Tribute to Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) is familiar to anyone who has been fascinated by the magic of film noir. An actor of not very tall stature but great charisma, he abounded with a shrill voice and a mesmerizing, often almost frightening look in his face of sharply cut features. Before classic film noir came to prominence in American cinema in the early 1940s, Edward G. Robinson made his name in the popular genre of the previous decade: the gangster film. Specifically, the role of the criminal Rico Bandella in Little Caesar (1931). He later portrayed a similarly ruthless ship captain in the film adaptation of Jack London’s novel of the same name, The Sea Wolf (1941). In a much more sympathetic role, he was introduced in the iconic noirs Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). Robinson’s acting legacy will be celebrated at this year’s festival with his villainous character Gino Monetti, a tough New York banker at the head of an immigrant family full of dysfunctional relationships, whom he portrayed in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s House of Strangers (1949).

Jana Bébarová