User Reviews

Wow - James Cagney's first film role and he pulls it off like a veteran! Though he's third billed behind Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp, it's hard to argue that this isn't Cagney's vehicle all the way, demonstrating a commanding and comfortable presence on the big screen, even though he does go 'over the top' a couple of times. Still, I was impressed with his debut performance, and the story itself was entertaining enough to maintain one's interest for it's dead on one hour run time.

The setting is a Coney Island amusement park, but that's just a front for Mitch McKane's (Warren Hymer) booze peddling racket. Cagney's character Harry Delano is one of his underlings and is being groomed to run the operation in case Mitch gets pinched. Instead, Harry guns Mitch down in a shoot first or die situation when confronted over his skimming the operation. Things get further complicated when Harry's sister Jennie (Knapp) witnesses the incident, and Ma Delano (Lucille La Verne) tries to pin it on Jennie's fiancée, giving future mothers-in-law a bad name ever since.

Joan Blondell is initially referred to in the story as the 'little happiness girl', presumably for her youthful good looks and an insinuation that she sells kisses at the carnival. Ma's description of Myrtle is a bit more colorful, to her she's a 'gutter floozie' for hooking up with her son. In fact if not for Cagney, this might have been Ma Delano's story for the way she takes over every scene she's in. No political correctness for Ma, when she sends someone out to look for Harry, she suggests they 'try the chink's'.

For Cagney and Blondell, this would be their first of seven screen appearances together, all of which were filmed between 1930 and 1934. Cagney would get involved with running booze again in his 1939 team up with Humphrey Bogart for "The Roaring Twenties". Here though, the young James Cagney gives a fine performance in his very first outing, with just the right combination of malice and charm that would make him one of movie history's top gangsters.

Whenever "Flying Down to Rio" is mentioned, it is usually to talk about the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - not about the actual stars, who were Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond. This movie is in the same boat. James Cagney and Joan Blondell were in the original Broadway play called "Penny Arcade" that only ran for 24 performances. It was bought to the screen with a snappier title "Sinner's Holiday" and Cagney and Blondell were bought to Hollywood to recreate their roles. Apparently both were signed at the insistence of Al Jolson, who had bought the rights to the play and was determined to have the pair in the movie. I agree with the reviewer that says Cagney acted like a veteran, it is so hard to believe this was his first film. The nominal stars were Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp. In 1930 Withers looked a good bet for stardom, his career had taken off in 1928, in 1929 he was in 10 films, in 1930 8 films. The next year he was still the star to Cagney's co-star in "Other Men's Women" but then things went wrong and by 1932 he was on Poverty Row.

The opening shots really establish the seedy atmosphere of carnival life - tired looking dancers, rowdy carnival barkers. Ma Delano (Lucille LaVerne) rules the Penny Arcade and her family with an iron will. She is determined to keep her kids away from the booze that was the ruin of her husband, a champion prize fighter. Unbeknownst to her , her favourite son Harry (James Cagney) is in it up to his neck. He and Mitch McKane (Warren Hymer) have a bootlegging business on the side. When Harry kills Mitch, Ma Delano is determined to get her favourite child off - even if it means pointing the finger at Angel (Grant Withers), a likable, itinerant roustabout, who has caught the eye of Jennie Delano. But Jenni is a witness to the crime and there is some tense acting at the end as alibis are smashed and the right man is finally caught.

Even though the story is interesting it is very "talkie" - what action there is , is often stopped while characters talk about their dreams and aspirations - it becomes "gooey" at times. Cagney and Blondell are standouts in their roles with a really natural acting style. Seeing Joan Blondell in this, her first role, I am surprised she spent the next couple of years in "girlfriend" type roles. Myrtle was a good role with plenty of different emotions and she proved she was a natural for stardom. This was also Evalyn Knapp's first lead in a feature but she didn't exactly set the film world on fire. Noel Madison also made his film debut - his face is instantly recognisable in countless films, usually playing low life gangsters and henchmen but his stage career was different in that he played mostly sophisticated characters. He was one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild and his membership number was 5.

Recommended.

. . . about the incoming tidal wave of mercenary moms willing to rat out their sons to the coppers if it will put another nickel in their cash coffers. Ex-con "Angel Harrington" informs his money-bags heiress main squeeze "Gennie" that her mom has $90,000 stashed away (or $3.7 million, adjusted for inflation). This information later prompts the heartless Gennie to send her mentally-disabled brother "Harry" up the river by fingering him for murder. (Having just one other sibling, Gennie--a math genius by local standards--figures out that gaining an inheritance of about two million bucks Today sure beats raking in a measly $30,000 in 1931!) Ma, the grasping arcade miser, is overjoyed to swap out her just-fired hired help--Angel--for the son she doomed from his start, Harry (the victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, she says more than once during SINNER'S HOLIDAY). As the cops are chortling that "there's more than one way to roast a weenie" while prepping Harry for the hot squat, his callous ma is laughing all the way to the river bank (or wherever it is that she keeps her cold, hard stash). Surely Warner Bros.' prophetic prognosticators are keeping Today's Third Lady's third son (counting the Capitol Steps) in mind with SINNER'S HOLIDAY.

For a quickie filmed in 3 weeks at Warner Brothers in 1930, this movie is OK. Lucille Laverne, a silent actress, does a very good job talking and being the opinionated mother. When you see Joan Blondell in this, she is so young that you recognize the face and the voice immediately. The young figure is something you kind of expect. Blondell never had a petite figure but this is about as thin as you will see here. She does already have an impressive acting style, and an attention grabbing face.

James Cagney over shadows all the other in the male cast. He dominates the rest so much that it almost seems like he is the star. That in spite of the fact he winds up getting black mailed by Blondell and is trying to cover up his murder of a hood.

For 1930 on shooting schedule like a silent movie, and with a veteran silent movie director, it is a worthwhile film to check. Especially with Cagney, though the story based on a play called Penny Arcade is not real complicated. Lucille LaVerne's mom does kind of glue the film together when Cagney isn't around.

There is a beach scene in this pre-code movie where Evealyn Knapp who plays Cagney's sister is on a beach in a bathing suit. The camera angles used were very complimentary to her though I suspect if Ms. Blondell had been used in this scene with her impressive cleavage, the scene would have become very memorable.

Joan Blondell and Jimmy Cagney appeared in an undistinguished Broadway play "Penny Arcade" and it closed after only a couple dozen performances. However, according to IMDb, Al Jolson saw the play and liked it--particularly because of performances by the unknown Blondell and Cagney. So, he bought the rights and then sold them to Warner Brothers--and insisted the pair reprise their roles. However, it's very hard to see what Jolson saw in this play--and Cagney's performance didn't seem all that distinguished. And, if Cagney and Blondell hadn't gone on to become stars, I'm sure this film would have long been forgotten.

This is the rather earthy story about a woman and her grown kids. She insists that her sons should not get involved with the bootlegging racket. Naturally, Cagney doesn't listen and soon gets in over his head. This leads to an argument with his boss and ends up with Cagney killing the man. So, it's up to Mama to try to save his sorry butt--and she's more than willing to pin it on an innocent man instead.

Seeing Cagney in this film is interesting. He's certainly NOT the confident hood like he'd soon play in "The Public Enemy" or other gangster films. Here, he's really spineless and annoying--and you wonder how this role led to better things. It just wasn't that distinguished and the overall film looked like a very ordinary B-movie. The only standouts were Blondell (who was quite good in her relatively small role) and Lucille La Verne as the rather soul-less Mother.

Is the film worth seeing? Well, if you are a huge fan of classic films and you are the type (like me) who wants to see all the films of a particular star, then this one is worth your time. Otherwise, it's just not all that good and it's just a time-passer...at best. And, I think its current score is a bit overrated.

Obviously the main reason to watch this movie is the fact it is James Cagney's (Harry) first film. It is also the first film of Joan Blondell (Myrtle), and Evalyn Knapp's (Jeannie) fist feature (she did shorts prior to this). I found Myrtle to be the most interesting character. Not only did she NOT look like Blondell (dark hair), but she was nasty gold digging prostitute (a character I NEVER saw from her before), and she even lost the in looks department to Jeannie.

The main character is Ma Delano (Lucille LaVerne) who runs a Coney Island Arcade with her kids Harry, Jeannie and Joe. This woman is a real piece of work, she basically smothers Harry (almost borderline incest when they kiss on the lips) and basically neglects Jeannie and Joe. Spoilers ahead: Harry who is basically weak and pathetic, gets involved with the bootlegging business (that his mother hates), and rips off gangster Mitch (Warren Hymer), and murders him. Myrtle is his alibi and lets his mother exactly what happened, and that basically she will be running things from now on. Harry breaks down like a baby and his mother frames Angel Harrigan (Grant Withers) for the crime. The problem is Jeannie saw the murder and is sweet on Angel. She tells the police (very reluctantly) what happened and Harry confesses. The final scene is very revealing Joe starts to take her away, but she sees a big crowd (and of course lots of $$$$$$$$$), and she puts Angel (who she never liked) in charge. I can understand her being angry at Jeannie, for ratting out Harry, but did not let her Good Son Joe run things either. Is this a perfect movie? Not at all. But Cagney, LaVerne and especially Blondell make it work. 8/10 Stars

James Cagney made his cinematic debut as a reckless, irresponsible, narcissistic bootlegger who conceals his criminal endeavors from his long-suffering mother in director John G. Adolfi's "Sinner's Holiday," co-starring Joan Blondell. This early black & white movie is an adaptation of Marie Baumer's stage play "Penny Arcade." Since I haven't read Baumer's play, I cannot attest to the film's fidelity to its source material. This Warner Brothers/First National release concerns the activities of a Penny Arcade in New York City and the various hucksters who operate on W.C. Fields' credo that "There's a sucker born every minute." Character actor Grant Withers, who you might have seen in John Ford's memorable westerns "Fort Apache," "Rio Grande," and "My Darling Clementine," takes top billing as smooth-talking Angel Harrigan, and he has his eyes on pretty young Jenny (Evalyn Knapp of "His Private Secretary"), whose mother (Lucille La Verne of "Orphans of the Storm") owns the premises and rents out booths to various entrepreneurs. One of those entrepreneurs is a shady guy, Mitch (Warren Hymer of "Meet Joe Doe"), who bootlegs beers on the side. Ma Delano's son Harry (James Cagney) has fallen under Mitch's evil influence. Appropriately enough, Harry has learned not only the ropes of the bootlegging business, but he also plans to double-cross Mitch after the latter is pulled in a warrant by the police. Mitch happens to like Jenny, but she won't give him the time of day. One day when Angel irritates Mitch, Mitch gives him the boot, but Angel quits before he is officially fired. Ultimately, Angel and Jenny become a couple and she persuades her mother to hire Angel as a mechanic. After Mitch gets out of the slammer, he discovers that treacherous Harry has been swindling him. They encounter each other in an ally with firearms, and Harry plugs Mitch and then stashes the body out of sight in a building on the premises. Ironically, Harry's sister witnesses the shooting, but she clams up about it until the police decide to arrest Angel for the homicide. As it turns out, the revolver that Harry used to ice Mitch belonged to Angel. Ma Delano, who has already lost her husband, doesn't want to lose Harry. Initially, she tells Harry to put the revolver back in Angel's suitcase. Reluctantly, Jenny informs the police about the identity of real killer. Since the cops had closed down the arcade during their painstaking investigation, business resumes as usual with Angel back at work. This dated outing has some interesting period flavor, particularly in its blue-collar argot. At one point, Cagney's sniveling Harry perches himself on his mother's knees just as he would do decade later as Cody Jarrett in Raoul Walsh's classic "White Heat." Joan Blondell plays a woman who allows men to have their pictures taken with them. One of the most amusing sights—pretty risqué if you think about it—is a game where you get to sling balls at women sitting on chairs to win a prize. If you like old Warner Brothers' melodramas, you cannot do better than the 60-minute "Sinner's Holiday."