Bouncy Early Talkie has young James Cagney as a hotel bellhop running small town cons with platonic partner Joan Blondell. And while it’s not chump change (horny Guy Kibbee is taken for a few thou), Cagney’s an ambitious boy and jumps to a bigger town (and bigger fish) only to fall for a fake counterfeiting scam run by Louis Calhern.* Licking his wounds and covering his loses (so Blondell won’t know), he finally hits NYC, wins big, but loses Joan to smooth banker Ray Milland who turns out to be not much of a catch. Typically zippy and fun, in the slaphappy Warners manner (lots of real slapping, too!), Cagney sells harder than he needs to, but is so irresistible you won’t mind. Blondell’s at her most attractive and there’s a nifty action sequence near the end so Jimmy can have a bit of gunplay. A programmer, but a good one.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Jack-of-all-genres director Roy Del Ruth sets up the weirdest backscreen projection shot covering nothing but the back bench of one of those open ‘30s roadsters. With no car elements in the frame, it looks like a ride on a traveling sofa.
DOUBLE-BILL: Cagney perfected this guy in JIMMY THE GENT/’34. Pitch-perfect in all departments, with a better plot, Bette Davis, loads of tasty supporting characters & general hilarity.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Calhern simply towers over all the Warners contract players in here. Jack Warner had a positive mania for hiring guys as short as he was.
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