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Reviews
Tom Sawyer, Detective (1938)
Tom and Huck To The Rescue!
Although based upon a novel written by Mark Twain in the 19th century, this movie holds up today. It's not a great movie, but it has some good acting with Billy Cook as Tom Sawyer and Donald O'Connor as Huck Finn. The two boys solve a murder case and, in the process, save Tom's Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) who was initially charged with a crime which he actually thought that he may have inadvertently committed. Elizabeth Risden plays the wife (Aunt Sally) of Uncle Silas. The primary villain in the movie is a rather suave character named Brace Dunlap played to the hilt by perennial "bad guy", Edward Pawley. Pawley had honed his acting skills on Broadway (he was the original "Elmer Gantry") prior to working in movies where he excelled primarily in gangster roles in such hits as "G-Men", "Each Dawn I Die","Prison Break", "Sworn Enemy", etc. prior to acting in this film.William Haade played Brace Dunlap's not-so-smart brother, Jupiter Dunlap, as well as Jupiter's twin. Clem Bevans provided some comedic relief as Sheriff Slocum, and Raymond Hatton played (what else?) the judge. All in all, a film I would recommend to everyone, especially those who like the works of Mark Twain.
'G' Men (1935)
A Must-See Movie Which Launched Edward Pawley's "Bad Guy" Image in Movies
This is a fast-paced movie which suited the fast-moving Jimmy Cagney and, thus, proved to be a big box office success. It was a watershed role for Cagney who had previously played the "tough guy" in various movies of the gangster genre. This movie finds him still playing a tough guy, but this time he is on the side of the law. Cagney is well-supported in his role with an excellent cast which includes Robert Armstrong playing Cagney's boss, Margaret Lindsay and Ann D'Vorak playing Cagney's love interests, Lloyd Nolan as an FBI agent, Barton McLean as one of the gangster mob which included "public enemy number one" (Danny Leggett) played capably by former Broadway star, Edward Pawley (he was the original "Elmer Gantry" in the 1928 Broadway play of the same name). According to Pawley, his role in G-Men was based upon the notorious real-life gangster, John Dillinger. This was Pawley's defining role as a "bad guy" in the movies, and it served him well in his future movies in which he primarily played the bad guy. He played "bad guy" roles not only in gangster films but also in horror, western, and comedy films as well. He once stated that he played so many "bad guy" roles during his 10-year stint in Hollywood that policemen often eyed him with suspicion whenever he walked down the street. They couldn't decide whether they had seen him in the movies on in the line-up! After deciding to leave Hollywood in 1942, he moved back to New York and replaced Edward G. Robinson in the role of "Steve Wilson" on radio's very popular Big Town drama series. He finally got to play the "good guy"!
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
Great movie with excellent acting!
This movie has an excellent cast and is well acted. James Cagney and George Raft are superb in their respective roles as convicts trying to find a way out of prison. The movie also gives some good glimpses of what prison life was like back in the 1930s. George Raft appears by some critics to "steal" the movie from James Cagney, but then his role as a convicted gangster was tailored more to his real-life experiences with "shady" characters than was Cagney's role. The movie had many good supporting actors including the likes of Maxie Rosenbloom, John Wray, Victor Jory, et al. One supporting actor whom previous critics of this movie failed to mention is Edward Pawley who played the role of "Dale." He did an excellent job as the convict who took charge of the attempted prison breakout and stood by Cagney and Raft until the bitter end. He was very believable in this high-drama role. Pawley had plenty of previous experience in playing gangster/bad guy roles with the likes of Cagney, Raft, and Bogart, so his performance was not surprising. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes movies in the gangster genre.
The Last Gangster (1937)
An entertaining gangster film with a "twist."
I saw "The Last Gangster" (1937) for the first time last night (7/18/2006) and found it to be a fairly entertaining film. Edward G. Robinson's acting,as per usual in gangster movies of this type, carried the film. It had its weak moments (like Rose Stander's acting) and its unlikely moments(like the final shooting scene), but it remained fairly entertaining just the same. There was one rather strange item about the film. One of the 1930s more identifiable "bad guy" actors (Edward Pawley) appeared only briefly in this film (in the scene where the mob tortures Robinson's character)and didn't have a single line of dialog! I found this rather odd after having seen Edward Pawley play featured roles such as: Public Enemy Number One in "G-Men", the head of a gangster mob in "King Solomon of Broadway", a crazed and rebellious convict in "Each Dawn I Die", a prominent gangster in "Smashing The Rackets" and in "Eyes of the Underworld", Bogart's bad-guy partner in "The Oklahoma Kid, et cetera. Perhaps this lends some additional credence to what some critics have claimed to be poor directing of this movie. Perhaps, also, the fact that there was no love lost between Robinson and Pawley had something to do with it. Interestingly, Pawley went on to replace Robinson as "Steve Wilson" in the long-running and highly popular radio drama series, Big Town, in the 1940s.
Little Tough Guy (1938)
Movie is one of only two (out of 50-plus movies) in which Edward Pawley plays the "good guy"
I have seen this movie and found it to be somewhat entertaining. It is one of only two movies in which the former Broadway star and (later) radio star (Big Town), Edward Pawley, plays the good guy! He plays the role of "Jim Boylan", father of "Johnny Boylan" (Billy Halop). Mr. Pawley usually played villainous roles in his more than 50 movies during a 10-year stint in Hollywood. One other exception was in the movie "Hoosier Schoolboy" in which he played the role of Captain Carter (Mickey Rooney's father)who was also a war hero with a drinking problem. Edward Pawley was probably best known in movies for his role as Danny Leggett (aka, Public Enemy Number One) in the James Cagney vehicle, "G-MEN." He also had feature roles in movies such as "The Oklahoma Kid" in which he played Humphrey Bogart's partner (Ace Doolin), "Romance of the Limberlost" in which he played Jean Parker's suitor (Jed Corson), Thirteen Women in which he played "Burns", Myrna Loy's accomplice in crime, "Romance On The Range" in which he played Roy Rogers' ranch boss and covert outlaw (Jerome Banning), et cetera, et cetera.