In the 1930s, studios desperately searched for a new sensation to sell enough tickets through the Great Depression. Warner Brother's answer was The Gangster genre.
These films ultimately led to state censors rising concerns of Hollywood immorality, and the studio's course correction that was the PCA. Gangsters ruled the box office in the twilight of Pre-Code Hollywood, establishing iconography that would define our favorite films generations later.
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Pre-Code Films:
Little Caesar (1931)
The Public Enemy (1931)
City Streets (1931) - from Paramount Pictures! Beautifully shot and very different
Scarface: the Shame of a Nation (1932)
Hays Code Films:
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Research:
Scarface critical analysis: https://pre-code.com/scarface-shame-of-a-nation-1932/
10 great Hollywood gangster films of the 1930s: https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-hollywood-gangster-films-1930s
TCM video on Gangster genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDHGJ09gxPw
History.com on Prohibition: https://www.history.com/topics/1920s/prohibition
1932: Scarface – Defining the American Gangster Film: https://youtu.be/GDaY8Je1wPs?si=hmBQ2kuq_TvMhJO6