Contains Cagney's star-making role, 1931's "The Public Enemy", plus 1938's "Angels with Dirty Faces", 1939's "The Roaring Twenties" and Cagney's last gangster picture with Warner Bros. - 1949's "White Heat".

Joan Blondell & James Cagney starred in seven films together, but this 1931 film was one of the few where they were both in the lead. Too bad, since they had great chemistry together and were the definitive precode couple. Here Cagney is an aspiring con-artist and he and Blondell take to the road in search of deep pockets to pick.

Cagney starred in 1933's "Footlight Parade". He is the creator of prologues for movie theatres shortly after sound comes in. In the finale we get to see his talents as a dancer.

In 1935 this film signifies the trouble that many pre-code actors & actresses had in transitioning to respectable roles. This has Cagney as a wiseguy in the air. The entire film is uninspiring, though Cagney tries his best with mediocre material.

Made in 1935, this is a real departure for Cagney. All of the Warner contract players show up here with odd but effective results. Cagney plays Bottom, a man with a roving eye. The real star of this film, though, is a very young Mickey Rooney.

Cagney made this in 1936 while feuding with Warner's over his contract. It's a pretty good crime drama with Cagney as the good guy ferreting out corruption at the Bureau of Weights and Measures.

A fast-paced manic 1938 comedy about a couple of Hollywood script writers played by Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Good enough, but this one has much more energy than laughs.

Cagney in non-gangster and largely patriotic roles. 1942's Captain of the Clouds and 1940's The Fighting 69th has Cagney making trouble in the armed forces. 1940's Torrid Zone is The Front Page set in the tropics. 1941's Bride Came C.O.D. shows Cagney the comic wiseguy. 1950's West Point Story has Cagney putting on a show at West Point.

In 1942 Cagney finally got the role that broke him free of playing strictly gangsters & got him out from under the thumb of Jack Warner for good. He wins the Best Actor Oscar as George M. Cohen. Cohen watched the film & liked it, but asked afterward "Who was that film about?" Obviously, some of the biographical facts got lost in the script.

In 1945, James Cagney plays Nick Condon, managing editor of the Tokyo Chronicle. It's the 20's & the U.S. & Japan share an uneasy peace. That peace threatens to be broken violently when the "Tanaka Plan," a Japanese government document outlining a blueprint for world domination, falls into Condon's possession. The Japanese try to stop him before he announces the plan to the world.

In 1948, Cagney plays a philisophical drunk who encourages the other bar patrons to live their lives to the fullest. Not much action here - the whole movie takes place inside the bar.

Cagney shows up in one of John Ford's war comedies in 1952. The posturing Ford has Cagney doing just doesn't work as well as Cagney's normal hands-on physical style. Part of the Ford at Fox set.

This was supposed to be Doris Day's film, but Cagney, as her gangster husband, steals many scenes. Made in 1955.

Except for the Colorado scenery, this 1956 film is not your standard Western. The emphasis is on character rather than action. James Cagney plays a tough rancher who is actually not such a bad man. There is also a love triangle and a very good supporting cast.

In 1957 Cagney gave perhaps his finest performance in a mature role. He plays Lon Chaney. The two don't look alike at all, but he does a great job of capturing the struggles the man had in his personal life.

This 1959 film is set in 1920 Ireland. Cagney gives an understated performance as a college professor who is an IRA activist by night. Don Murray plays the Irish American idealist caught in the middle & in love with an IRA hostage. Captures brilliantly the passions and emotion of the Irish Question, & the scene at Dublin docks is one of the best action sequences ever on film.

The last film Cagney made before his initial retirement. Cagney plays an executive in Berlin who is trying to keep his boss' daughter from marrying a Communist. The pace is frantic and the humor is very Cold War.