James Cagney

THE ROARING TWENTIES

Warner Bros., 1939. Directed by Raoul Walsh.  Camera:  Ernest Haller.  With James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George, Frank McHugh, Joe Sawyer, George Meeker.

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In France, as the Armistice is signed, three American soldiers speculate about their future.  Eddie Bartlett believes that his old job as a garage mechanic awaits him, while George Hally, a saloon keeper, has no fears of the just enacted prohibition and Lloyd Hart, a law graduate, plans to take up the law.

However, the America to which they return home has changed. Eddie finds his old job filled and, in the face of rampant unemployment, is forced to drive a cab.  One night, he unwittingly delivers a package of liquor to Panama Smith, a nightclub hostess, and the two are arrested.  Eddie refuses to testify against Panama and, out of gratitude, she pays his fine and backs him in the bootlegging business, where he soars to prosperity and power.

While at a show one night, Eddie meets Jean Sherman, his pen pal during the war who is now an aspiring singer, and falls in love, not realizing that the girl is interested in Lloyd, who is now working as Eddie's attorney.

Another person from his war days comes back into his life when Eddie meets George while hijacking a load of liquor from bootlegger Nick Brown.  The two old army pals become partners, but are destined to become enemies.  Ruined in the stock market crash, Eddie goes back to driving a cab and meets Jean, who is now happily married to Lloyd.  George, the object of a criminal investigation, learns that Lloyd, who is now employed in the district attorney's office, has gathered evidence against him, and sends a death warning to Jean, who appeals to Eddie for help.  When Eddie goes to George to urge him not to harm Lloyd and Jean, George orders Eddie killed.  Pulling a gun, Eddie shoots George, but then meets his own death at the hands of George's gunmen.

American Film Institute Catalog

Mark Hellinger's prohibition saga was originally entitled The World Moves On an earlier Fox title. The Hal B. Wallis production had everything to recommend it and, through Raoul Walsh's superb hand, the decade of the Twenties is spread before us. Cagney was excellent as the returning veteran, who unable to find work  turns to bootlegging.  Only Cagney could have played the finale without causing laughter in the audience.  His supreme style as an artist can be seen in that scene, as he stumbles down the street, fatally wounded, and dies on the church steps.  It was a great moment.

Additional photo courtesy of Gary