Public Enemy

Pros: great deal of action packed into 1 1/2 hours, James Cagney, Jean Harlow
Cons: none

The Public Enemy starring James Cagney was filmed in 1931, a time when the roles of movie "good-guys" and "bad guys" were well-defined. One of the first movies of its kind, it became a classic gangster film. The Public Enemy...

Pros: Cagney, direction, story
Cons: Low bucks production but very powerful

The Public Enemy (1931)

After seventy years, The Public Enemy still packs a punch!

Along with early gangster movies Scar Face and Little Caesar this social commentary flick was released in the early ‘30s, but...

Pros: Cagney, direction, a lot of action!
Cons: Not for the light-hearted, background characters

For some strange reason, I have started to develop my interest in old movies again. I don't know if my lessons in film appreciation has sparked that or if I am a 17 year old teenager that is aging extremely quickly! I have always appreciated old...

Pros: James Cagney is the man
Cons: Flabby narrative, mostly wooden acting, stagy filming, clumsy moralizing

Sometimes, I wish I could take a time machine and go back and watch a movie without all the accumulated cultural baggage that the years between the film's release and the present. This is especially true when you consider something like The Public ...

Pros: action, direction, James Cagney
Cons: some stereotyped characters

The Jazz Singer (1927) marked the end of the silent era. Two film genres were quick to benefit from the advent of sound. The first was the musical, of course. The second genre, however, must have come as a bigger surprise to Hollywood...

Pros: A good representation of gangster films
Cons: Kind of choppy.

Directed by William Wellman in 1931, The Public Enemy attempts to fictionally represent the crime in America in the 30s. Set in Chicago, this film traces the lives of two young boys who fall into the wrong hands and move up the line from petty theivery...