The Silver Screen Oasis

It is sort of Warner's last shot at the problem picture.... something they did so well for so long.

CLASSIC CAGNEY

I would probably grade "THE ROARING 20's" much higher than Red.



It has all the great touches of this typical type of sweeping tale. My eyes are riveted to Cagney and his journey.

( P.S. I love my tall-bland-vanilla-"boy next door" Jeffrey Lynn. )

Great movie.

I am with you, all the way, Maven. I do understand Red's misgivings, but still love the film. Having now seen a lot more Jeffrey Lynn pictures, I think he's a far better actor than I ever gave him credit for. I still get irritable with his character in The Roaring Twenties!

This movie can make me bawl like a baby at the end, and Cagney is magnificent, especially in his down and out phase. There is something so convincing in his portrayal that I can't look away, like watching a car wreck you know could have been prevented, if only.... I mean, look at that photo of Cagney you posted right at the beginning. That guy just doesn't care anymore. MAybe Moira knows, am I wrong to think that Cagney had an alcoholic in his background? His father maybe? Or am I just pulling that out of the air? This guy knows drunk.

I also really love Frank McHugh, as is no secret, and this is probably my favorite of his backup characters. Plus, though it's a small point to make, I really adore Cagney's hairstyles in the late thirties, early forties, that wave of longer hair on top sends me.

CAGNEY. He can be a cold-hearted killer ( "KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE" ) or a just your plain run-of-the-mill, garden-variety psychopath ( 'WHITE HEAT." ) I can't stop watching him when he's on screen.

But when he's beaten...broken down, I love him. ( "CITY OF CONQUEST" )



Don't get me started on the hair. He cleans up good. But when he's scruffy and messy with that shock of red hair all over the place, oh boy...Cagney's got sumthin'! Natty dresser too. Look at that tie pin above.


( Hope these pix aren't coming out too big. For right now...they look large on my computer monitor and I've reduced 'em. )

Yeah, I gotta agree, nobody beats Cagney at run down by life and love. Aggggh! Poor baby!

Do you think Cagney & Paddy O'Brien had the same stuff as Gable and Tracy? As strong, weaker...different?

( Guess I'm slyly trying to ask you to give us your thoughts on the Warner Brothers team. )

I never ever thought of them as a comparison! Surprisingly, it never occurred to me that MGM and Warners might actually be COPYING one another....

I hate to say, there are very few films in which I love Pat O'Brien. I like him, but he rings no bells with me most of the time. He's actually great in Virtue and Devil Dogs of the Air, and of course, in Some Like it Hot. There are two or three other performances I really get him in. Sadly, my favorite O'Brien performance is in G-Men, delivered by Robert Armstrong. For years I remembered this as O'Brien's finest moment on screen.

That's interesting. I do see there is a great similarity in the way the Warner's boys are paired to Gable and Tracy. Cagney is the force of nature, O'Brien is the voice of God, or reason. I think that of the two, Gable/Tracy is stronger, but they also were done later than many of the O'Brien/Cagney pairings, and the Warner's films were sort of off the cuff compared to the care taken at MGM. In the end, I FEEL the Gable/Tracy pairing. The other two may be buddies, and were in real life, but my eye always goes to Cagney. In the MGM's, it's like a feast for the eyes, they match in every way possible, making them another thing entirely than two actors saying their lines. They are a separate entity, Gable and Tracy together, though each could hold their own in any movie away from the other.

KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE is near the top of my must-see list. Gotta round that one up!

Ooooh! I just love that photo! Look how impossibly young Wallace Ford looks! They all three look so comfy, and Anna is perfectly made up, but is not wearing stockings. Raoul, always impeccably dressed, reading the racing form.

Here's a wonderful review of The Strawberry Blonde, by Self-Styled Siren. She's so totally on the money, especially about Jack Carson.

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/201 ... -1941.html

That movie is "totally on the money!"

I agree, Red! It's obvious she has seen it many times and loves the movie, the way she can pick out certain moments for praise is great... she made me see those scenes all over again in my mind's eye.

I just recommended the film to someone and I am nervous about whether they will like it or not... so this article made me feel better.

Walsh as John Wilkes Booth in Birth of a Nation:



with Jane Russell during filming of The Revolt of Mamie Stover:



with Bogart during High Sierra:

Great photos, Miss Goddess! I've never seen Anna Lee so delicately coiffed before. And Jane Russell's stop-all-the-traffic gown.