The Silver Screen Oasis

I think you nailed it concisely, King.

I have been known to burn incense regularly at the cinematic shrine that is James Cagney, but I have been trying to think of a way to describe A Lion in the Streets (1953) adequately since being stunned by this movie the other day. One of the few times when I wish that someone had whispered "less is more" in Jimmy's ear, this late era Raoul Walsh must be seen to be believed. I love the scene when Jim announces that his daughter's name shall be "Hancy with a capital H!" I think that is when Babs' civilized Quaker spirit finally caught on that she was married to a demagogue. I do like the way that Cagney cronies pop up throughout the film--especially that corn pone Frank McHugh and his wavering Southern accent.

**Spoiler Alert**'
And how many movies will you ever have a chance to not only see Barbara Hale go mano-a-mano with a gator--but also have the opportunity to see a real life sister (Jeanne Cagney) plug her big brother (Jimmy), sending him to glory--and, no doubt, audiences thundering up the aisle in gratitude?

A book came out a couple of decades ago called "City Boys", which looked at the urban tough guy actors who began appearing on the Warner lot when the talkies came in. Cagney and Bogart receive the lion's share of the attention in this treatise, not surprisingly, but the author also records the pitfalls that arise when these city types step out of their milieu - such as Cagney tackling Shakespeare in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Bogart channeling Lon Chaney in THE RETURN OF DR. X and those infrequent westerns that they were both forced to appear in. I put Cagney's Southern peddler in the same category as those missteps. The only difference being no one forced him to make A LION IS IN THE STREET. He produced it himself.

Oh, my. I must see this. Thank you, KR.

I'm OK with Cagney in "Midsummer." There aren't many Shakespearean roles I'd stick him in. But that one is usually played short and stout, eager and overbearing. The "rude mechanicals" are fairly well cast. Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh and somebody I never heard of as Starveling, the tailor. It works.