The Public Enemy

image 3/5 sound 2.75 / 5. Not bad this early as James Cagney as gangster

One of the things that feels particularly notable to me in watching some of these early movies is how clearly the stars are delineated as stars. The chasm between Jimmy Cagney in a picture like this and…just about everybody else (Edward Woods does fine as the sidekick.) It’s clear Cagney is a star–and maybe it’s just the benefit of hindsight, but it seems clear that he’s destined for bigger things watching this picture. This was also interesting to watch from a film/political perspective, as it came on the tail end of the pre-Code era, and you can watch the tension between the filmmakers and the censors play out throughout. From the pre-credits disclaimer (“we’re not glorifying violence, we’re just showing how it is!”) to the ultimately moralistic ending (the body of Tom Powers gets dropped off on his own mother’s doorstep: see kids, crime doesn’t pay), the ostensible message gets lost in some relatively lurid filmmaking. Bodies in the streets, trashy girls, etc. So in the end this is pretty interesting, even if not quite groundbreaking or all that emotionally affecting.