The Silver Screen Oasis

IMO was Ann Sheridan, with Joan Blondell in the runnerup spot. I think that was a shame that Joan - Cagney didn't appear more frequently together in film. Torrid Zone with Jimmy and Annie is coming out soon on DVD.

Anne without a doubt.

But no one could take a grapefruit like Mae Clark!

I'm still waiting to see The Bride Came C.O.D., which I believe is due out on DVD soon. I'm interested to see the interplay of Cagney with Bette Davis. And I've only seen part of The Strawberry Blonde, but I can't imagine Olivia DeHavilland as anything other than a terrific co-star.

All that said, I'd agree that the mellifluous Ann Sheridan and charmingly sassy Joan Blondell are pretty swell foils for Cagney.

I love them both but I guess I prefer Joan slightly more, I don't know why! However, The Torrid Zone is one of my all time favorites of all three: Cagney, Sheridan and O'Brien.

I thought Jimmy did more movies with Joan than Anne---am I wrong? With Ann it was: Angels with Dirty Faces, The Torrid Zone, City for Conquest and....? I'd love to see more with the two of them.

BTW, I always thought it a huge pity Ann didn't do a romantic comedy with Clark Gable. She has a similar earthy sensuality and humor as Ava Gardner, who I think may be my favorite of his co-stars.

Miss G

Olivia was one of the best to play opposite Cagney. She held her own, and kept him in his place. You could understand why he loved her all those years in Strawberry Blonde. I liked Ann with him, too, but one of my favorites was Joan Leslie. She seemed to soften him a little. I thought they were great together in Yankee.

I'd have to vote with the Ann Sheridan crowd for the ultimate James Cagney cast mate. She gave as good as she got with Jim.

Two other ladies come to mind as memorable co-stars with James Cagney. One was the apparently hard-boiled Virginia Mayo in his later days in such films as White Heat & The West Point Story. The vivid image of Miss Mayo's spitting out her gum before giving Cagney a tender, wifely kiss goodbye in White Heat always struck me funny, in a very odd way. I also thought that she was much bigger than Cagney, which made their teaming even more amusing.

In the Pre-Code era, a spunky yet ethereal looking Loretta Young & a jaunty, combative Jim made a nicely contrasted couple in the lively Taxi! (1932). It's a shame that they never worked together more.

More "wish they'd worked together" couplings:
James Cagney & Ann Sothern. Ms. Sothern was an uncredited chorus girl in Footlight Parade (1933) and only appeared opposite Cagney as his wife in the all too brief wartime short, You, John Jones! (1943). The two might've had nice chemistry in a full length movie.

> "I'm still waiting to see The Bride Came C.O.D., which I believe is due out on DVD soon. I'm interested to see the interplay of Cagney with Bette Davis. [/quote]" <

MR, you're gonna love it; it's one of my all time Cagney favorites, though I'm not at all sure the studio was that pleased; I'm sure it did good, shirtsleeve box-office for them, but it's really "neither cat not dog": a little too high spirited to be a crime or caper film, too rough-house for a romantic comedy, too tongue-in-cheek for an adventure, too many high jinks for a drama . . . but for my two cents, it's dead on the money for pure entertainment, start to finish, with some really cleverly scripted stunts from JC's role as a pilot-for-hire, from innovative ways to help light a cigarette, fly a single-prop, handle a slingshot, utilize windows, and (perhaps most amazingly) one-up the tempestuous Ms. Davis after a spitfire face-slapping.
As for supporting characters, I can testify that old hands like George Tobias, Eugene Pallette & Jack Carson are all at their reliably fine watermarks. Whatever those guys were paid, under contract, it wasn't enough!
Whenever you do catch up with it, I'm betting you'll agree that it was worth the wait!

I think I'd have to go with Ann Sheridan also. I think she was swell in her films with Cagney. Actually, I enjoyed many of her films from that whole era.