And popular entertainment, as long as it remains popular, always seems realistic: television cops always wear seat belts. Only with the passage of time does artifice become visible — George Raft’s 1930’s gangsters appear dated to audiences that grew up...

Tom Treanor, who was killed covering World War II for The Times, on housing in Rome. Aug. 23, 1940: George Raft's been startling New York natives by making nite club rounds in bedroom slippers, Jimmie Fidler says. Comments are moderated, and will not...

No charges were brought, but it became clear that he had close ties with the underworld. That was not new among actors: George Raft and Bugsy Siegel had a friendship in which each one dreamed of being the other. But it has meant that in his mature...

He found his real stride with sound, and from the beginning, his best work had a tough, honest appeal. “The Roaring Twenties,” with Jimmy Cagney staggering through the streets to die on the steps of a church — that was a Walsh film. “They Drive by...

These films are available on DVD, with the discs being made on demand: Background to Danger (***) In 1943, Raoul Walsh found time away from Errol Flynn to helm this espionage thriller based on Eric Ambler’s novel. George Raft stars as an American...

With “Paranormal Slate” and “Psychic Kids” already on the programming slate, cabler has ordered unscripted docu pilot “The Unexplained” from Doug Liman. In the pilot, a 5-year-old boy talks about his previous life experiences and claims he was actor...