Review of The Public Enemy (1931) by Marco F — 29 Mar 2009

1931 was the year cinema finally got to grips with sound, that annoyingly befuddling novelty that had been floating around for the last 4 years but still drew in the public like flies. With Universal making horror a force to be reckoned with in the same year, Warner Brothers started to perfect their own specialist genre, that of the glamorous life of the gangster. Cheap, quick and riffing on the attitude of the public that idolised their glitzy lifestyle, every now and then a genuinely great picture would be turned out, with its greatness almost completely coming from the force of nature that was James Cagney.

A fiery cocktail of raw energy, jittery tics and with an icy stare, Cagney could carry off any role as his life depended on it. 'Tom Powers' is no different, fleshing out an edgy swagger and with a fake-punch gesture that cleverly sums up his violent nature, he's a magnetic, charismatic presence, every second of his screentime a capitvating joy.

That's not to say the rest of the film isn't good. It's filled out nicely with some good cast members, chewing up and spitting out their tough dialogue with real feeling (Donald Cook, unfortunately, gives the cliched, wooden, faceless, melodramatic performances that makes 1930s movies so tedious sometimes.) Clarke and Blondell makes for attractive moll totty, but the most sensuous female figure belongs to vamp Jean Harlow. Although she hadn't quite nailed how to 'act' yet, and it shows, she still generates a sizeable presence, even against Cagney's volcano fire, her platinum looks and that dirty expression on her face exactly the kind of combination to get the guys in the audience hot under the collar. She has a bizarre resemblance to Cagney, both of them holding a malicious, devilish glint in their eyes, both set in determined, forward-motion roles. Ultimately, though, it's Cagney's film, detailing his character with playful, throwaway gestures, and using his face as a canvas of emotional turmoil, all firecracker stuff years before Clift, Brando and Dean placed it in the nucleus of sexy young men. Here, Cagney's wiseguy grin is enough to swindle your sympathy to his villainous anti-hero, a perfectly moulded product of impressive class and sophistication, yet disguising a greasy, all-consuming monster all too familiar since the excesses of Tony Manero.

As far as the story goes it's typical gangster stuff, reworking the plot of 'Macbeth' to show how countless hoods rise to the top only to be blown away by a careless few mistakes. The narrative is a little awkwardly chronicled into separate time periods, rather unnecessarily, but perhaps more beneficial so many years on, when most people won't have even heard of 'Prohibition'. The film serves as a valuable record of a particular time and place, not just in American society but in Hollywood too, and is the perfect groundwork for one of the most talented actors the silver screen has ever shown.

Almost 80 years on, it's hard not to watch this sneering picture and not be entrance by its sheer arrogance, macho posturing, gorgeous beauties and that cocky little tiger tearing his way through the screen.