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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.

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"!

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.