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.
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.