The local mini-movie "Gangsterland" gets its red carpet debut this week. The 40-minute featurette details the history of Prohibition-era St. Paul, where crooks were protected by local police in exchange for a pledge to keep the peace inside the city limits. Minnesota News network morning anchor Bick Smith wrote the movie last year, then shot and directed it with local actors around Saint Paul, Hastings, Hampton and area suburbs. His wife, Cynthia Schreiner Smith, a gangster tour guide for St. Paul's Wabasha Street Caves, appears as Edna "The Kissing Bandit" Murray.
I won't lie to you, "Gangsterland" probably won't make as much money as "Thor." It's a made from scratch project, part amateur theatrics, part history lecture and a product of more heart than craftsmanship. The action doesn't flow particularly well; the costumes are anachronistic; you sense that certain lines have been included to ensure all the actors can make a contribution. The performers speak straight to camera, delivering info-nuggets about the character they represent. But if you're the sort of local history buff who enjoys gangster tours or historical reenactments at Fort Snelling, it might be your sort of thing.
There's a public screening at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Historic Mounds Theatre, 1029 Hudson Rd., St. Paul. Tickets are $8. Friday it's released on DVD (available online at gangsterlandmovie.com and at the Minnesota History Center and Grumpy and Steve's Coffee, 215 Wabasha St. S.in St. Paul, near the corner of Plato Blvd. and Wabasha Street).
