Lady Killer

Jimmy Cagney plays a gangster in this film. However, despite having seen him play such a role in countless other films, this one is unique and well worth seeing because it STILL dares to be different.

Cagney is a wanted man back East, so he gets the idea of going to the West Coast to hang out and wait for things to die down. However, once there he is discovered by Hollywood and stars in gangster films because he is "so natural and believable". Well, despite his very shady past, Cagney tries to go straight and likes the life of a star. However, old associates realize who he is and try to blackmail him.

The film is a light comedy that invigorates the standard gangster genre. For its uniqueness and excellent acting and writing, the film gets an 8.

Lady Killer (1933)

*** (out of 4)

James Cagney plays a movie usher who gets fired and then gets mixed up with some gangster being led by Douglas Dumbrille and Margaret Lindsay. Soon a crime goes wrong so Cagney runs off to Hollywood where he starts work as an extra but quickly becomes a movie star. This is an enjoyable little comedy that works pretty well as a spoof of Hollywood and it gives Cagney a chance to make fun of his own image. Cagney is very good in his role, which once again shows him as a cocky, high tempered thug but there's also other moments including Cagney playing an Indian as well as showing off his comic side. Mae Clarke plays Cagney's love interest in Hollywood and the two are very good together with that infamous scene of Cagney dragging her across the floor by her hair. Both Lindsay and Dumbrille add nice support in their roles. One of the film's highlights is when Cagney orders two dozen monkeys to a party where they escape and cause all sorts of trouble. There's also plenty of nice gags aimed at Hollywood and directors. The film starts to run out of steam during the final act but if you're a fan of Cagney or films of this era then this is certainly worth checking out.

For anyone who enjoys James Cagney, this is a must-see. Yes, it's early in his career, but it's vintage Cagney: cocky, quick-tempered but humorous and likable as always. I am excited to see it finally coming out on DVD in March of 2008.

Instead of being a gangster throughout the story, he starts off that way in New York, runs off to Los Angeles and then goes straight after being hired as a Hollywood extra in a movie. He becomes a star but then his old gang catches up with him and he has to deal with them.

Along the way, three of the supporting actors combine with Cagney to make this a very fast- moving 74-minute film. They are Mae Clark, as the female villain "Myra Gale," Margaret Lindsay at the good woman "Lois Underwood," and Douglass Dumbrille as "Spade," the former leader of the New York gang. All are very convincing in their roles under the able work of director Roy Del Ruth.

You can tell this was a pre-code film just looking at Lindsay's ample cleavage, something that would have been covered up a bit more if the film had been made the following year. Other than that, and a few minor innuendos, the film is pretty clean, morally speaking.

One thing you certainly wouldn't see in today's films was the scene showing Cagney grabbing Clark by the hair and dragging her across the room, then booting her out in the hallway! (This is the same actress who received the famous grapefruit-in-the-face from Cagney in "Public Enemy.")

Anyway, yes the film is dated in much of the dialog and attitudes but it's so entertaining, so much fun to watch that it would still appeal to a good-sized audience today, too.

Look out, world! Jimmy Cagney's coming to Hollywood and whether they use bullets or make-up the con artists haven't got a chance, in this raucous send-up featuring a New York crime boss who lands himself where the real action is – on a theater marquee.

Cagney is a wise guy named Dan Quigley who can't make it as a movie usher, so he raises his sights from lavatory dice games to breaking into rich folks' homes with the help of a nasty gang. When that goes bad and the gang leaves him flat, Quigley finds a new line in Hollywood, first as an extra, soon after as a "Famous He-Man of the Screen." But what will happen when the old gang shows up for a piece of the action?

The marquee in lights near the start of the film advertises someone called "The Prince Of Pep." He might as well be Cagney in this streamlined star vehicle, written entirely to showcase his fast patter and easy charm. Cagney's so good they don't even bother to build a coherent film around his character, and it hardly matters.

If you want to see a great Cagney film, there are perhaps a couple dozen better candidates. But if you want to see why the guy clicked so hard in the days of early sound, and still packs a punch 80 years later, this should be on your short list.

Cagney's lines here are priceless. To a dog being held by a theater manager who just fired him: "Listen, Fido, this guy's got a wooden leg. Try it sometime!"

To a group of card sharps who just cleaned him out: "I think I'll stick to checkers."

To the same group, after he's figured out their scam: "You kick back with my fifty bucks, or I'll fold your joint like an accordion!"

Just seconds later, he proposes a partnership. "You got a sweet racket here. Maybe I can show you a few new wrinkles."

"Lady Killer" was made just before the Hays Code was seriously enforced, which makes for interesting viewing. Reviewers here have already pointed out a scene when we see Quigley sneak Mae Clarke's character Myra a peck on the breast. The film takes even greater advantage of the liberal mores then still in effect by letting Quigley get away with his crimes. Sure, he goes straight, sort of, but only because he finds a better racket than potentially homicidal B&Es. There's no moment of Quigley coming to regret his wicked past, as censors would have required just months later.

That makes for a more entertaining Cagney vehicle, but a somewhat disjointed film. Director Roy Del Ruth keeps things moving quick, but in odd directions in tone, turning "Lady Killer" from a semi-serious gangster story to a genially goofy Hollywood satire. In his DVD commentary, Drew Casper calls "Lady Killer" a "shyster satire." It might also be called a "crooked comedy;" no one is on the level, whichever side of the law they're on.

So in Hollywood, we see Quigley break big after really slugging an extra in a mock prison break scene, and further his path toward stardom by faking fan letters. It's shallow stuff, but fun, especially as it all plays so fast. Other than the star, pacing is "Lady Killer's" ace in the hole.

Clarke should have graduated from the grapefruit league with this performance. She and Cagney resume their fireworks from "Public Enemy," this time with even more outrageous stunts, but Clarke, here the first- billed female, does wise work making sure we enjoy her comeuppance. Even her catty asides to Cagney, or the way she shamelessly plays with her hair while shaking him down for (more) dough, is on par with Barbara Stanwyck's star-making wickedness.

But make no mistake, "Lady Killer" is Cagney's baby, and he makes it work, despite the tone shifts and the odd title (Quigley's not a killer himself, and doesn't play with women's affections). You root for the guy despite his crookedness, and that's all that matters in the end.

When you think of James Cagney, you think of a gangster in films like The Public Enemy, where he smashed that grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face. But Cagney won his Oscar for Yankee Doodle Dandy. He also received nominations for Angels With Dirty Faces and Love Me or Leave Me.

Here he shows just how far his range extends in a romantic comedy which also includes Mae Clarke in a bigger role than you are probably accustomed to seeing her. There is a lot of action in this 76 minute film. Cagney is a theater usher who gets fired and ends up following Mae as she is trolling for suckers to get fleeced by her partners in a card game. He joins the group and they pull bigger more sophisticated cons until a trigger happy gang member kills a servant during a home robbery.

He and Mae head to Los Angeles, and when the LA police hold him for what happened in New York, Myra and one of the gang make off with Cagney's money. The LA police ultimately have to let him go, but penniless he gets increasingly shaggy and ragged looking. This causes him to get picked up for a series of bit parts by a local movie crew exactly because of his scruffy looks. One of the fascinating bits here is seeing how movies were made at the time. He hooks up with star Margaret Lindsay and uses his conning skills to make himself a star. (As an aside, Lindsey made 12 films that year, her second year as an actress.)

Soon, Mae and the gang find him and they want to pick up where they left off, using Cagney to get into posh places that they can rob. He tries to get them out of town, but they see dollars in LA and are going nowhere. How will this all work out? Watch and find out. And like I said, there's a lot of action for 76 minutes and Cagney really shows he can do romance, comedy, and gangster all in one film.