Little Caesar is one of the first Gangster films of the 1930’s, almost inventing the genre of the quick talking, tommy gun firing, Urban Gangster crime film. You can see cinema of the time starting to veer into escapism as the American audiences of the day wanted to read about the exploits of criminals fighting the banks and the system during the Great Depression rather than watch films that expose the brutal truths of income inequality and marital woes. You also see a movement back into the use of clearly artificial and made up sets and lots designed specifically for action pictures to have shoot outs on.
This movie marks a shift, only starting in 1930 that would fully blossom in the mid-30's to escapism as the Great Depression will truly set in over the next two years causing audiences to spend more and more time in theaters wanting to see far off lands and characters fighting the Big Banks rather than themselves.