Review of The Public Enemy (1931) by Derek G — 16 Nov 2010
The movie that launched James Cagney into stardom and one of the 3 earliest classic gangster movies of the talkie era, along with Little Caesar and Scarface. The movie has alot of great qualities but it almost feels like a cliffs notes version of a great movie.
Checking it at only 83 minutes the story is great and done well but it just goes by so fast. Cagney's character gets involved in the underworld, rises up and then finds himself caught up in a gang way so quickly it feels like we are missing some stuff.
However I must add that I saw an edited 1949 version that is about 15 minutes shorter than the original 1931 version. I couldn't really help that, its the version Netflix sent me. Perhaps the 15 extra minutes would have fleshed out the movie more.
Even with that criticism this is still a very good movie that without a doubt shows us that crime doesn't pay.
This review of The Public Enemy (1931) was written by Derek G on 16 Nov 2010.
The Public Enemy has generally received very positive reviews.
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