Dark Passage (1947)

The cast is great. The story is good in Dark Passage.

Be warned, viewers. You won't get a look at Humphrey Bogart until about this film noir from American director Delmer Daves (3:10 to Yuma) is about a third over.

There's a good reason why Bogart's face time is reduced.

He's Vincent Parry, a San Francisco man sent to San Quentin for the murder of his wife. Parry escapes and sets out to find out the real killer. With a mug that's reproduced in the newspapers, Parry gets a new face - literally - from disgraced doc Dr. Walter Coley (Houseley Stevenson, in one of many very strong support roles).

Parry finds a second key ally too. Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) followed Parry's trial and also believed he was innocent of his wife's death. She gives him shelter in her apartment. They fall in love.

A string of dead bodies follows Parry. Some of these fatalities strain belief, specifically two involving Parry.

There's good tension through much of Dark Passage, but this film definitely falls short of being great.

Agnes Moorehead is especially great here. Douglas Kennedy gets a nice cameo as a police detective who quickly gets on Bogie's nerves.

Dark Passage also boasts some wonderful dialogue.

Bob (Bruce Bennett) to Madge: "I'm annoyed whenever I see you."

Bob to Irene regarding Madge: "Just pick up the sofa and throw it at her."

Vincent to small-time hood Baker (Clifton Young): "It's wonderful when guys like you lose out. It makes guys like me think we got a chance in this world."

Watch for the version of Dark Passage that includes a 10-minute short on its production. It's well worth the view.

RATING: 8/10

FILM FACTS: Too bad for Clifton Young. He died smoking in bed in 1951 at age 33. Young was Bonedust in several Little Rascals shorts. His last credit? Zombies of the Stratosphere in 1952.

Agnes Moorehad later appeared as Endena in television's Bewitched. Moorehad also voiced The Goose in 1973's Charlotte's Web.

Bruce Bennett teamed up with Bogart in 1948's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Lauren Bacall did voice work for Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King in 2008.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Fred Dobbs has a bad case of gold fever.

Maybe that's what happens when a middle-aged American is constantly broke in Mexico in 1925.

Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) is reduced to begging, supposedly for meals, but often to cover his bar tab or a shave and a cut at the barbershop. An offer of steady work holds promise. But after slaving away under the cruel heat for several weeks, bossman McCormick (Bruce Bennett) leaves his employees with no pay.

Then, Dobbs knows about being paid an honest day's wages for an honest day's work. He and another American on hard times, Curtin (Tim Holt), find McCormick, beat him and take just the money they're owed. No greed there. Dobbs' good luck continues when he wins 200 pesos from 1/20 of a lottery ticket he purchased. He's overjoyed with his good fortune on a ticket that includes the number 13. The cash inspires an idea from Dobbs. He and Curtin can become partners, recruit Howard (Walter Huston), an old man with experience working at gold mines, and set out to earn their own fortune. Dobbs offers to cover some of Curtin's share of the start up costs. No greed there.

But Walter is wise in many ways for his years. He knows his way around the Mexican countryside. Walter speaks the language. He also knows how gold's lure can eat away at a man's soul. Walter also happens to still be sleeping in a dorm with lots of other men in his latter years. Why isn't he living in luxury after his mining experience?

Funny how it's Dobbs who wants to call it quits as the trio labours through tough terrain with no promising finds in sight.

A sweet spot in a mountain offers plenty of gold for the three men to be comfortable for the rest of their lives. Curtin and Howard have modest goals. Not Dobbs. He wants lots and lots of money. "I need dough and plenty of it," he vows, with plans to spend the cash on fine clothes and women. Greed, and plenty of it, has seeped into Dobbs' veins.

He begins acting irrationally, convinced Curtin and Howard are out to cheat him out of his gold. This happens even after Curtin saves his life twice.

The trio has other problems including Mexican bandits in the area who'd be happy to get their hands on the miners' weapons and stash of precious metal.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre earned three Academy Awards for best director and screenplay (John Huston) and supporting actor (Huston). The film's exploration about greed still stands today. Dobbs becomes totally engrossed by his pursuit for gold. Money and power still hold plenty of lure in 2013, but there's always someone else with similar goals ready to take it away. Outside forces have a funny way of messing around with one man's dreams.

Tim Holt and Bruce Bennett, who makes a brief appearance as another American with a passion for a buck, don't stand up well next to Bogart and the senior Houston. Better casting with these two roles would have made a great film even better. Bogart's Dobbs gets so consumed by riches his judgment is clouded and he risks losing everything he worked so hard to get. Viewer beware.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Director Huston appears as a wealthy American who helps Bogart out, repeatedly, in Tampico.

Tim Holt was Virgil Earp in My Darling Clementine.

Barton MacLane also appeared with Bogart in The Maltese Falcon.

The young lad who sells Bogart his winning lottery ticket is Robert Blake (Baretta).

Pat Flaherty, who appeared in Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable, has a small role here as an American who knows about McCormicks's tricks.

The Big Sleep (1946)

You'll like what you hear in The Big Sleep even if what you see leaves you a little confused.

This 1946 crime film from director Howard Hawks offers plenty of great lines and a cast chock full of Hollywood greats and character actor veterans.

General Sternwood (Charles Waldron in his last screen credit) wants private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) to clean up the latest mess left by his youngest daughter. Sternwood, crippled and dying, knows said child, Carmen (Martha Vickers) and Vivian (Lauren Bacall) are "pretty and pretty wild."

Marlowe is soon up to his neck in a trail of blackmail, murder and cover-ups. Sternwood's daughters live up to their reputation rubbing shoulders with gamblers, pornographers and henchmen.

Sparks fly between Marlowe and Vivian. Heck, sparks fly between Marlowe and just about every woman he meets including a cab driver (the only time I can ever remember seeing a 20-something shapely lady behind the wheel of a taxi) and a book store owner (Dorothy Malone, still alive at 88).

I keep notes when I'm watching films, but tracking this storyline is a doozy. If you can understand it all in one viewing, my hat's off to you. Well done. Instead, I'll highlight some of this film's best lines:

Marlowe: "I don't know how much trouble you're used to, but I hope you've had plenty of practice dodging it."

Eddie Mars (John Ridgely): "I could make your business mine."
Marlowe: "You wouldn't like it. The pay's too small."

Marlowe: "My, my, my. Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains."

As an added bonus, Elisha Cook - the hapless goon who tracked Bogart's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon is back for a small role. Here he's Harry Jones, a hood trying to cash in on some information. Cook, it's good to see you again after your great work in John Huston's directorial debut.

I'll spend some more time trying to figure out the plot. Give this film a go. It's a Hollywood classic.

RATING: 9/10

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

What a pair of debuts.

This film noir classic was the first screen credit for director John Huston and actor Sydney Greenstreet. The Maltese Falcon (1941)pushed actor Humphrey Bogart into superstardom for the next 16 years until his death in 1957.

Yet for all of this, plus a challenging plot that needs to be jotted down to be followed, The Maltese Falcon didn't win a single Oscar. Yes, Huston's first effort earned three nods (supporting role for Greenstreet, screenplay for Huston and best picture). But The Maltese Falcon didn't win a single Academy Award. Oh well, Citizen Kane lost out to How Green Was My Valley for best picture. How many Oscars did James Cameron's Titanic win again? Life ain't fair.

How best to simplify this film's story? Here goes. Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) wants help from private eye Samuel Spade (Humphrey Bogart). She fears her sister's safety is in jeapordy because of the man she is with. A generous retainer puts Spade and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) on the job.

The gumshoes soon learn O'Shaughnessy is more than liberal with the truth. Archer gets knocked off and Spade finds himself up to his eyeballs in a cat and mouse game with O'Shaughnessy, Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) for possession of The Maltese Falcon. This trio all wants to get its hands on the priceless statue laden with rare gems. Gutman has one of his hoods, Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook), unsuccessfully track and intimidate Spade. "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter," Spade spits out at one point.

Spade falls for O'Shaughnessy, but knows she keeps conning him.

Cairo is the bumbler of the bunch, a hood who keeps getting outclassed by Spade. "Look what you did to my shirt," he tells Spade after he gets roughed up. Lorre gets the few funny lines in this film. "Our private conversations have not been such that I'm anxious to continue them," Cairo tells Spade after the private eye suggests they meet one-on-one.

Gutman - love the name, Greenstreet is a very large man - is the most civil of the bunch. But his years-long determination to find the falcon means he's OK with a little violence to get his prize. Spade has to match wits with all these characters while police suggest he murdered Archer because of his affair with his wife, Ida (Gladys George). For such a smart guy, Spade's choice in women looks a little iffy. Even Ida wonders if her lover has blood has on his hands. She asks him, "Sam, did you kill him?," shortly after her hubby's demise.

The Maltese Falcon reminds me of Key Largo , reviewed on this site last week. In both films, Bogart's characters need to be as sharp mentally to watch wits with his foes. He'll use violence if necessary, but his words and tactics are effective weapons too.

Great film. Great cast. Someday I even might be able to follow the plot without a scratch pad. Watch this film.

RATING: 9/10

FUN FACTS: Greenstreet's screen time was brief. He appeared in 25 productions between 1941 and 1949 including another Hollywood classic, Casablanca.

Ward Bond, a detective in The Maltese Falcon, was Bert in It's a Wonderful Life

Barton MacLane, another policeman in The Maltese Falcon, was Gen. Peterson in television's I Dream of Jeannie.

Some interesting facts about The Maltese Falcon from A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax's Bogart A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax:

1. Geraldine Fitzgerald was the studio's first choice to play O'Shaughnessy. Astor was second choice. Fitzgerald wasn't interested because it was Huston's first film.

2. Warner Brothers had to make all of Greenstreet's fashions. He weighed 357 pounds.

Key Largo (1948)

The gangsters in this film have no trouble threatening people, roughing them up or shooting them.

But they're the cowards when Mother Nature lashes out with a violent storm. After all, how do you shoot the wind?

Former gangster kingpin Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) wants to rule the roost again in America. "Nobody was as big as Rocco," he boasts. "I'll be big again." Rocco has slipped into Key Largo, Florida by boat with a whack of counterfeit bills. He's brought his goons along including Curly (Thomas Gomez) and the menacing Toots (Harry Lewis).

The thugs have set up shop in a family-owned hotel owned by James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) with the assistance of his daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall). Her husband was killed during the Second World War. His commanding officer, Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart), travels by bus to visit. Mr. Temple wants to know about his son George's last hours. McCloud is drifting, with no firm roots.

There's trouble before McCloud even arrives at the inn. His bus is stopped by police. They're looking for two escaped prisoners likely headed back to Key Largo. "They always head for home," the bus driver advises.

Here's where director John Huston has a little more fun.

The local force is clueless when it comes to a major criminal - Rocco - in their midst, staying instead focused on two men whose crime was likely not a serious one. At one point, Sheriff Ben Wade takes a look at Rocco and suggests he looks familiar. But he doesn't remember the man he's standing behind is a serious felon.

McCloud walks into trouble. Rocco and his crew have taken over the hotel. The gangster's old girlfriend, Gaye (Claire Trevor), has turned into an alcoholic in the years that he has lived in Cuba. This woman badly needs a drink, constantly.

McCloud says he's not eager to clash with Rocco ("I fight nobody's battles but my own."), but he keeps matching wits with him in an effort to keep the others alive. Nora has caught his eye too. Everybody is forced to stay inside the inn while a violent storm rages. Rocco wants McCloud to pilot a boat back to Cuba. Certain death awaits if he accepts the assignment.

Fine performances carry this film. Key Largo (Keepcase) could have offered Lewis his finest role. Lewis, who just died on June 9, 2013, is a well-dressed hood with a menacing presence. Gomez's Curly isn't as well-built as Toots, but there's an air of menace around him too. And, how about Robinson? He's nice and cool, complete with a fan nearby, when we first meet him. But this killer works up a sweat when the lights start dimming and strong winds blow drinking glasses to the ground. He's intrigued by McCloud and how this veteran can match wits with him, the brains of the counterfeit money deal.

Trevor won an Oscar for her portrayal of Rocco's washed-up lover. The booze has dulled her good looks and killed the beautiful voice Rocco once enjoyed hearing sing. "You wouldn't know it was the same dame," Rocco notes. He doesn't beat her, but his words cut deep.

Huston and Bogart made several films together including the director's debut, The Maltese Falcon, in 1941 and The Treasure of the Sierre Madre.

Key Largo offers viewers a strong cast, great dialogue and a story that keeps you watching.

RATING: 8/10

We're No Angels (1955)

Director Michael Curtiz will be remembered for helming several classic films including Casablanca, White Christmas and The Adventures of Robin Hood.



We're No Angels isn't one of them.



This 1955 effort, one of Humphrey Bogart's last screen appearances, boasts some funny lines, ranging from mildly amusing to loud guffaws, and a delightful short appearance by Basil Rathbone. But boy, it moves slow. Plus, these heroes are hard to cheer for given the crimes they've committed.





Joseph (Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray) and Jules (Peter Ustinov) escape from a prison on Devil's Island. They need to get on a passenger ship that's anchored offshore due to an outbreak. To buy some time, and keep out of sight, they offer themselves as repairmen to fix the leaky roof of less-than-successful shopkeeper Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll).





While roaming around the roof eavesdropping on conversations, the trio of convicts on the lam learn what's happening with Ducotel and his family. His cranky, dominating cousin Andre Trochard (Rathbone) is on said ship with plans to see how the business he owns is doing. With him is his son Paul (John Baer), who Ducotel's daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott) loves dearly.





Joseph, Albert and Jules have nasty things planned for Felix and his clan including cleaning out their inventory and killing them. But the merchant, his wife Amelie (Joan Bennett) and Isabelle all impress with their kindness towards them. The three put some of the skills that put them behind bars to work. Joseph has a convincing way with customers and drums up cash sales. Felix lets his customers put their purchases on account with payments rarely made. Albert enjoys the company of women and offers Isabelle suggestions on how to deal with Paul. Jules' ability at picking locks pays dividends too. A delightful Christmas meal is put together by means that wouldn't agree with the Ten Commandments.



The goodwill the three have towards the businessman and his family doesn't extend to Andre. They still have a snake that killed a guard and helped them escape from prison. Can said reptile put the bite on another adversary of the three men?



We're No Angels is based on a play so once the convicts set up shop in the store they don't move around much. As with Wait Until Dark, reviewed earlier on this site, this viewer gets antsy with a story set in one location. There's also the matter of the trio's backgrounds. Jules and Albert have, in particular, done nasty things and Joseph still sees murder as an expedient way to solve problems. It's hard to be entirely comfortable with characters like those.



The script's laughs are fairly frequent, but they come with a lot of effort from the audience's patience.



RATING: 6.5/10



FUN FACTS: Internet Movie Database credits Leo G. Carroll as the actor with the most credits in Alfred Hitchock's films. Hitchcock, with his mandatory brief appearances, has the most.



John Baer's credits also include Night of the Blood Beast and Superman and the Mole-Men.



John Smith, who appears briefly as the passenger ship's medical officer, made his film debut as a choir member in Bing Crosby's Going My Way in 1944. He'd be with the choir again in another Crosby production, The Bells of St. Mary's.



We're No Angels was remade in 1989 with Robert DeNiro and Sean Penn. I liked that version even less.

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

It's worth the wait to see one of the most famous screen shots of James Cagney near this film's finale.



His character, Rocky Sullivan (Cagney), faces the death penalty for killing two crime associates followed by a handful of police officers in a last-ditch effort to escape justice.



Watch, and savour, the iconic shot of a defiant Sullivan walking in the shadows towards the electric chair. This is great stuff.



Angels with Dirty Faces is a good, but not great, film. There's no big surprises in this film's plot, but what a cast.

Sullivan and childhood pal Jerry Connolly (Pat O'Brien) followed very different career paths. The pair grew up poor. Both stole, but Connolly only put his hands on things he needed to survive. Sullivan was a little more enterprising.



When an attempted theft of pens from a rail car goes bad, it's Sullivan who ends up in a juvenile detention centre. Connolly escaped police. The stint is the first of several arrests for Sullivan as he gradually gets involved in more serious crimes.



Connolly took a very different career path and became a priest. He's rector of a Catholic parish in his old neighbourhood. Father Jerry and Rocky get re-acquainted when the convict gets released from prison. He rents a room from the girl he pestered as a youngster, Laury Ferguson (Ann Sheridan), now a fine-looking lady. Sullian is interested. Ferguson, not so much.



Sullivan is eager to see his crooked lawyer, James Frazier (Humphrey Bogart), who's holding on to $100,000 of his cash. Hey, this is the Great Depression and that's serious scratch. Frazier, now managing a ritzy nightclub under boss Mac Keefer (George Bancroft), is less-than-pleased to see Sullivan is still alive. He's keen to put Sullivan away for good.



Father Jerry is doing his best to encourage a gang of street toughs to live honest lives and steer clear of crime's allure. But that job is hard to do when Sullivan shows up sporting fine threads and a pocketful of bills. Father Jerry encourages his old friend to be a mentor to the kids. Sullivan is persuaded, somewhat. When Keefer figures out a way to get Sullivan in trouble, it's Rocky who turns to the kids to keep his cash stash safe.



Rocky is back in the big money. Laury, who lost her husband to crime, starts to warm to imagining a life with him. Father Jerry is determined not to be wooed by Sullivan's generous offers of cash help to build a new recreation centre for youth. What good will it do, he reasons, when that site is surrounded by people profiting from crime? Instead, he vows to bring Sullivan and his crowd down.



It's tough to see legendary tough guy Bogart as a cowardly lawyer who mops his brow and begs for his life when he's in danger. But, as film historian Dana Polan notes in a commentary accompanying this 1938 film from Michael Curtiz, he was still being groomed for stardom by Warner Brothers. Casablana, Key Largo and The Treasure of the Sierre Madre would follow.



Cagney is the best thing in this film. He's tough. He's funny. There's still some good in a guy who turned to crime many years before.



RATING: 7.5/10



FUN FACTS: Curtiz would go on to direct Bogart in Casablanca.



Cagney and O'Brien reunited more than 40 years later for Ragtime.

George Bancroft was Curley in John Ford's Stagecoach.

Billy Halop, leader of the Dead End Kids in Angels with Dirty Faces, played recurring character Bert Munson in television's All in the Family.

Frankie Burke made his film debut playing a young Rocky Sullivan. He appeared in 18 films between 1938 and 1941. He died in 1983 at age 67.

Dark Victory (1939)

Dark Victory is a bright spot in Bette Davis' filmography.

The American film legend lobbied hard for the play by George Emerson Brewer, Jr. and Bertram Bloch to be made into a motion picture.

Good call, Bette.

Her Judith Traherne is a well-off socialite living very well off her late father's fortune. Much like a 1930s version of the Kiss song, Rock and Roll All Night, Traherne parties well into the morning and enjoys regular intakes of alcohol and tobacco.

She's hesitant to say anything about painful headaches that have bothered her for several months. Her eyesight is getting wonky too. It's not until she a) takes a bad spill when riding a horse and b) falls down a flight of stairs that others get a concerned about her well-being.

Enter Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent). Steele is an accomplished brain surgeon. He's getting ready to pack up his practice and head to Vermont where he can focus on his scientific research.

Tarherne is a reluctant patient, loathe to reveal details about her serious ailments.

"It's just a boring subject," she suggests about her health. "I'm accustomed to looking after myself."

Steele has an idea what's happening and X-rays confirm his suspicions. He must operate, but even that surgery isn't a complete success. Traherne will die in less than a year. Steele swears Traherne's best friend, Ann King (Geraldine Fitzgerald), to secrecy.

Sparks start flying between Steele and Traherne. All this talk about illness and mortality sure doesn't impact her looks. She's luminous and full of life. That sunny attitude takes a big dip when she happens on her medical file and learns of her fate. It's back to her hard-living lifestyle. Suicide begins to look like attractive rather than counting the days waiting for her demise.

Will she reunite with Steele? Will she find peace before her death?

Dark Victory is a joy to watch even with all its deep subject matter. Brent is the rock solid caregiver to Davis. As Traherne, Davis gives a role of a lifetime. Her work in this 1939 feature fromd director Edmund Goulding (Grand Hotel, The Dawn Patrol) earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress.

It's a little odd seeing Humphrey Bogart as a horse trainer after tough guy roles in Angels with Dirty Faces and The Roaring Twenties. Both films were also released in the late 1930s.

Future American president Ronald Reagan is more a tippler than the Gipper as Alec, a party-going friend of Traherne's. There's even a small role for Henry Travers. He's known most for his role as Clarence, the angel, in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life.

The death of Traherne's father allowed her a life of wealth and privlege. She battles illness while Steele does research to save lives. Should doctors tell their patients when death is imminent? When should someone speak up about secrets others are keeping? There are some meaty questions to chew on in addition to the film's fine performances.

RATING: 8/10

The Petrified Forest (1936)

RATING: 8/10

The Petrified Forest breathed life into the-then sagging careers of Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis.

The mid-1930s was hardly a highpoint for either legendary performer, as the film's accompanying documentary, The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert, explains.

BOGART AND DAVIS NEEDED A BOOST

Bogart, 36, was running out of chances on the big screen after about a dozen roles, inluding appearances in Three on a Match and Midnight, did little to help his chances. Davis was also making little headway five years into a career that began with The Bad Sister in 1931.

Bogart appeared in the stage version of The Petrified Forest. Leading man Leslie Howard (Alan Squier) was adamant Bogie be cast in the film directed by Archie Mayo (Black Legion, A Night in Casablanca).

Howard's stubborness ignited Bogart's career. He'd go on to star in a string of classics including Key Largo, Casablanca and High Sierra. Midler's career would stretch for another 50-plus years ending with her final screen appearance in 1989.

Bogart's a treat to watch in this screen adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play. He's Duke Mantee, a feared gangster with a very bloody past. He's on the run from the law, and bound for Mexico, when he turns up at a restaurant and gas station in the desert.

I SERVED MY COUNTRY SAFELY

The desolate business is owned by Jason Maple (Porter Hall), a First World War veteran who's chided by his father, Gramp Maple (Charley Grapewin), for serving behind the lines as a mechanic.

There's a lot of that disillusion in this 1936 drama. Squier is the intellectual who was supposed to be a great writer. He wrote one book and it sold dismally. His wife left him. Squier discovers the restaurant as he hitch-hikes across the United States.

Jason's daughter, Gabrielle, is itching to get back to France where she was born and her mother still lives. She wants to paint. While gas jockey Boze Hertzlinger (Dick Foran) tries to woo Gabrielle, she's more interested in Squier. A former college football star, Boze is far from the glory he enjoyed on the grid iron.

Mantee and his gang hijack a vehicle occupied by banker Mr. Chisholm (Paul Harvey) and his long-suffering wife (Genevieve Tobin). The gangster and his crew end up at Maple's restaurant during a sandstorm. Mr. Chisholm is more interested in business succession than his wife when the bullets eventually start flying.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Will they make it to Mexico ahead of the law? Will Boze and Alan square off over their affections for Gabrielle? Will she see her dream of a life in Europe come true?

The Petrified Forest offers viewers a strong cast and an early look at just how good Bogart and Davis are on the screen. Bogart is a menacing bad guy, speaking slowly and delivering most of his lines seated in a chair. He doesn't make his first appearance until about 30 minutes into the film, but he's riveting for The Petrified Forest's final hour.

More gangster roles would follow for Bogart, including The Roarding Twenties. This is where he started.

FUN FACTS: Director Mayo and Bogart teamed up for Black Legion in 1937. Foran was in that film too.

Genevieve Tobin's last film credit was No Time for Comedy in 1940. She married director William Keighley in 1938. They'd stay together until his death in 1984. Tobin died in 1995 at age 95.

Charley Grapewin was Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz and Grandpa in The Grapes of Wrath.

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

A bang-up cast puts some major pep into The Roaring Twenties.

SCRIPT USES A SLEDGEHAMMER

There's nothing subtle in this gangster film. Even worse, the screenplay doesn't miss a chance to conveniently bring characters back together, in New York City of all places. One character has a grudge against another? Guess who'll meet up later? Prepare to give this script a lot of latitude with the liberties it takes poking at one's suspension of disbelief.

Still, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George are fantastic in this 1939 effort by Raoul Walsh (White Heat).

BOGART IS A BEAUT AS HOSTILE HALLY

Bogart delivers as the menacing, double-crossing George Hally. The Roaring Twenties really kicks into gear when he and Cagney share the screen. Much was made of a scene in Michael Mann's Heat that drew together Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. Well, here's a similar scenario from 40 years earlier with two all-time greats.

Hally, Eddie Bartlett (Cagney) and Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn) are all First World War veterans who all met, like a lot of veterans during the Great War I'm sure, in a shell hole under German fire.

Their paths cross in civilian life. Bartlett can't find work, in a sombre nod to a problem veterans actually did face after war ended, and starts running booze during Prohibition. Hart is a by-the-book lawyer enlisted by Bartlett to help with the business side of his growing empire. Hally jumped feet first, with both arms not far behind, into a life of crime.

TWO MEN + ONE WOMAN = TROUBLE

Bartlett and Hart both have eyes for the same dame, Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane), a sweet, young lady with a great set of pipes. Bartlett loves Jean, but she's in love with Hart. That's going to be a problem.

When Eddie isn't busy having shootouts with night watchmen and other gangsters, he is slugging Hart for messing around with his girl.

The real treat here is Gladys George (Maltese Falcon). She is perfectly cast as the wise, and weary, speakeasy owner, Panama Smith. She has a soft spot for Bartlett from the get-go, saying he reminds her of a soldier she knew. Given how this script is put together, it's a surprise Hally didn't kill him when the two were overseas.

GREAT LINES

Plenty of sharp dialogue helps power The Roaring Twenties. "What a load of ice," offers Panama when she sees the engagement ring George bought for Jean. "Go home and rescue a swimmer," chides Hally when an apparent Coast Guard vessel prepares to stop his boat loaded with hooch.

Entertaining nightclub performances of My Melancholy Baby, It Had to Be You and I'm Just Wild About Harry break up the carnage and fisticuffs.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Paul Kelly, who appears as Bartlett's foe Nick Kelly, appeared in more than 50 silent shorts starting in 1911. Director Raoul Walsh earned his first directing credit in 1913 with The Pseudo Prodigal. Cast member Edward Keane's last film was the 1959 Japanese gangster film, Ankokugai no Koayaku.