TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

berfedd The Plot: Wrongfully imprisoned reporter James Cagney and mobster George Raft strike up an unlikely friendship while in jail, and find themselves dependent on each other to win their respective freedoms, both practically and psychologically.I was initially reluctant to watch this, mainly because of the thought of Raft's droning voice. However, decided it to give it a look.Raft certainly plays to type, but is young and relatively animated here, and comes over as a sympathetic character (although not one you'd invite to a dinner party). The plot very much depends on the conflict between his priorities as a mobster and the relationship he strikes up with Cagney's integrity-beset reporter. Raft was known for hobnobbing with mobsters in real life, and is even alleged to have prevented a 'hit' on Cagney when the mob had taken a dislike to him because of his union activities, so there are curious parallels on-screen with their off-screen lives.Cagney is simply excellent. A scene where he suddenly breaks down in front of a parole board is very moving, as are his restrained facial expressions when he is forced to stand back while terrible things are happening around him during a prison riot.The plot keeps one guessing. One kind of knows that the good guy will win, but not how, or where Raft's surprisingly complicated character will fit in to this. It is also a nicely put-together movie, from screenplay to shot composition to final editing.

gavin6942 Although innocent, reporter Frank Ross (James Cagney) is found guilty of murder and is sent to jail. While his friends at the newspaper try to find out who framed him, Frank gets hardened by prison life and his optimism turns into bitterness. He meets fellow-inmate Stacey (George Raft) and they decide to help each other.Rather than be the good guy ("G Men") or the bad guy ("Public Enemy"), here we have Cagney as an innocent newspaper reporter framed and then sent to prison, where he becomes a little bit hardened. Maybe not quite a bad guy, but not really the good guy, either. It is a nice transformation, and an interesting commentary on prison life.I am not very familiar with George Raft (I actually know him more from reading Mafia history than from film), but if he is like he is here in other films, I need to see more George Raft.

nomorefog This is a classic title from the Warner Bros studio released in 1939 and starring James Cagney and George Raft. Even by today's cynical standards, its premise of an innocent man emotionally tortured by serving time in jail for something he didn't do is, to put it bluntly - alarming. The action comes at a fast pace, and Cagney gives one of his great, iconic performances, as he runs the emotional gamut from A to B.The story concerns a reporter who, by honestly writing stories about political corruption for his newspaper, is framed by a powerful politician for a crime he did not commit and is sent to prison. Nobody believes in his innocence besides his girlfriend and a well-connected gangster (George Raft), who surprisingly enough, sympathises, presumably having first hand experience of what corrupt politicians are really capable of.'Each Dawn I Die' is such a difficult film to sit through because the audience is well aware of Cagney's innocence from the beginning and it is discomforting to see how he becomes institutionalised by the system when he shouldn't even be where he is. Cagney's futile efforts in submitting to prison discipline when he knows that he has been railroaded become heroic as the film cleverly manipulates the audience into seeing everything from his perspective only. Unfortunately, being the honest and innocent fellow that he is, the consequence of this injustice is that he appears to temporarily lose his sanity, and decides to join in a prison escape. The escape doesn't go to plan, and the ending is downbeat and not at all reassuring about the life Cagney can expect on the outside as a convicted criminal.There is an interesting subplot concerning Raft's character and to what degree Raft will go, to assist Cagney to get back at the politician who framed him (with Raft and his gang's assistance.) It is astounding how nobody - except for his girlfriend and Raft, - believes that Cagney is innocent when it's clearly shown to the viewer that this is the case. This is supposed to arouse sympathy for the underdog and his cohorts in prison, but it becomes irritating when the audience has no reason to disbelieve what they have already seen at the start of the movie. There are plenty of fights, memorable characters and the typically bleak Warners depiction of prisons which are enough to make sure that anyone watching in the audience stays on the right side of the law. The more demanding viewer may have cause to wonder how often the scenario of this film may happen in reality or whether it's just a typical Hollywood beat-up. But why spoil such an entertaining movie? Taken at its face value this film is an entertaining prison melodrama from the Golden Years of Hollywood and a good example of Warner Brothers renowned sense of realism in its portrayal of American working class life between the Great Depression and WWII. It was a subject that other studios wouldn't touch but for that very reason, the studio's fortune was made by these stories depicting lives of crime and others mistakenly caught in its web through no fault of their own. (Admittedly this does not happen often, but it is a movie that we're watching.) 'Each Dawn I Die' comes highly recommended for lovers of these kinds of films, as well as everybody else who enjoys being entertained.

mrbill-23 Folks, It doesn't get much better than "Each Dawn I Die" with James Cagney and George Raft... This is one of my top-5 all-time gangster / prison films from the golden era of Hollywood film-making...I thought James Cagney, George Raft, George Bancroft and Jane Bryan were just terrific in this film... I can watch this movie three or four times a year, depending on my mood and state of mind... I never seem to grow tired of this film... Probably never will, either....I am much more into the tough guy and mobster roles' actors like Cagney, Bogie, Robinson & George Raft made in their peak years in Hollywood... I never was big on Musicals' or Song and Dance films..... The years between 1930 to 1950 are no doubt my favorite years of classic film-making..... "Gangster & Horror" were at their best....MR.BILL Raleigh