Lady Killer (1933)

Directed by Roy Del Ruth. Starring James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Douglass Dumbrille, Leslie Fenton, Russell Hopton, Raymond Hatton, William Davidson.

After getting conned by “purse-dropping damsel” Clarke and her cronies, Cagney convinces them to let him participate in their criminal schemes. A job goes bad, a couple people die, he’s double-crossed by the dame, manages to get out of a sticky situation by being “discovered” on the street by a movie producer, and becomes a rising star in Hollywood! Humorous and shallow crime film has hardly a lick of credibility, but it’s good fun from episode to episode. There’s a garlicky love scene, he pulls a fan mail scam, we get to see Jimmy in an “Indian Chief” get-up, he finds Clarke waiting for him in bed and gives her a rough exit, he makes a film critic literally eat his words, it ends with a car chase and shootout, what’s not to enjoy? Cagney’s patter and easy charm coupled with the unexpected gags make for some inspired, tongue-in-cheek balderdash. Much is understandably made about the re-teaming of Cagney and Clarke after The Public Enemy, but this is also the first of four occasions where Margaret Lindsay played the star’s love interest (and they pair pretty well, too).

72/100