Review of Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) by Veronique K — 11 Jun 2008

Under the influence of moral code, "angels with dirty face" is helmed by versatile michael curtiz as the sanitized gangster flick without misogynism and abusive malevolence. it's tinted with a light of benevolence while cagney is the admirable mobster with a heart of gold against humprey bogart's crooked lawyer in his 1930s villainy.

The story is about two juvenile mugs who diverge the paths of their seperate lives after one of them gets caught in the train thievery. of course, cagney would be the incorrigible one(rocky sullivan) who accomplishes his notorious career of crimes, and pat o'brien would be the meek goody-goody priest(father jerry) who always preachs without effects. uncannily the child actor who plays the young rocky resembles cagney well and also his poise while saying "don't be a sucker!".

To add up some wholesome elements in it, the dead end kids are put into the picture as the conductment for juvenile delinquency, but these adolscent hoodrums are only willing to be bossed around by shrewd cagney. it leaves some dilemma for father jerry who is eager to rescue the kids from rocky's bad influence, later jerry even askes rocky to annihilate the ultimate pride of his mobster prestige by faking cowardice in the gas chamber to reform the dead end kids.

The moralistic inference is what hinders the pleasure of "angels with dirty faces" despite you could still watch cagney swear like a machine gun and kicks around like a walking phallis, but the lack of brass could be a spoiler even the flick still remains dynamic with cagney's untamed machismo. ann sheridan as rocky's love interest is like another decorative vase there to enhance the lead then nothing more.

But the gas chamber scene is handled with top-notch suspense where you witness the trembling shadow of a struggling man, and the intensity of violence is rendered wondrously without graphic gore. you may inquire whether rocky frightens at last or he just performs an altruistic act to salvage the kids. come what may, the stance of father jerry is like a judgemental bourgeois who wishes to deprive the gangster of everything he possesses, even his last bit of pride, to serve the pretentiously righteous social course. this is the hegemonic comprimose forced by the moral code, expressed soundly in "angels with dirty faces".