Movie Review: Love Me or Leave Me
Year of Release: 1955
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Charles Vidor
Cast: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith
Plot outline: A fictionalized account of the career of torch singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom (IMDb).
Neither a Doris Day musical nor a ferocious James Cagney gangster movie, Love Me or Leave Me is a fascinating hybrid. It's actually a slow crawl through a hellish relationship: the girl loves her career more than her man, using him as a loyal patron; he inwardly seethes and takes every opportunity to psychically knock her down even as he helps her to fulfill her dreams. Though the scenes between them take on the repetitive cycle of domestic abuse and forgiveness, it's a surprisingly complex portrayal of those twisted feelings. Day gives one of her better performances, not relying on her gorgeous body and cute smile. When playing opposite her generous co-star Cagney, her limited acting ability actually takes on a stoic kind of depth. Ruth is given heaps of abuse and limitations by the Gimp, and never asks for pity. Instead, she accepts this lot in exchange for the ability to shine as a singer, where Day is inherently graceful and sexy. Her 12 musical numbers all light a fire, helped by Cagney's eager intensity on the sidelines. If we don't necessarily want her to stay with this corrupt boor, we at least understand her motivation and see how difficult it is for her to weave her way out. Cagney offers not only unbridled rage but also insecurity, shame, warmth, and encouragement in rapid-fire beats, well deserving his Academy Award nomination that year. Though Love Me or Leave Me has an edge, it does pull punches: When Ruth slips into alcoholism, it never feels ugly enough, Day's crying scenes feel increasingly strained, and the Gimp gets off a little too easy at the end, after attempting violence on the piano player (an indifferent Cameron Mitchell) he believes to be her lover. But the first time the Gimp and Ruth have sex, discreetly off-screen, Love Me or Leave Me shows the chilling moment right before: Ruth falling on the bed, giving in to the inevitable, as the Gimp grins wolfishly before lunging for her. The production values, cinematography, and script are all adequate, the running time too long, and the story too cyclical to rate this one a classic. But it's bold for its time, and the unlikely pairing of Cagney and Day generates bleak chemistry that feels like the worst, most painful kind of love. (JK)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Public Enemy
Year of Release: 1931
Country of Origin: USA
Director: William A. Wellman
Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods
Plot outline: A young hoodlum rises up through the ranks of the Chicago underworld, even as a gangster's accidental death threatens to spark a bloody mob war (IMDb).
The Public Enemy is the movie that made James Cagney a star. Gifted at swaggering, tough guy roles, he was at the same time very appealing. This had the unwanted side effect of glamorizing crime lords, but it is doubtful that studio executives lost much sleep over this. As well they shouldn't have, as these movies all have the moral that crime doesn't pay. Contrary to popular opinion, the best moment in the movie isn't when Cagney shoves a grapefruit in his girlfriend's face, but when he and his buddy Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) hear that one of their own is dead, not by a rival gangster, but from being thrown off his horse. Even when they march into the stable in a welter of cold fury, you don't quite believe they're actually going to execute the horse, and yet they do. In a movie that begins and ends with high-toned messages about the evil hoodlums do to society, this was likely originally intended to illustrate the rapacious inhumanity of these gangsters (a horse?), but there's no denying its intrinsic black comedy. Studio-imposed moralizing aside, this is a movie with a wicked sense of humour - witness the scene in which a swishy haberdasher feels up Cagney's bicep while measuring him for a suit - that makes up for an occasionally stale plot. (BK, CB)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Roaring Twenties
Year of Release: 1939
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George
Plot outline: Three WWI army buddies get mixed up with the mob in peacetime (IMDb).
The Roaring Twenties is an ambitious gangster movie buoyed by James Cagney’s strong performance. Initially, the movie fires on all cylinders. The opening battlefield scenes are great and do a wonderful job of efficiently introducing the characters. As the setting shifts to post-war New York the script compensates for disappearance of Humphrey Bogart’s character with the introduction of Frank McHugh and Priscilla Lane’s, as Cagney’s character begins his rise to prominence. Everything’s working now, and Cagney’s chewing up the scenery, but then, it begins to stumble. Starting with the introduction of a far-fetched love triangle between Cagney, Lane, and Jeffrey Lynn and culminating in a ludicrous finale, the script abandons any sense of gritty realism, and instead wallows in clichés. It drags in the middle and, much like its protagonist, is finished long before the end credits. Nevertheless, there’s some good stuff here. (FML)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Angels with Dirty Faces
Year of Release: 1938
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Plot outline: Childhood chums on opposite sides of the law fight over the future of a street gang (IMDb).
The great success of Dead End, the 1937 movie that starred Joel McCrae, Humphrey Bogart, and the "Dead End" kids, inevitably led to a sequel. Angels with Dirty Faces reunited Bogart and six of the "Dead End" kids. Because the producing studio had been changed from United Artists to Warner Brothers, the character names were also changed. McCrae was both romantic lead and good guy in Dead End. In the sequel, James Cagney takes over as leading man, while the good guy is the priest played by Pat O'Brien. The plot tells the familiar story of childhood pals going separate ways, become rivals as adults. Rocky Sullivan (Cagney) grows up to be a career criminal and racketeer, while Jerry Connolly (O'Brien) becomes a priest. They both vie for the souls of the "Dead End" kids, who seem destined to become the next generation of Rocky Sullivans. Other story lines have Sullivan double-crossed by his lawyer/partner Frazier (Bogart), and Sullivan romancing a reluctant Laury Ferguson (Ann Sheridan). Cagney is excellent. He is perfectly cast as a gangster, the little tough guy with a deeply hidden heart of gold. During shootouts with the police, one can't help but root for him, all the while aware that the 1930s code requires him to come to a bad end. Bogart's character is cowardly and two-faced when compared to his aggressive character from Dead End, while the hoodlum kids have been softened and placed in more secondary roles. Angels with Dirty Faces is Cagney's movie, and he dominates every scene he is in. (BK)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: White Heat
Year of Release: 1949
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Plot outline: A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn (IMDb).
Based on a story by Virginia Kellogg, White Heat is considered one of the classic gangster, and the most explosive, movies that Cagney or anyone has ever played. The script has pulled all the stops in making this movie the acme of the gangster-prison movie. Cagney plays his role in a brilliantly graphic way, matching the pictorial vigor of his famous Public Enemy job. As the ruthless gang-leader in this furious and frightening account of train-robbery, prison-break, gang war and gun fighting with the police, Cagney indeed achieves the fascination of a brilliant bull-fighter at work, deftly engaged in the business of doing violence with economy and grace. His movements are supple and electric, his words are as swift and sharp as swords and his whole manner carries the conviction of confidence, courage and power. Cagney's performance is not the only one in this movie. Director Raoul Walsh gathers vivid acting from his whole cast: Virginia Mayo is excellent as the gangster's disloyal spouse - brassy, voluptuous and stupid to just the right degree. Edmond O'Brien does a slick job as a Treasury Department T-man who gets next to the gang-boss in prison and works into a place of favor in his mob. Steve Cochran is ugly as an outlaw, John Archer is stout as a Treasury sleuth and Margaret Wycherly is darkly invidious as the gangster's beloved old "Ma". Perhaps her inclusion in the story is its weakest and most suspected point, for the notion of Cagney being a "mama's boy" is slightly remote. And this motivation for his cruelty, as well as for his frequent howling fits, is convenient, perhaps, for novel action but not entirely convincing as truth. However, impeccable veracity is not the first purpose of this movie. It is made to excite and amuse people. And that it most certainly does. (NYT)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Mister Roberts
Year of Release: 1955
Country of Origin: USA
Directors: John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon
Plot outline: Comedy-drama about life on a not particularly important ship of the US Navy during WW2 (IMDb).
Adapted from the play based on Thomas Heggen's book of the same name, this movie perfectly captures the life aboard a non-combatant ship. Far away from the action of the war, the ship provides a vital service, but rarely get recognized for it. Henry Fonda plays the title character, Lt. Douglas Roberts, who spends more time defending his crew from the tyranny of the ship's commanding officer than he does from the enemy. He remarkably demonstrates what true leadership is. James Cagney, in one of his best performances, plays the selfish and ambitious skipper, Captain Morton. He cunningly uses Roberts' work to advance his own career. With this motive in mind he blocks all of Roberts' requests and makes his life as miserable as possible into the bargain. William Powell, in his last appearance, plays the aging and quick witted sidekick, Lt. 'Doc'. His comic timing and sophisticated presence steal every scene in which he appears. Jack Lemmon provides the touch of comic frivolity as the good natured but lazy Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver. Lemmon was relatively new when the movie was made, but none of that seemed evident in his performance. He held his own against three of the best in the business and was awarded an Oscar for his efforts. It takes Mister Roberts a while, and a few lectures from 'Doc', to realize that what he and his crew do is an important job even as they sail "from apathy to tedium with occasional side trips to monotony and ennui," as he says in his letter to Pulver in one of the movie's last scenes. Its realism provides a good balance of comedy and drama throughout. This movie has the ability to touch everyone on at least one level.
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Year of Release: 1955
