Review of The Public Enemy (1931) by Kristen S — 15 Aug 2009
Wow! Cagney totally rocks in this film that sky rocketed him to stardom.
The Public Enemy is about Tom Powers. Tom Powers is an interesting character. He doesn't seem to feel much remorse, nor does he care about much at all. Women are a game to him. He doesn't linger on love. The only thing that he possibly feels strongly for is his friendship to his lifelong buddy, Mark. Everything else in the world is nonsense that can come and go.
The violence in this film is brutal. Not brutal as in gory but brutal in the sense that Tom Powers does these things so brutally and without remorse. That's more brutal than anything. Most of the times the violence is implied, but that makes it more brutal than actually showing the audience what was going on. We NEVER were allowed to see our main character kill. The camera would always shift away, as if the audience didn't want to see their "hero" murder.
It's a very interesting picture. Although, I feel that White Heat is superior to this in terms of the showing the character and motive. But, sometimes it isn't needed to make a character work.
This review of The Public Enemy (1931) was written by Kristen S on 15 Aug 2009.
The Public Enemy has generally received very positive reviews.
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