Taxi (1932)

“I'd like to bury the hatchet - right in their thick skulls.”

            Taxi begins with newspaper headlines blaring how there is a war of taxi cab companies. Consolidated has been bullying other companies out of business by hitting their cars and threatening other drivers away from certain areas. Two Consolidated drivers try to keep Gramercy  cab driver Matt Nolan (James Cagney)from taking a customer where he needs to go. The two drivers did not figure in that Matt is a hot head and would fight back.

            The spook Buck Gerard from Consolidated is sent to scare off Pop Reilly. Pop has been working the corner of the street near the diner where his daughter Sue (Loretta Young) works for six years. Buck tells the old man he better leave the corner by the next day or risk his neck. Pop is not backing down. Buck goes to a guy around the corner and tells him to ram the cab making it look like it an accident. Pop is furious when his cab is hit he knows the guy hit it on purpose. Out of frustration Pop shoots the driver. He is sent to jail but only for ten years since he is older and the judge understood his situation.

            Matt knows Sue. He goes to the diner and tells her he is taking her out that night. He takes her to a meeting at the cab company. He thinks she will be on the company’s side and call them to fight for her father who died that morning. Sue does not want them all to fight like Consolidated she wants them to stand their ground without violence. Matt is upset with her and tells her he wants to hit her. Sue gets her hit in and runs off for the subway.

            Despite their anger towards each other Sue and Matt begin dating. At a dance competition Matt gets mad at the guy who beat them and he starts a fight. Everywhere they go Matt has to start trouble. She tells him since he cannot get his act together they are through. Sometime later Matt comes by her apartment and sweet talks her into forgiving him. As his hugs her he puts an engagement ring on her finger. Sue gives him one more chance.

            The night they got married they go out to a nightclub with their friends and Matt’s brother Danny. Buck is also at the club with his girlfriend Marie. Buck is drunk and when he sees Matt he immediately starts bothering him. Marie sends a note over to Sue to meet her I the bathroom. Marie tells Sue she does not want anything to happen to Buck. She loves him even though she knows he is not a good guy. Sue does not want Matt to get into any trouble either so she agrees to do what she can to help. Buck says the wrong thing to Matt and the two men start to fight. Buck pulls out a knife to kill Matt but Danny comes between them. Unfortunately Danny dies.

            Now Matt is hell bent on getting even with Buck. Sue and Marie do their best to keep their men away from each other. Before Matt can get to Buck, Sue gets to their apartment to warn them. Buck hides and Matt looks around for him. Marie blocks the door to the closet where Buck is hiding. The police come to the apartment looking for associates of Buck’s. They move Marie away from the door and Matt shoots it. Buck had moved away but he died after falling from the window.

            Sue is ready to leave Matt. All their furniture has been moved out. Matt comes by again to say he is sorry.

            I did not know what Taxi was about. Going off the poster I was thinking it was a somewhat funny film. It was a straight up drama. It was not bad but because I was not expecting a drama I got a bit bored with it. Plus, the story was boring. It was a mix between a romance and a revenge story and both of those stories usually bore me to absolute tears. James Cagney really never does anything for me he always seemed to play the same tough guy characters. Loretta Young was great. Taxi was alright. If you like Pre-Codes or Loretta Young or James Cagney then it is worth watching. 

The Crowd Roars (1932)

I hate race car driving. I cannot understand the lure of watching cars going round and round in a giant circle for god knows how many laps. I think I cannot stand NASCAR and all that racing stuff is because whenever it is on TV it usually interrupts a show I want to watch! Is race car driving considered a sport? To me that would be like saying cheerleading is a sport. Anyway, before I start saying what I really think about race car driving and cheerleading… The Crowd Roars is a film from 1932 about race car driving. Fortunately the cast was very good and the theme of race car driving did not annoy or bore me.

            Joe Greer (James Cagney) is a professional race car driver. He goes back to his small hometown for the first time in four years. His girlfriend Lee (Ann Dvorak) is not getting off the train with him. She is mad at Joe because she thinks he feels she is not good enough to meet his family. Joe’s younger brother Eddie (Eric Linden) meets him at the train station. Eddie wants to race just like his older brother. Eddie has built his own car and is a local racing champion. He wants to go with his brother next time Joe leaves town. Joe tells Eddie to stay out of racing it is a hard life

            Eddie convinces Joe to race with him at a local competition. It is neck and neck for a while but both brothers get run off the track and neither finishes the race. Later on Joe wires Lee to tell her he is extending his tour so he can teach Eddie how to race. Joe eventually goes back to Lee’s place. Instead of spending time with Lee he is always with his brother. He breaks things off with her because he wants to keep Eddie away from women and booze. Lee gets very upset she does want Joe to go. Her friend Ann (Joan Blondell) is not thrilled with Joe. Lee decides to teach Joe what it is like to lose someone he loves like. She has Ann go after Eddie. Lee’s plan to get back at Joe backfires. Ann finds she is falling in love with Eddie. Joe wants nothing to do with Eddie now that he is with Ann.

            Eddie beats Joe in his first race. The newspapers are talking how he is the next up and coming racer. After Joe drives drunk in a race and kills a man he cannot find a job anywhere and fades into obscurity. Lee decides to head out East and start over. She gets a job as a waitress at a racetrack. Joe is at the same racetrack looking for a job. They see each other and talk. Lee tells Joe that Eddie is still a shamed of him for driving drunk.

            Somehow Joe gets a job and gets to drive against Eddie. In the happy Hollywood ending Joe and Eddie make up.         

            The cast was excellent. I like seeing James Cagney with Joan Blondell. They always played tough characters and their tough characters together were fabulous. Ann Dvorak gave a great performance also. When I think of Pre-Code actresses Blondell and Dvorak are two of the greats that come to mind. Eric Linden is not one of my favorites. He just always seemed like a weird little boy.

            The Crowd Roars is a typical 1930s guy film with romance thrown in so the women would also come and see it. I guess the romance angle works it acts as a motivator for the characters. The Crowd Roars is good to see once mostly just for the cast unless you are into racing and want to see some pretty cool old racing footage. 

Each Dawn I Die (1939)

“I don't love life much, but I don't hate it enough to stick my head in front of a screw's bullet.” 

            Nineteen thirty-nine was the best year for films in the history of cinema. Major classic films such as Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz were released and other popular classics such as The Women and Dark Victory were also made. In this one year alone over five hundred films were released and to this day they make up ninety-five percent of all American films ever made. Each Dawn I Die is one of those five hundred films to be released in 1939. It does not quite stand up to the others and has been lost in the shuffle over the decades unless you are one of several types of fans of: James Cagney, George Raft, gangster films, or are trying to see as many films from the year as possible. For me I sat through Each Dawn I Die because I am trying to see as many films from 1939 as I can possibly find.

            Cagney is a reporter who is trying to help clean up the crime in his city. One story he writes about a known gangster and crook with arms in several pies. While getting his story he finds the gangster burning his records and writes about it for the morning edition. The gangster gets mad and has Frank framed for manslaughter by making it seem like he was drunk and running into a busy area. Frank proclaims his innocence all the way but no one will listen to him that the gangster is the one who planned the whole thing.

            Frank goes to a state jail where the inmates are treated horribly. The cops are always beating them if they step one foot out of line or for nothing at all. In jail as well is a crook named Hood Stacey (Raft). Stacey is in jail for life for all his crimes. The crook takes a liking to the reporter after Frank did not rat on him after an incident. Stacey tells Frank he plans on breaking out when he is taken to the courthouse and that in return for not being a rat he will help look for the gangster and get him out of jail.

            At the courthouse Frank has called his fiancée and his newspaper to cover the trial. Stacey thinks Frank is not on the level since he called the paper in. Stacey’s lawyer knows he is escaping and so does Frank and he tells his fiancée Joyce to keep in contact with Stacey through the lawyer. When Stacey gets away he is nowhere to be found for five months. He has not been helping Frank since he thinks Frank ratted him. Joyce goes finds him and says that for the five months he has been gone Frank has been getting beaten and thrown into solitary for not talking when he can because he has faith that Stacey will get him out.

            Stacey feels bad about what Frank is doing for him. With some new information about the frame up, he decides to go back to the prison to give himself up thinking he got out once he can get out again. Stacey’s plan is to have a riot break out. The plan does not exactly work the whole place become surrounding. Frank is the only level headed one he does not want to be a part of any of the action he wants to live and to get out the right way. The reason Stacey goes back to the jail is because the snitch of the jail was the one who was part of the frame up against Frank. Stacey threatens the snitch into a confession in front of the warden and then kills him.

            After the riot and the confession Frank is released.

            Ugh, I was so bored with this film. I loved how on the info for this TCM described it as a “jail break yarn” haha. I honestly could not have described it any better. I mean come on, you knew that Cagney was getting out he was the good guy and you knew that since Raft was the bad guy with the heart of gold that he was going to pay for his sins no matter what. The acting was something to be desired. I like Raft and Cagney but neither one of them I felt was that great. I am sure it had something to do with the characters not the actors themselves.

            Each Dawn I Die as I said is only a film to see if you like Cagney or Raft or want to see as many films as possible from 1939. Other than those reasons skip it. It is a typical melodrama with a predictable ending.

 

The Irish in Us (1935)

I have decided to be festive and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day here on Une Cinephile. I am not celebrating in the usual American way by going out and getting drunk off my ass by doing all day pub crawls in either New York or Hoboken. I feel I should celebrate a little bit since I have some Irish blood in me: I am a wonderful fantastic *note sarcasm* mix if Italian, Irish, German, English, and French (I am mostly Italian with an Italian last name so it is just easier for me to say I am that nationality. No, I am not tan with dark hair I am butt white with blue eyes and brown hair. Yes, I am very much prone to having a bad temper every now and then).

            My way of celebrating St. Pat’s is by watching the 1935 film The Irish in Us with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and Pat O’Brien.

            The brothers O’Hara- Pat (Pat O’Brien), Mike, and Danny (James Cagney)- still live with their mother who has kept them very comfortable all their lives to the point where they still act like they are all under ten years old. The two oldest still share a room while Danny who is the baby gets his own room. Each brother has a job- Pat is police officer, Mike is a fire fighter and Danny, well, he manages boxers. His last few fighters did not do well but that does not stop him from finding new guys to manage.

 

            One morning Pat tells his mother and brothers that he is planning on marrying a girl named Lucille (Olivia de Havilland) he has only known for two months. He has not asked her to marry him yet but he is planning on it and wants the family to meet her. He plans to bring her over for dinner that night and wants everything to go smoothly which means Ma has to teach Mike how eat right and act like a gentleman. At work he asks Lucille to come over for dinner and she accepts the invitation.

            Danny begins training a new fighter named Carl. While on a run they see a car on the side of the road with a lady under it and thinking that she has had an accident they run over to help her. When they pull the girl out it turns out to be Lucille but Danny does not know who she is yet. There is a little spark between Danny and Lucille even though they just met even though Danny was barely a gentleman with her.

 

            Nothing really goes right for Pat that night. Danny told his mother he was taking Pat’s suit to the cleaners when really he let Carl borrow it so now Pat does not have a suit he has to get back into his police uniform. He runs around in his undershirt and boxers with his coat on over them when Lucille gets to the house. As Pat gets himself together Ma lets slip to Lucille that Pat is planning on asking her to marry him. Lucille tells Ma that she does not like Pat in that way. The dinner does not go to plan at all especially when Danny comes back with Carl. They tell Pat that they already met Lucille when they helped her with her car so nothing bad there until Carl hears a bell and thinks he is in the ring and starts throwing punches. One of the punches knocks Pat out. Danny takes Lucille home and on the way they stop for dinner and chat.

            The next night is the Fireman’s Ball and the whole O’Hara family goes. Lucille goes as well and dances with all the brothers. She and Danny go out on the balcony and talk. She tells him that it is he who she really loves not Pat and he says he loves her too. They kiss and of course Pat happens to see them in the act. When he gets home Pat wants to move out he is so upset with his brother. When Danny comes home he tells Pat and Ma that he will move out since it is his fault and Pat is the one who brings the money home.

            Danny spends his time training Carl for a big fight. In the mean time Lucille is very upset that she broke up the O’Hara home she feels terrible that Danny and Pat are fighting over her. She goes to Danny and says that she does not love him either. Then Lucille pays a visit to Ma and tells her she really does love Danny. Ma is very happy and not upset at all over what has happened.

 

            James Cagney is the star so it is no surprise that he makes up with the brother and gets the girl in the end.

            The whole cast was very good. James Cagney was good at playing the tough guy with a soft spot. He was so believable as the son who is sweet and does whatever makes him happy. Olivia de Havilland was eighteen years old when she made this film and nineteen when it was released. Before this film she had made a Midsummer Night’s Dream which is technically her first film but it was released after this one. It is incredible to think that de Havilland was eighteen she just had so much talent that it seems like she had been acting in films for years already not months. De Havilland looks adorable and has some of the best clothes I have seen in a film from the 1930s, her hats were the best I want them all!! Pat O’Brien is considered one of the best actors of classic Hollywood, I want to know who originated this idea because I did not like him at all. He like yelled his lines and his voice was annoying. Mary Gordon as Ma O’Hara was the best she was so tough and funny. You can see that her boys loved and respected her but at the same time she scared them… much like my mom only she is full Italian.

 

            Since this film was made in 1935 the Irish are portrayed as having flaring tempers and very family oriented not the stereotypical drunken Irish bastards we usually see in movies and TV shows today. I have some of those drunken Irish bastards in my dad’s family and they can be very entertaining haha. When they are not drinking they are exactly like the O’Haras tough but loving and big babies like Pat, Mike, and Danny!! 

            The Irish in Us is a good film. The acting by James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland is the best part of the film along with the character of Ma O’Hara. The story of the main guy getting another guy’s girl is nothing new but the characters add a little something different. The film is available to view on Youtube, it is not available on VHS or DVD. 

 

Picture Snatcher (1933)

Yes folks another lovely pre-code!!! And this is my first James Cagney pre-code at that! I was looking through TCM’s schedule one day and all I had to see was the title Picture Snatcher and knew I had to see it no matter who was in it… I have a great passion for old photography especially fashion photography. The story sounded pretty interesting as well and it did not hurt that James Cagney and Ralph Bellamy were starring in the film.

            Cagney plays an ex-con named Danny Keane. When he is released from jail his old gangster pals want him to join them again but he decides he wants to go straight. He wants to become a photographer for the newspapers. His pals laugh at him but Danny is determined to find a job at what he likes.

            He goes to a newspaper with a bad reputation for printing gossip and “inappropriate” stories. The paper does not want to hire him but he says he can prove himself when a chance comes his way. A man who is head of the fire department is sitting in his burned out apartment. He found his wife and her lover’s body burned when he came home. He will not let any photographers or reporters in. Danny’s job is to try to get a picture of the place as well as a picture of the man and his wife. Danny gets to walk around the apartment by pretending he is an insurance man inspecting the place for a claim. He manages to get the picture and the newspaper is the only paper in town that has it.

            The next day the man comes in looking to kill Danny but he manages to evade him by sneaking into the women’s bathroom. While in there he meets Allison (Alice White) a reporter for the paper. He meets up with Allison at her place but then he sees his boss JR McLean (Bellamy) walking up to her place drunk and he gets out there quickly.

            A few journalism students come by the office. Danny takes it upon himself to show the students around when he sees that the group consists mainly of girls. He takes a real liking to one of the girls named Pat Nolan (Patricia Ellis). Her father just so happens to be Chief Nolan head of the police unit who put Danny behind bars. That does not matter to him because he is going straight. Unfortunately they get caught and Chief Nolan is none too happy. Later on the Chief is ok with the two dating only because JR told the chief that he was going to do a write up on him.

            One of the biggest news stories of the time is about a woman who is going to be executed for murdering her husband and his lover. She is to go to the electric chair. No one is supposed to take cameras into the execution but Danny being the daring man that he is brings a camera. Chief Nolan lets him through because he knows Danny will not do anything stupid… or so he thinks. Danny gets the picture by strapping the camera to his leg. Well the camera falls out and he is found out. Now all the reporters and the police are after him.

            Because of Danny taking the picture Chief Nolan has been demoted and he will not let the ex-con see his daughter. Danny is upset about what he did but along with JR finds a way to redeem himself and get the chief his job back.

            Picture Snatcher screams pre-code from beginning to end. When Danny meets Allison in the ladies room you know they totally do it as James Cagney walks away off camera with a big smile on his face. When Danny has to hide out after he takes the execution photograph he hides out with Allison and as she is changing he snaps a picture of her. There are many more fabulous pre-code scenes but those were my favorites and the ones that left me going wow.

            James Cagney is awesome he is now one of my favorite classic actors. He was so funny in so many scenes and his performance was just flawless. Danny was a good character he knew he had done wrong and wanted to go straight and be a good guy. The film aired on TCM as part of their Summer Under the Stars program when they had Ralph Bellamy as their star of the day. The more I see of Bellamy the less he is the bumbling guy who loses the girls. He was a very good versatile actor and handsome on top of it.

            Picture Snatcher is not an incredible, jaw dropping, one- of –the-best-films-ever-made films but it is enjoyable. The dialogue is snappy and quick and the story is fast paced but you never lose your way through it. James Cagney is very entertaining and makes the whole film. 

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

“Hey fellas! Here comes the strawberry blonde!” 

            One day a friend and I were walking around New York City and we were walking down this one street when this tall, skinny girl with long black hair and dressed like she wants to get attention comes in front of us. There were a few guys working on something and they were all breaking their necks to get a glimpse of this girl. All my friend and I could do was laugh and wonder what on earth there was to this girl. The whole time we have just been seeing her from behind. Well when she turned around my friend and I just looked at each other and laughed because she was not that pretty!

            In the film The Strawberry Blonde set in the early 1900s a couple of guys break their necks to get a look at the new girl the “Strawberry Blonde” and whistle at her as she goes by. The women they were all admiring and whistling at deserved it unlike the girl I saw because she just so happened to be Rita Hayworth playing Virginia Brush. Virginia knows she can get any man she wants and she does. One man who is interested in her is an aspiring dentist named Biff Grimes (James Cagney). All his life Biff has been getting the short end of the stick constantly getting the leftovers. He is friends with a man named Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson) who is running a new organization that is making money. Hugo makes a date with Virginia and her friend Amy Lind (Olivia de Havilland).

            Virginia and Amy could not be more different: Virginia is a spoiled brat whoand knows she is a hot thing and Amy is a nurse who wants to be seen as a tough cookie suffragist. Biff wants to get with Virginia so Hugo says that he can but that does not happen instead he ends up with Amy as planned. Biff is all a wreck and only has his mind on the Strawberry Blonde but then Amy turns him on his toes a bit with some of the things she tells him.

            A few days later Hugo and Biff plan to take the ladies out on a boat ride with Hugo promising Biff he can be with Virginia for the day. They have the tickets but the limit the boat can hold is reached just as Biff and Virginia were about to board. Biff finally gets his chance to have the girl of his dreams to himself and has a great time. When they return home he asks her out but she tells him she is booked solid for the next few weeks with dates with other men. They make a date for three weeks from that Wednesday.

            When the Wednesday for their date comes Biff cannot wait. Virginia on the other hand was ready to blow him off but after he says they were to go dancing and to a show she says yes. Well anyway she is a bitch and blows him off anyway that night after she marries Hugo that day. Biff is waiting in the park when Amy comes around. She went to tell him that Virginia got married. On the rebound he asks Amy if she would like to go steady with him and not too long after they get married. They do not have a lot money, Biff is working his way through correspondence school to be a dentist but in the meantime he is delivering milk at night.

            One day while getting his father out of a brawl in a bar he sees Virginia for the first time in a long time. She invites him and Amy to her home for dinner the next night. The night of the dinner before Biff and Amy arrive Virginia tells Hugo to give Biff a job since Amy was her good friend once and Biff was his good friend too. Hugo gives Biff a job but because he is only out for himself and gets the not so bright good guy in trouble.

            The whole film is told through a flashback but it is not bad as I often find films that use the device to be. It fit the story and gave it a satisfying ending. Biff’s realization that he really is a lucky man and he loves his wife can be seen as too over done but with the way the story goes it works and it is not corny.

            The cast was so good they all worked together perfectly. This was the first time I have ever seen James Cagney in a film. I liked him as the small tough guy who is always getting the leftovers in life. He was not over the top with being too tough or too nice he was great. Now I cannot wait to really see him as the tough guy. Olivia de Havilland was outrageously adorable. The scene where she first meets Biff in the park is hysterical because you could never see her that way: when we are first introduced to Amy she has just gotten out of work and is in her nursing uniform. Right away she starts with the women’s suffragist talk; we are supposed to think she is this really tough cookie. She starts winking and being flirty with a guy she does not even know. When she and Biff are sitting together while Virginia and Hugo are off doing their own thing she tells him her mother was one of the original Bloomer Girls and that her aunt was an actress (which was a profession that used to be very risqué), she does not mind if a guy kisses her before they are engaged, and that she smokes when she gets bored. I was laughing with her in those scenes she was great. I have a whole new admiration for her. Of course later it turns out she was just kidding about everything but you cannot be mad she was so cute. I really liked de Havilland and Cagney together they acted perfectly with one another. Rita Hayworth was ok there were some moments where she got on my nerves. Her clothes were fantastic though.

            I really liked how the film had Olivia de Havilland and Rita Hayworth play strong women. De Havilland was not the weak timid woman she usually played to this point. She was spunky even at the end she was being really cheeky and cute. She was feminine but did not take any crap. The film did not set to knock the women down a peg and I really liked that especially for the time it was made in. It makes fun of Women’s Rights at the beginning of the century but it does not outright and completely mock it.

            One of my all time favorite directors Raoul Walsh directed the film. I love how he does not constantly focus on one actor or actress if they are all together in a scene. He had such a great touch at capturing his actors at their best.

            I have to admit I was not expecting The Strawberry Blonde to be as good as it was. I thought it was going to be too dramatic but it was not all dramatic there were many bright, good moments especially between Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney. The story is very good it comes from a play entitled One Sunday Afternoon and was made into a film of the same name in 1933 starring Fay Wray and Gary Cooper. The Strawberry Blonde is adorable and has a lot of heart. It is a very good Classic Hollywood film and I definitely suggest seeing it.

            The Strawberry Blonde is available on DVD.