(Possible spoiler) Great fun as long as Joan and Jimmy are flirting and sparring -- she has a great right hook, which she's forced to employ repeatedly, and he has an unusually expressive vocal delivery, including a "HAW-nee" endearment unlike anything he ever attempted again. It's a rock-'em, sock-'em early talkie with the two stars at their most appealing, Cagney so full of energy that he seems to walk an inch or two above the ground. There's plenty of pre-Code intrigue, too, and the casual sexuality is pretty eye-opening for 1931. Blondell is pretty, spirited, and authoritative; like film historian David Thomson said, as far as professionalism goes, it is difficult to overpraise her. Up to the "Sting"-like episodes of the pair fleecing Louis Calhern (looking very dapper in black tie), it's a raunchy treat. But then the plot takes a wayward detour, with Blondell falling into an unhappy marriage with Wall Street crook Ray Milland. (Exactly how this blue-collar honey could charm her way into his high-society family is not clear.) The last 20 minutes or so plod into melodrama, chase, and only semi-happy ending, with the two stars finally in the clinch we knew they'd be in all along. Breezy going for the first two-thirds, though, and even when the narrative veers off, the stars are right on track.
Review of Blonde Crazy
