This is the kind of hard-hitting Warner crime caper that the studio turned out on an assembly line basis in the '30s and '40s--and since it's pre-code, lots of sexual innuendo and kissing scenes that wouldn't get past the censor a year or so later.
It's the age-old story of a convict trying to go straight and all the obstacles thrown into his path. Cagney is the ex-con who decides to quit the gang for a straight job on a newspaper. When he manages to snatch a photo off the wall of a man and woman whose marriage was destroyed by a tragic fire, the city editor (Ralph Bellamy) gets him a job as a photo reporter. From there on, the story is full of dames, booze, action-packed moments and plenty of shenanigans performed by the energetic Cagney who lights up the screen whenever he appears. Alice White is the brassy blonde that he keeps giving the cold shoulder to and Patricia Ellis is the nice gal whose father doesn't want Cagney around his daughter.
The newspaper office scenes look pretty convincing except for the moment when Cagney dictates his story to a girl using a typewriter who takes his street talk description and translates it into suitable newspaper lingo in a jiffy. Only in the movies.
It's the kind of yarn that put Cagney on the map during the '30s and is as fast moving and entertaining as any other crime film he was associated with, but not as polished as his big-time films "Angles with Dirty Faces" or "White Heat."
It's the age-old story of a convict trying to go straight and all the obstacles thrown into his path. Cagney is the ex-con who decides to quit the gang for a straight job on a newspaper. When he manages to snatch a photo off the wall of a man and woman whose marriage was destroyed by a tragic fire, the city editor (Ralph Bellamy) gets him a job as a photo reporter. From there on, the story is full of dames, booze, action-packed moments and plenty of shenanigans performed by the energetic Cagney who lights up the screen whenever he appears. Alice White is the brassy blonde that he keeps giving the cold shoulder to and Patricia Ellis is the nice gal whose father doesn't want Cagney around his daughter.
The newspaper office scenes look pretty convincing except for the moment when Cagney dictates his story to a girl using a typewriter who takes his street talk description and translates it into suitable newspaper lingo in a jiffy. Only in the movies.
It's the kind of yarn that put Cagney on the map during the '30s and is as fast moving and entertaining as any other crime film he was associated with, but not as polished as his big-time films "Angles with Dirty Faces" or "White Heat."