Each Dawn I Die

Raft and Cagney, in their only appearance together, doing what they did best. While the plot of this film noir is a little contrived, aren't they all, the pleasure watching true greats perform is a joy and a pleasure.

The main reason for watching this 1939 Warner Bros. picture is the allure of excellent ensemble performances by the cast that was assembled for it. William Keighley directed this black and white movie with great style in the way he staged the picture.

The teaming of James Cagney and George Raft proved to be an added attraction. James Cagney, who had been seen as a bad guy in most of his gangster oriented movies, plays a good guy here who ends up in jail for a crime he didn't commit. George Raft practically steals the movie and makes it his own. The chemistry between both stars is what makes the movie work. It was notorious how both Mr. Cagney and Mr. Raft enjoyed working with one another, and it translates to what one sees in the finished product.

The other great asset going for "Each Dawn I Die" is the strong ensemble cast that was put together to support the principals. George Bancroft, Max Rosenbloom, John Wray, Victor Jory and Edward Pawley are seen doing incredible work. Jane Bryan plays Joyce Conover, the good girl who believes in the innocence of her boyfriend and fights for his release.

Even though some aspects of the film are far fetched, it involves the viewer like other films of this genre thanks to the direction of Mr. Keighley and the excellent work he got out of his cast and crew.

This was a great film for the Year 1939 with a great cast of veteran film stars. James Cagney, (Frank Ross) plays the role as a newspaper reporter who writes a front page head line involving some politicians running for the governor of a state who have burned all their records of evil doings and this story causes them many problems. The politicians decided to frame Frank and set him up by knocking him out and pouring booze on him and send his car crashing into a town and other people's cars. Frank is sentenced to prison for twenty-years and meets up with a guy named Hood "Stacey" who befriends him and they get along until things happen in the prison. Frank becomes very upset with his prison life and causes all kinds of bad problems for himself and he is sent into solitary confinement for many months. Joyce, (Jane Bryan) is a girl friend and also a reporter for the same newspaper that Frank works with and she tries her best to see what she can do to get him free. There is lots of action for a 1939 film and it deals mostly with the insides of a prison and deals with guards who love to mistreat the prisoners. If you like old film classics and these two great actors from the past, don't miss this one.

Although innocent, reporter Frank Ross (James Cagney) is found guilty of murder and is sent to jail. While his friends at the newspaper try to find out who framed him, Frank gets hardened by prison life and his optimism turns into bitterness. He meets fellow-inmate Stacey (George Raft) and they decide to help each other.

Rather than be the good guy ("G Men") or the bad guy ("Public Enemy"), here we have Cagney as an innocent newspaper reporter framed and then sent to prison, where he becomes a little bit hardened. Maybe not quite a bad guy, but not really the good guy, either. It is a nice transformation, and an interesting commentary on prison life.

I am not very familiar with George Raft (I actually know him more from reading Mafia history than from film), but if he is like he is here in other films, I need to see more George Raft.

Folks, It doesn't get much better than "Each Dawn I Die" with James Cagney and George Raft... This is one of my top-5 all-time gangster / prison films from the golden era of Hollywood film-making...

I thought James Cagney, George Raft, George Bancroft and Jane Bryan were just terrific in this film... I can watch this movie three or four times a year, depending on my mood and state of mind... I never seem to grow tired of this film... Probably never will, either....

I am much more into the tough guy and mobster roles' actors like Cagney, Bogie, Robinson & George Raft made in their peak years in Hollywood... I never was big on Musicals' or Song and Dance films..... The years between 1930 to 1950 are no doubt my favorite years of classic film-making..... "Gangster & Horror" were at their best....

MR.BILL Raleigh