Thursday, October 06, 2022
The Public Enemy - WB 20 Film Collection Thrillers
- Commentary: Surprisingly exciting, very melodramatic, although I suspect the melodrama in crime films was a trademark of the time it was made. James Cagney is, as always, astonishing.
Mom and I saw this movie together, once, when she was alive and before I bought this collection. It played on a multi-bill with Yankee Doodle Dandy, the first feature, and others, probably on a TCM James Cagney retrospective. This movie was the second feature. After this movie played, Mom said, "Isn't he something! All those characters!" Yeah, Mom, James Cagney was "something", to say the least!
The excellent review linked to the title of this movie is provided by Matt Zoller Seitz at RogerEbert.com, who even picked up on something I always think when watching this movie: "Is Cagney wearing eyeliner ...?" I laughed when I read that in the review!
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role James Cagney Tom Powers Jean Harlow Gwen Allen Edward Woods Matt Doyle Joan Blondell Mamie Donald Cook Mike Powers Leslie Fenton Nails Nathan Beryl Mercer Ma Powers Robert Emmett O'Connor Paddy Ryan
Originally published in this journal on 081416.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1931
Directed by William A. Wellman.
Labels: film-noir-p1, gang-movie, melodramaC, pre-code
