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TopBilled

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    Neglected films...how would you define a film that's neglected?

    in General Discussions

    Posted

    Today's neglected film is from 1933. It has aired 21 times on TCM.

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    The title itself seems misapplied. James Cagney is not a sex symbol who seduces a bunch of women. Nor is he playing a serial killer who preys upon unsuspecting female victims. In fact I can’t even imagine why Warner Brothers gave this picture the title it did, except that maybe it seemed catchy.

    Cagney’s playing a brash theater usher with a fondness for dice. His gambling escapades get him into trouble more than once. Early on he’s a suckered into a card game by moll Mae Clarke. She has lured him to her apartment with a ruse about a dropped purse.

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    She’s been dropping purses all around town, and she has a whole drawer full of them. She also has some smooth partners, led by Douglass Dumbrille, whose livelihood it is to cheat saps out of their dough. Of course, Cagney is not quite the chump they take him for– he figures out their racket pretty quick and joins in. You know the old adage, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

    A series of scams follow. Soon they’ve made quite a haul swindling people, enough for Cagney to own his own nightclub. The cops get wise to them, so they all scatter in different directions. Cagney and Clarke take a train to the west coast and get off in Los Angeles.

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    A chance reunion with Dumbrille and the rest of the old gang leads to more law-breaking schemes. But this time Cagney overplays his hand and is arrested. While sitting in jail waiting for Clarke to come bail him out, he learns that she and the others have vamoosed to Mexico leaving him high and dry.

    The next part of the story is far-fetched. Cagney somehow beats the charges and ends up becoming– wait for it– a movie star. As a famous actor, he romances leading lady Margaret Lindsay.

    Screen Shot 2022-09-27 at 8.02.45 AM

    A short time later there is a very odd precode scene where Miss Lindsay’s character celebrates her birthday with a bash to end all bashes. At this decadent party, hedonistic guests get their groove on, and so do some wild monkeys. The monkeys drink too much of the booze, hang from the chandeliers and fall into the cake.

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    Since Cagney’s such a big shot now, his ex-partners return to blackmail him. They’ll go to the cops if he doesn’t cooperate and help them with a new scam to fleece his rich Hollywood friends. This is where we get some masculine business with Cagney getting physically abusive towards Miss Clarke.

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    He grabs her by the hair then drags her across the room and out the door. In the next scene, he throws her across the hallway, and she winds up in a crumpled heap.

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    Obviously this painful altercation is meant to be a follow up re: what happened in their previous picture, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, where he was seen smashing a grapefruit in her face.

    There’s some stuff involving stolen gems and Cagney turning informant with the police…so he can avoid prison and be united with Miss Lindsay at the end of the story. It’s kind of a strange film, certainly not one of Cagney’s best. But it has memorable sequences, even if some of them are a bit uncomfortable to watch.

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