Review of The Public Enemy (1931) by Dave A — 30 Jun 2008

This is the film which catapulted James Cagney to stardom; the archetypal gangster epic; it's astonishing to think sound films had only been around a couple of years when this was made - it's probably not much of an exaggeration to say modern crime cinema was born with this film - fantastic from start to finish.

Many of the characters in the film were based on real people, and the story is tough and uncompromising. A gem...