Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

classicsoncall James Cagney and Joan Blondell made seven films together between 1930 and 1934, portraying characters that were romantically involved in three of them. The other two were "Sinners Holiday" (1930) and "He Was Her Man" (1934). I haven't seen that last one yet, this picture entices me to look it up real soon.As in all his early flicks, Cagney is full of energy and wise cracks portraying his character Bert Harris, a bellhop at a Midwestern hotel. Right after he meets Ann Roberts (Blondell) and sets her up with a job as a linen girl, he offers to bring up some 'hooch' and sandwiches! Whoa - I had to replay that scene a couple of times. I've heard the word used in other films of the era but it always catches me off guard, just one of the perks that come with watching films from the Thirties before the Code restrictions came along.Louis Calhern and a young Ray Milland make appearances along the way and engage in a series of scams and shakedowns with and against the principal stars. Bert chases Anne throughout the story, but because she gets tired of the grifting life, eventually marries Dapper Dan Barker (Calhern), an irritating character Bert refers to at one point as a 'smack-off'. It was gratifying to see Barker taken for $6500 in the horse race scam, that was the kind of smack-off he deserved.I'm glad I'm not the only one to register a thumbs down with the way the picture ended. I just didn't understand Dan Barker's angle setting Bert up to take a fall with the police. Barker's thirty grand was still gone no matter which way you slice it, even if the non-negotiable bonds were recovered. One explanation perhaps is that he never blew the thirty grand to begin with, but the story could have let us in on that little secret without making the ending so abrupt and confusing. Very unsatisfactory.Otherwise though, an entertaining entry from the early Thirties that nicely showcases it's top billed stars and gets them together for a smooch by the end of the story. And just in case you forgot to count, Blondell smacked Cagney four times!

marcslope (Possible spoiler) Great fun as long as Joan and Jimmy are flirting and sparring -- she has a great right hook, which she's forced to employ repeatedly, and he has an unusually expressive vocal delivery, including a "HAW-nee" endearment unlike anything he ever attempted again. It's a rock-'em, sock-'em early talkie with the two stars at their most appealing, Cagney so full of energy that he seems to walk an inch or two above the ground. There's plenty of pre-Code intrigue, too, and the casual sexuality is pretty eye-opening for 1931. Blondell is pretty, spirited, and authoritative; like film historian David Thomson said, as far as professionalism goes, it is difficult to overpraise her. Up to the "Sting"-like episodes of the pair fleecing Louis Calhern (looking very dapper in black tie), it's a raunchy treat. But then the plot takes a wayward detour, with Blondell falling into an unhappy marriage with Wall Street crook Ray Milland. (Exactly how this blue-collar honey could charm her way into his high-society family is not clear.) The last 20 minutes or so plod into melodrama, chase, and only semi-happy ending, with the two stars finally in the clinch we knew they'd be in all along. Breezy going for the first two-thirds, though, and even when the narrative veers off, the stars are right on track.

David (Handlinghandel) Roy del Ruth directed one exciting, racy movie after another in the days between the advent of talkies and the advent of the Code. This is definitely high on the list; but the lot sort of undoes everyone: It starts off as a naughty romp about a bellboy an a girl he gets a job in the hotel laundry. They are played by James Cagney (in one of his best roles, "White Heat" being probably my other favorite) and the always, always lovely and appealing Joan Blondell.Their spats, his calling her "Hon-EE" are charming. The scene in which she's in the bath and tells him her money is in brassiere is pretty darn risqué. Not to mention his holding her panties in front of his own lower torso and then, very quickly sniffing the finger that's held her undergarments! Their fleecing of Guy Kibbee is fine. He's a classic movie boob and they don't take him for a lot.Suddenly, though, Louis Calhern is a genuine gangster and they hook up with him. And this is not funny. Then the young, not very good or attractive Ray Milland appears and the plot gets really ugly.(I do like Milland in his later roles but he was a baby here.) Had it simply stayed a saucy comedy it would have rated an 8 or maybe a 9. It covers too many bases, though, and the

Svengali-2001 This here flick is a real gas. Crackerjack fun and stands the test of time. Imagine Cagney and Blondell playing off each other these days when the implied is used with a hammer. These guys aim to rattle the teeth with sharpness not sledgehammer subtlety which is all writers can afford these days. The bath tub gag is typical. Swing that door Jimmy boy. The cons are bad as cons go and I bet some artists are still trying them on today just in a more sophisticated way. Nice to see a young Ray Milland before the eyes popped. I wish I had me a dame like Blondell....