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Showtimes
Saturday, May 11
6:30pm – Doors Open
7:00pm – Live Music
7:30pm – Film Screening
Ticketing
Ticket includes 1 drink token
$25 /General Admission
$21 /FACETS Members
Buy Tickets
“An intelligent and exciting motion picture of Chicago gangland” – The New York Times
On Saturday, May 11th our new not-so-secret Speakeasy Cinema series, programmed by Raul Benitez, presents a screening of Archie Mayo’s pre-code crime film, The Doorway to Hell (1930).
Bootlegger Louie Ricarno (Lew Ayres) decides to quit the rackets and settle down in Florida. He courts a woman who has been flirting with his right-hand man, which leads him back into the underworld.
Made at the height of the pre-code Gangster film era, The Doorway to Hell is a Chicago-set story of a crime lord trying to go straight was James Cagney’s second film role and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing. The film is responsible for many of the Gangster genre tropes we know today, like violin cases disguising guns. It also features a small role by Dwight Frye, most famous for his work as Renfield in Dracula (1931).
Archie Mayo, United States, 1930, 78 minutes
Festivals, Awards, & Nominations
Nominee – Best Writing – Original Story, Academy Awards 1931
SPEAKEASY CINEMA
Every third Saturday of the month, this cozy cabaret-style screening treats Chicago film fans to Prohibition-era films, craft cocktails, and live jazz vibes. Get ready for classic gangster flicks handpicked by Raul Benitez, live jazz tunes by Alchemist Connections, and mouthwatering house-made Old Fashioneds that’ll have you purring “the bee’s knees.” Learn more about this monthly series here.
