakeasy! Starring Marguerite De La Motte, Grant Withers, and John Miljan. Directed by James P. Hogan.

• silent