Brother Orchid (1940)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Edward G. Robinson plays yet another reformed gangster trying to go straight. He travels to Europe to join "high society", but loses all of his money buying race horses and other dubious deals. He returns to the old gang, lead by Bogey in a minor role, but they want nothing to do with him. They wound him one night in a shoot out and he seeks help at a monastery in the woods. The "Floracians" make them one of their own and he is soon growing flowers and helping his fellow man. It's neither funny enough to be a comedy nor gritty enough for a realistic gangster drama, so flounders somewhere in between the two.