It's like Queen's fourth album - not as exciting, experimental or raw as their first release but better produced and more professional. Similarly as a piece of cinema this is better than PUBLIC ENEMY but lacks a little of the wow factor.
The premise of James Cagney playing some sort of civil servant might deter you from watching this but there's no need to worry. This is as good as a 1930s gangster film can be. It's more polished than those from the start of the decade when Zanuck was running the show but that gloss has not taken away any of the edginess or energy. Although in this Cagney has meant to have been to law school, so is maybe 1% posher than usual, he's still 101% Cagney. Cagney couldn't possibly be more typically Cagney as he is in this.
The story is still your typical 1930s gangster picture with one exception - the police aren't complete idiots like they often were. Like with the earlier classics there's some familiar faces - including Regis Toomey, ex-leading man now just a bit player and Noel Madison, the go-to 'American' in countless home grown English comedies of the late 30s. Most famous familiar face is however ex-Warner Brothers supremo, Daryl Zanuck who took time out of his new day job, running a little concern called Twentieth Century Fox to actually write this!
The premise of James Cagney playing some sort of civil servant might deter you from watching this but there's no need to worry. This is as good as a 1930s gangster film can be. It's more polished than those from the start of the decade when Zanuck was running the show but that gloss has not taken away any of the edginess or energy. Although in this Cagney has meant to have been to law school, so is maybe 1% posher than usual, he's still 101% Cagney. Cagney couldn't possibly be more typically Cagney as he is in this.
The story is still your typical 1930s gangster picture with one exception - the police aren't complete idiots like they often were. Like with the earlier classics there's some familiar faces - including Regis Toomey, ex-leading man now just a bit player and Noel Madison, the go-to 'American' in countless home grown English comedies of the late 30s. Most famous familiar face is however ex-Warner Brothers supremo, Daryl Zanuck who took time out of his new day job, running a little concern called Twentieth Century Fox to actually write this!