The Public Enemy ***** (1931, James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke) – Classic Movie Review 1590

Hooray for one of James Cagney’s most iconic and brilliant performances as Tom Powers, a fiery, hot-tempered lad from the Chicago slums who grows up to be a young hoodlum and rises high up through the ranks of the Windy City underworld as a bootlegging gangster in the 1930s era of Prohibition. Then there’s big trouble when a gangster’s accidental death threatens to spark a bloody mob war.

Director William A Wellman keeps this seminal 1931 gangster movie classic hard-boiled, tough and cynical in a way that has ensured its permanent freshness and perennial high esteem. Wellman told studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck, ‘I’ll bring you the toughest, most violent picture you ever did see’ and here it is.

It shows how charismatic that star is that the stupendous Cagney never loses the audience’s sympathy even though his character is an irredeemably, incredibly nasty piece of work. We know that especially because in the film’s most famous scene, he shockingly shoves a grapefruit slap bang into Mae Clarke’s face, making movie history. Jean Harlow, ideally paired with Cagney, adds her tarty allure as Gwen Allen, while Edward Woods does his darnedest in the thankless role of Powers’s good-hearted best buddy, Matt Doyle. Joan Blondell, Beryl Mercer and Donald Cook co-star.

John Bright and Kubec Glasmon’s Oscar-nominated original story was called Beer and Blood and that was Warner Bros’ working title for the movie, but the American censor ruled it out. Harvey F Thew’s cleverly incisive screenplay is full of sharp dialogue and penetrating exposes of hoodlum life. The result is a time-honoured, widely acknowledged, enduring, and still exciting gangster movie classic. It’s number eight on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest gangster films.

According to legend, Clarke wasn’t acting being shocked by being face slapped by Cagney’s grapefruit because the director told her the fruit wouldn’t actually hit her face. Another different version of the story is that it was staged as a practical joke at the expense of the film crew just to provoke their stunned reactions. It wasn’t planned to use the shot in the film, but Wellman liked it and put it in.

In any case, the infamous scene caused women’s groups around America to protest. Cagney’s autobiography alleges that Clarke’s ex-husband, Lew Brice, enjoyed the scene so much he went to the cinema every day just to watch the scene, then leave. In the original script, Cagney was to stuff an omelette into Clarke’s mouth, which wouldn’t have been nearly as memorable.

Cagney based his performance on Chicago gangster Charles Dion O’Bannion and two New York City hoods he knew in his youth. Woods and Cagney swapped roles during rehearsals.

How’s this for realism? The machine gun attack on Powers and Doyle used real bullets. A gun expert stood on a raised platform 20 feet away from the target, and, when Cagney went behind the corner of the wall, he opened fire and created a tight circle of bullets. Those were the days!

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1590

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