Product Description

When a movie theater usher is fired, he takes up with criminals and finds himself quite adept at various illegal activities. Eventually though, the police catch up with him, and he runs to hide out in Los Angeles. There he stumbles into the movie business and soon rises to stardom. He has gone straight, but his newfound success arouses the interest of his old criminal associates, who are not above blackmail...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42638 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 75 minutes

Features

• His picture is on magazine covers, his name in lights. Ex-con artist Dan Quigley is ?doing all right in this movie racket,? a big man in Hollywood. But if his criminal past resurfaces, he could end up in the Big House. James Cagney is pulse-quickening Quigley in this pre-Hays Code romp described in its day by the New York Evening Post as ?a kind of resume of everything Cagney has done to date in t

Customer Reviews

Poor Mae Clarke (Again)
James Cagney stars as a conman that winds up a Hollywood star trying to escape his shady past. The story begins with Cagney first getting conned by a group of con artists, then joining them and moving them on to much bigger games. When they turn on him, Cagney ends up in Los Angeles, where he works his way up the "extra" ladder to becoming a top star. Of course, his criminal "friends" want the bigger game that he can now bring them, possibly bringing an end to the life he has made for himself. This is the perfect kind of role for the young Cagney. It allows him to display the cocky attitude, intelligence, aggressiveness, and humour that made him the immortal screen character he became. The two elements of the story mix well. The con game aspect is fun to watch as people cross and double cross each other. But it's also fun watching the fish-out-of-water Cagney adjusting to life in movies, giving us a glimpse of life behind the camera in 1930's Hollywood. Margaret Lindsay is competent as usual as Cagney's actress-girlfriend, while Mae Clarke is fun as one of his partners in the con games. Once again, Clarke gets pushed around (and pulled by the hair!) in a Cagney film, providing some of the film's highlights. Like most of the Warner Brothers films directed by Roy Del Ruth in the 1930's, Lady Killer moves along quickly, with plenty of in-your-face action and laughs, giving you a prime look at vintage Cagney.

SNAPPY PRE-CODE COMEDY.
A cinema usher turns to crime, flees to Hollywood and becomes a movie player: a hectic slam-bang action comedy with melodratic moments. Great fun. Cagney play Dan Quigley, a man who finds he's been the victim of a confidence set-up. Dan threatens the gang with exposure unless they cut him in on the profits. Quigley works the racket so well, they are able to open a swank gambling club which is patronised by wealthy customers. Eventually the cops suspect illicit dealings and the gang leave town en route to Los Angeles, where Dan gets arrested. Because there isn't enough evidence in order to hold him, the police release Quigley. Looking like a hobo, he's hired for work as a movie extra...A thoroughly enjoyable thirties spoof of gangsters and Hollywood, in this one poor Mae Clarke is pulled by Jimmy - by him grabbing her hair! The original working title for the film was THE FINGER MAN...

Classic Cagney romp.
The young con gets conned. And that's how it starts in a crooked card game with femme fatale Mae Clarke setting the bait. You'll remember Mae, she's the same actress who took the grapefruit in the face in 'Public Enemy'.

James Cagney is perfect as the street wise punk who joins a gang after they fleece him. The action (and the plot) move along fast enough to keep any viewer interested. True to it's 'pre-code' status, the subject material is adult. There are few innocent people here. Cagney stays with the gang pulling several 'jobs' until a bystander is killed.

In Hollywood, the gang betrays him again and leaves for Mexico with Jimmy's money. Gagney joins a motion picture studio working as an extra. He soon rises to stardom with Margaret Lindsey as his new flame. The gang returns to blackmail him but Jimmy gets them in the end. Plenty of pre-code fun. Jimmy and Mae mix it up again with Jimmy doing the rough stuff. I would recommend this film to Jimmy Cagney fans and pre-code fans.