The early 30s saw three gangster classics launch three new stars: Little Caesar (Edward G Robinson), Scarface (Paul Muni) and this one (James Cagney). Cagney was originally meant to play the support role to Edward Woods but director William Wellman made them swap several weeks into shooting and never lived to regret it. (It should be said that Woods wasn't a bad actor - he has a striking presence that reminds me of Billy Drago, who played Frank Nitti in The Untouchables).
Woods hooks up with a young Joan Blondell; Cagney takes up with Mae Clarke, shoves a grapefruit in her face then drops her for Jean Harlow. (Blondell and Clarke’s performances are far better than Harlow’s.) But it’s a film of set pieces and scenes rather than an overall story: grape fruit in the face; a robbery in the shadows; assassinating a gangster while he plays the piano; buying a horse who has killed their boss and shooting it; Cagney slapping the face of a moll with whom he’s spent the night; a shoot out of screen in the rain; the delivery of a dead mummified Cagney to his mother. Beautiful photography.
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