The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh, Paul Kelly, George Meeker, Joseph Sawyer, Elisabeth Risdon, Edward Keane.

The stars are in fine form in this late-30s gangster picture; Cagney is a WWI-veteran-turned-bootlegger infatuated with the lifestyle and square singer Lane, forming a shaky alliance with rival Bogart, who he coincidentally knew from the war (even more of a coincidence: a third war vet and pal (Lynn) falls for Cagney’s girl and eventually becomes a D.A.!). Good direction and performances (though Lane is a little too wide-eyed and innocent against all the seedy wallpaper) hampered by an unimaginative, clichéd script. Covers a lot of ground (roughly fifteen years) with thudding newsreel-style narration breaks to push the plot along; a case of overreaching ambition when the narrative sweep simply isn’t there. Despite the title, falls short on presenting a flavorful depiction of the era’s frivolity, amorality, and speakeasy-sleaze; the Hays Code would have censored the worst of it, but with so much story to tell, it’s almost as if the filmmakers forgot to include context and motivation (yet they made time for an excessive quantity of song numbers). Still, watchable throughout, and should satisfy fans of the gangster movies from the 30s and 40s.

68/100