Vince Barnett's comic gangsters and careworn supporting men are worth noticing. We like his comic support in Scarface and his quieter work in The Killers, though familiar casting often leaves him little room to surprise us.
Fi1m perspective
Angelo, the gangster's secretary in Scarface (1932), cannot read, which is an awkward start for anyone in an administrative post. Barnett plays him as a loyal, dim-witted subordinate to Paul Muni's Tony Camonte. We laughed at the mismatch between his devotion and his qualifications. That loyalty gives Barnett something to play beyond a man who cannot do his job. In Howard Hawks's vicious, funny film, he is worth noticing alongside the more restrained George Raft and the restless camera.
His early screen work drew on vaudeville and Broadway, with comic gangsters, henchmen and bumbling sidekicks recurring after he entered films in 1930. Deadpan humour and malapropisms were practical skills for those parts. The danger was repetition: casting an actor to be hapless does not necessarily give him a fresh joke. The Corpse Vanishes (1942), in which he plays Sandy alongside Bela Lugosi, belongs to that stretch of supporting horror and comedy work. The more interesting change comes after the war, with a move towards straighter, careworn character parts.
In Robert Siodmak's The Killers (1946), his Charleston is a jaded former cellmate whose task includes telling us things we need to know. Barnett delivers that information with sardonic weariness, making the explanation sound like something the man has lived through. That is useful acting in a thriller whose flashbacks can make the story cumbersome. Siodmak has a dependable supporting player here, even while Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner hold most of our attention.
Brute Force (1947), in which he plays Muggsy, continues that move into straighter character work. His later bartenders, janitors and drunks offered scope for understatement, but the casting kept asking him for familiar things. Such figures can be taken in at a glance, leaving an actor little chance to suggest anything we had not already expected. Start with Scarface, then watch The Killers for the quieter work.
Biography
Vince Barnett was an American actor. Born on 4 July 1902 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he died on 10 August 1977 in Encino, California. He began his career on stage and initially worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter for two-reel comedies in the late 1920s before making his screen acting debut in 1930.
Barnett appeared in more than 230 films, often in comedy bits and supporting roles. His credits include All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Scarface (1932) as Angelo, Horse Feathers (1932), The Killers (1946) as Charleston and Brute Force (1947). He also worked in television, with appearances in series such as The Andy Griffith Show (1960) and Perry Mason (1957). His career spanned until 1975.
