Racing car film starring James Cagney
The Crowd Roars from 1932 stars James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Eric Linden, and Frank McHugh, directed by Howard Hawks.
The story concerns a car-racing champion, Joe Greer (Cagney). When he returns to his hometown to compete in a race, he learns that his kid brother Eddie (Linden) is an aspiring driver.
Joe takes Eddie under his wing and brings him along on his racing tour. This is bad news for Joe's girlfriend Lee (Dvorak). She wants to get married, but Joe basically treats her like trash, never introducing her to his family or making a commitment.
With naive Eddie along, Joe doesn't want his brother to know about their relationship (i.e. They have sex) so he breaks up with her. Not that she leaves.
She encourages her friend Anne (Blondell) to vamp Eric for spite - well, they fall in love and marry!
Joe hits the skids when his pal Spud is killed during a race, and he finds he's lost his nerve. Eddie becomes a champion.
Predictable, with Lee picking up Joe's broken pieces. As far as I'm concerned she should have broken them a little more.
Actual racing car footage, and some of it was ahead of its time. When the film was remade in 1939, the racing footage was removed, inserted in the new film, and 1939 footage added.
When they readded the footage to the earlier film, the 1939 footage went along with it. This does not refer to the 1938 film The Crowd Roars, which is a different story.
The story concerns a car-racing champion, Joe Greer (Cagney). When he returns to his hometown to compete in a race, he learns that his kid brother Eddie (Linden) is an aspiring driver.
Joe takes Eddie under his wing and brings him along on his racing tour. This is bad news for Joe's girlfriend Lee (Dvorak). She wants to get married, but Joe basically treats her like trash, never introducing her to his family or making a commitment.
With naive Eddie along, Joe doesn't want his brother to know about their relationship (i.e. They have sex) so he breaks up with her. Not that she leaves.
She encourages her friend Anne (Blondell) to vamp Eric for spite - well, they fall in love and marry!
Joe hits the skids when his pal Spud is killed during a race, and he finds he's lost his nerve. Eddie becomes a champion.
Predictable, with Lee picking up Joe's broken pieces. As far as I'm concerned she should have broken them a little more.
Actual racing car footage, and some of it was ahead of its time. When the film was remade in 1939, the racing footage was removed, inserted in the new film, and 1939 footage added.
When they readded the footage to the earlier film, the 1939 footage went along with it. This does not refer to the 1938 film The Crowd Roars, which is a different story.
- blanche-2
- Jun 30, 2025