Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) **1/2

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(This is my contribution to the James Cagney Blogathon, which is organized by R.D. Finch at The Movie Projector and runs from April 8-12.)

Few actors played the fast-talking, posturing gangster better than James Cagney.  He did it so well that he often found himself typecast in tough-guy roles, while seeing parts he coveted awarded to other actors who ‘fit’ the role better.  At heart he was a song-and-dance zzman, who began his career in vaudeville and never got it out of his blood.  Yet, it is primarily his work in such famous gangster films as The Public Enemy (1931), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and White Heat (1949), that he is most recognized.  Perhaps it is ironic that the character-type he so wanted to avoid being pigeonholed into is the one that he is most famous for, but at least he can take solace in the fact that he was Hollywood’s Golden Age version of Robert De Niro. Of Cagney’s three Academy Award nominations, two of them were for gangster parts. The first of these nominations came from a career-changing turn in Angels with Dirty Faces.

When Warner Bros first offered Cagney the role of gangster Rocky Sullivan in director Michael Curtiz’s Angels with Dirty Faces his agent was convinced Cagney wouldn’t take it.  The script called for Rocky to ‘turn yellow’ as he was being escorted to the electric chair—a character trait that no other Cagney character had ever exhibited. Fortunately the agent was wrong, and Cagney saw an opportunity to prAnnex - Cagney, James (Angels With Dirty Faces)_11ove to critics and producers that he had a broad acting range.  For many it was shocking to see the quintessential tough-guy crying out in anguish as he was about to pay for his crimes.  While some viewers today find this overly-moralized act a bit difficult to accept, Rocky’s final ‘redemptive’ act fit Curtiz’s social responsibility style and was also a way to sidestep the Hays Code—how else could Cagney’s murderous character retain a touch of heroism in an era when cinematic criminals had to pay for their sins.

If there was a studio who knew how to make an effective gangster melodrama it was Warner Bros. Angels with Dirty Faces was one in many of a long line of films the studio produced where childhood friends found themselves on the opposite side of the law as adults (Manhattan Melodrama and Dead End spring to mind).  Growing up on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1920s, Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien) and Rocky Sullivan (Cagney) were juvenile delinquents one step away from the reformatory. It was that one angels-with-dirty-faces (6)step that actually led one (Rocky) into a life of crime and the other (Jerry) into the priesthood.  As a result, when the two friends are reunited as adults they find themselves in conflict. In particular, Father Jerry has dedicated his life to keeping other young men  (played by the “Dead End” Kids) from ending up like Rocky. The problem is, Rocky has money, power and prestige—all the things the boys in the neighborhood admire.  What transpires is a morality tale about the ills of vice and the redemptive nature of self-sacrifice.

While there is a smattering of a romance between Rocky and a social worker (Ann Sheridan) in the movie, the story is primarily male-centered. Cagney and O’Brien played well off one another.  The two men were great friends off-screen, and iAngels_Dirty_Faces-Bogartt usually showed in the nine films they made together. Angels with Dirty Faces also marked the first of three films that Cagney and Humphrey Bogart worked opposite one another.  Bogart was not yet a bona fide Hollywood leading man, and he found himself playing second fiddle to Cagney.  Here his Jim Frazier comes off as a spineless desperate man—a ‘type’ that Bogart often found himself playing in the 1930s, but one that he would forever dump once he was cast as the lead in High Sierra ( 1941) and The Maltese Falcon (1941).

The film’s other male standout is often overlooked, but perhaps deserves the most praise: Frankie Burke, who plays Rocky as a kid.  If you’ve seen Angels with Dirty Faces then you AngelsWithDirtyFaces2know it starts out with a smart-talking swaggering kid who looks, sounds, and acts a lot like James Cagney.  It took me several minutes to finally determine that Burke, not Cagney, was on the screen. Burke had Cagney down-pat—his speech pattern, mannerisms, and body language were spot on.  His resemblance to Cagney was so uncanny that he was hired on the spot by Warner Bros. 

Overall, Angels with Dirty Faces is an engaging film. While Curtiz’s moralizing can appear a tad over the top to some, the story itself does not lack integrity—many a 1930s gangster found himself on the losing end and proved that sometimes crime didn’t pay.  The acting by the leads was good, and Burke’s small role was an impressive one. Max Steiner’s score contrasted with Sol Polito’s stark, expressionistic cinematography. The closing scenes of the movie provides for a memorable conclusion.  And, finally, this was the film that proved to the critics and Hollywood producers that Cagney could indeed act.

 

38 comments:

  1. Well written, Kim. The focus on James Cagney is a good choice, he is indeed the highlight of the film. I did not care much for the movie itself, but Cagney shines. I just wish he would have done more work outside the gangster genre, he was really good in musicals.
    Maybe I should have paid more attention to Frankie Burke. To imitate Cagney is quite an achievement.

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    1. My friend, RD Finch is hosting a Cagney blogathon (see link at the beginning: you should check out the other Cagney entries. As for his playing the gangster role so much, for that you can blame the studio system, which typecast him in it.

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  2. This is one of my favourite Cagney performances - a shame he did get typecast as a gangster, but I think he brought something different to each role of this type. It must have been equally frustrating for Pat O'Brien to be typecast as the priest/mentor as he could do so much more - but, as you say, the two of them always played so well off each other. And yeah, Bogie doesn't get much scope here. Must agree that Frankie Burke is very good as the young Rocky and his resemblance to Cagney is astonishing. Really enjoyed your review, Kim.

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    1. Thanks, Judy. I guess if Cagney and O'Brien had to play the same role over and over again, it was at least nice that they got to do it with another so much. I suspect they spent time in their bungalows discussing how nice it would be if they could switch parts.

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  3. Oh, Kim - this is not just one of my favorite Cagney films, but favorites in general. He is so electric, with so much star-power on full display,that he just sets the screen on fire. I'm a Warner Brothers girl, so having Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien and the kids on hand is just extra special (love that basketball game). Thanks for a well done post!

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    1. FC: Personally, I'm partial to A One and a Two--I think it's hilarious. Yet, this is still one of Cagney best performances.

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  4. Like FLICK CHICK this is one of my favorite films in general. The opening crane shot of the Lower East Side of New York sets the time and place perfectly. As a kid when I watched this film with my father, who grew up on the Lower East Side, he would always remark about how that is just the way it looked. Cagney, needless to say, is execellent. I see the film's ending as ambivalent leaving it open to the question as to whether Rocky really broke down as a coward or was just doing it as one last decent act for the kids as Father O'Brien requested. The supporting cast is also good. Bogart playing one of his slimy pre-star characters is always a treat. Always nicely done, Kim.

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    1. You are very "open" in your interpretation of the ending, John. But, I can see how you view it as ambiguous--but for me, I'm convinced it was all an act.

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  5. Cagney as Rocky Sullivan is breathtaking. The ambiguous scene in the death house never fails to move me and it has taken on different meanings at different times in my life. When I was young and idealistic, Rocky was acting for the kids. I've gone through cynical phases where I am convinced Rocky was yellow - and then back again. A must-see for any Cagney fan.

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    1. You and John share the ambiguous view, CW. I must still be an idealist.

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  6. Only 2 1/2 stars on this one? Say it isn't so! This is my all-time favorite Cagney film...5 stars for sure. While I think he showed he could act brilliantly as early as "The Public Enemy," I think he was beyond brilliant here...ought to have won the Academy Award. I have no idea how Spencer Tracy beat him out.

    What John said about the ambiguity of the ending is exactly what Mr. Cagney himself states in his autobiography. He says that he deliberately played the part with ambiguity so that the viewer himself would have to decide if Rocky was "yellow" or if he had done it for the kids...said either way worked. I have always believed it was an act and that it was done more for Jerry than for the kids. But another gangster-lovin' friend believes Rocky's bravado had been crushed and that he really was yellow. But as Mr. Cagney says in his autobiography, "It works either way."

    I'm glad you mentioned the young man who portrayed Rocky as a kid. What incredible casting that was! I could honestly picture that boy growing up to look exactly like James Cagney. I don't think they could have found a more perfect person for the role...unless they were able to turn the clock back and actually get a young Jimmy Cagney to play the role himself.

    Great post about a fantastic movie, Kim!

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    1. Patti, we can't all rate films the same way, now can we? Good point about how Cagney himself said he played the ending ambiguously.

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    2. You're right, we can't all rate things the same way...but it seems like I'm almost always the one who marches to the beat of a different drum on movies. I'm the one who despises "His Girl Friday," "The Awful Truth," and "Bringing up Baby," and who also moderately dislikes "Rear Window," but who LOVES "A Place in the Sun" AND sees Monty Clift's character in that movie in a sympathetic light.

      When it comes down to it, especially when we cant' see into a character's mind (as in "A Place in the sun" and "Angels with Dirty Faces") we will all interpret things differently...and that is okay. No one is right or wrong.

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    3. See, you've just mentioned not liking to 2.5 films that I really love. Great minds don't always think alike! LOL

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  7. I think this is one of the great films of the 1930s and Cagney's performance one of his greatest. I think this was the first film he made with Ann Sheridan and I like their pairing here, and in all of their films, very much. Two tough New Yorkers who harbor no illusions about the world but enjoy baiting each other.

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    1. He and Sheridan had a lot of chemistry. As you said, probably a result of their NY background.

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  8. You and I are right in line on this one. I love Cagney's performance here, and I was really amused to see Bogart in this sort of a role.

    For me, the film turns on what happens at the end. It is what it is, but Father Connolly's actions are pretty much unforgivable, Hays Code or no Hays Code. It kills what so much of the film built up.

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    1. I agree, I was a bit pissed that Jerry asked Rocky to 'go yellow' in the end. Asking someone to be a sell-out right before their death seemed like a low blow.

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  9. Kim, so many great observations about this key film in Cagney's career. Here are some that particularly struck me: When you called Cagney "Hollywood’s Golden Age version of Robert De Niro" that really struck a chord with me. I was thinking exactly the same thing as I watched "White Heat" for my own post for the blogathon and immediately started thinking of De Niro in "Raging Bull." I liked your comparison of the film to "Manhattan Melodrama" and similar films. The plot of "Angels" does indeed fit into this pattern, and I think this lack of originality is one thing that keeps it from being a better film. (O'Brien is a bit too sanctimonious for my liking, but there's no doubt that Cagney is so forceful that he practically jumps off the screen. He always committed himself to his acting 100%, even when he knew the movie was going to be trash, which this one definitely isn't.) This same idea of old friends on opposite sides of the law has been used in countless Westerns as well and is still being used today.

    About the ending. I know Cagney says he wanted it to be ambiguous, but like some others who've left comments, I always thought it was faked for the kids, although I liked your point that it was also motivated by Rocky's friendship with Fr. Connolly. A much appreciated contribution to the blogathon, Kim, on a film so important in Cagney's career that it deserves the first-class treatment you gave it.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, RDF. I think you and are right to think of De Niro and Cagney in the same vein. And, I do agree with you about O'Brien coming off as too sanctimonious--it does take away from the film. As always, I enjoyed participating in your very well-organized blogathon.

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  10. This is one of the greatest American films of the 1930's, and Cargney gives one of his quintessential and most beloved portrayals. It's roughly-hewn, and the Dead End Kids are terrific, as is Pat O'Brien (and yes as you note the younger Cagney as well) but for many it's that harrowing, overwhelming finale that never leaves a dry eye in the house.

    Excellent review here!

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    1. Thanks, Sam. I agree, it's the finale that most people remember.

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  11. Kim, I agree that this is one of Cagney's quintessential films. I've always assumed that Rocky was faking for the kids at the end--there's nothing ambiguous about it. Nice job in pointing out the fine performance of Frankie Burke!

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    1. Thanks, Rick. I think Burke's performance often gets overlooked.

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  12. I know you're supposed to be able to read the ending either way, but like the others I wind up believing Rocky was faking it for the kids.

    Now if you watched this movie and didn't like Rocky--I mean he just disgusted you, then I wonder how you read that ending. It might work the other way for those folks, wanting to believe the worst of him, but I don't know.

    Because how could you hate Cagney :)

    Enjoyed your write-up and was also happy you shined a light on Frankie Burke. He looks so much like early Cagney that it's almost jarring to see Rocky grown up as the real Cagney--his face had filled out a bit more by this time, so you become sure that wasn't him playing Rocky as a kid ... but I bet the first time viewer has to rewind, just to make sure!

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    1. Cliff, you might be right about how someone might react if they didn't like Rocky. And, I had a similar reaction to Burke/Cagney when I rewatched this last week.

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  13. I do like this one a lot, and it's one of Cagney's best. I love the drugstore scene and how Cagney shows the character's keen instincts without saying much, conveying both fear and a strong sense to survive. A great scene in a good film, and I like Ann Sheridan a lot.

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    1. CFB: Good point about the drugstore scene--it gives the audience early insight into Rocky's savvy ways.

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  14. I enjoyed your write-up, Kim -- this is one of my many Cagney favorites. I didn't know that he and Pat O'Brien were good friends off-screen -- no wonder they had such great chemistry!

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    1. Thanks, Karen. I read somewhere that they had a nickname something like the Irish Mafia.

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  15. Being a fan of the "Dead End" kids when I was young, "Angel's With Dirty Faces" was my very first exposure to Cagney. I perhaps didn't come to really appreciate his versatility until much later, but I couldn't have asked for a better introduction. I very much enjoyed this piece, with special kudos to you for highlighting Frankie Burke, who is so amazing and could have made a career out of playing Cagney. Thanks!

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    1. The Dead End kids were a useful group for Warner Bros and their social conscience mindset. Thanks for commenting, Ken.

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  16. Isn't it interesting that two of his three Oscar nominations were for gangster movies, and he won for a musical? After all, he surely was the song and dance man!
    IMDb is for ages suggesting this movie to me, yet I haven't watched it. Anyway, when I do it I'll certainly write about the movie, alongside other movies that have childhood friends in opposite sides of the law.
    Don't forget to WATCH my contribution to the blogathon! :)
    Kisses!

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    1. It shows how versatile Cagney was that his Oscar nominations were in two different genres.

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  17. Kim, Did Rocky die yellow or not? Cagney said he was asked that question for the rest of his life. He always said he played it for the ambiguity - let the viewer decide. But Hal Wallis, who was head of production at WB, said that, in terms of the story, Rocky definitely faked it, regardless of Cagney's intent. This is a film I've never been able to resist, even though I'm not fond of the Dead End Kids, and you've nailed it from every angle. Thanks for an excellent piece on a true classic.

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    1. Thanks, Eve. I think the Dead End kids are a bit like the Little Rascals--you either love 'em or hate 'em. They served Warner Bros. purposes in the 1930s, though.

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  18. Terrific review, Kim. It's time to see this one again! I love gangster films, especially this one.

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