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James Cagney

 

 

LADY KILLER

 

Warner Bros. & Vitaphone, 1933. Directed by Roy Del Ruth.  Camera:  Tony Gaudio.  With James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton, Douglass Dumbrille, Raymond Hatton.

   
     
   

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While returning a purse dropped by attractive Myra Gale, Dan Quigley quickly learns that he has been the victim of a confidence game.  He threatens the gang with exposure unless they cut him in on their profits. Dan works the racket so successfully that they are able to open a gambling club patronized by wealthy customers.

When they spot a likely victim among the customers, Dan arranges a fake accident so he will be taken into the victim's house and cases it for his fellow gangsters.  Eventually, the police suspect Dan's gang, and when someone dies during a robbery, the gang leaves town.

They travel to Los Angeles, where Dan is arrested. He asks Myra to arrange his bail, but Spade Maddock, another gang member, talks her into using the money to leave town.  Because they do not have enough evidence to hold Dan, the police release him.  Looking like a hobo, he is offered work as a movie extra.

One day, he stumbles into the dressing room of movie star Lois Underwood.  He starts a self-promoting letter writing campaign, which convinces the studio that he would be a good choice for a new leading man. Dan and Lois become romantically involved, and things are going well for Dan until Myra and the gang return.

They threaten to reveal his past unless he fingers wealthy Hollywood people for robberies.  He refuses, paying the gang a large amount of money to leave town.  They double-cross him, robbing Lois's house, and Dan is arrested.

When the studio will not stand by him, Lois offers to pay his bail, but the gang beats her to it, planning to kill him before he can tell the police about their activites.  Suspecting their motives, Dan tips off the police, and the gang is captured.  After Dan is cleared of all charges and his career saved, he and Lois leave to get married.

American Film Institute Catalog

This film (originally called The Finger Man)  had Cagney playing a fired movie usher who turns to crime. After hiding out in Hollywood he gets a small part as an Indian chief. The screenplay by Ben Markson was an early attempt by Hollywood to satirize itself. Mae Clarke again found herself  roughed up by Cagney, being  dragged out of bed by her hair.  Roy Del Ruth kept the pace quick and funny.

Homestead.com

Poster artwork courtesy of Pete