Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Antonius Block
Quite short even for the time period at 60 minutes, this film is notable only for being James Cagney's film debut, and for being the first of seven that paired him with Joan Blondell. The film titillates us early on with pre-Code naughtiness; for example, a penny arcade game, "Hit The Bull, Up She Goes", which has a woman seated next to a bulls-eye that, when hit with a ball, causes her to flip 90 degrees upwards and reveal her legs. Another is seeing a bathing outfit on leggy Evalyn Knapp that would fit right in in 2016. Unfortunately, the story is pretty simple and the film is marred by poor acting, most notably by lead Grant Withers, who's hard to watch. Even Cagney is uncharacteristically off in his performance. The only exception is Blondell, 24 years old and in her second film role, appearing as a tough-talking brunette, who steals every scene she's in.
davidjanuzbrown
Obviously the main reason to watch this movie is the fact it is James Cagney's (Harry) first film. It is also the first film of Joan Blondell (Myrtle), and Evalyn Knapp's (Jeannie) fist feature (she did shorts prior to this). I found Myrtle to be the most interesting character. Not only did she NOT look like Blondell (dark hair), but she was nasty gold digging prostitute (a character I NEVER saw from her before), and she even lost the in looks department to Jeannie. The main character is Ma Delano (Lucille LaVerne) who runs a Coney Island Arcade with her kids Harry, Jeannie and Joe. This woman is a real piece of work, she basically smothers Harry (almost borderline incest when they kiss on the lips) and basically neglects Jeannie and Joe. Spoilers ahead: Harry who is basically weak and pathetic, gets involved with the bootlegging business (that his mother hates), and rips off gangster Mitch (Warren Hymer), and murders him. Myrtle is his alibi and lets his mother exactly what happened, and that basically she will be running things from now on. Harry breaks down like a baby and his mother frames Angel Harrigan (Grant Withers) for the crime. The problem is Jeannie saw the murder and is sweet on Angel. She tells the police (very reluctantly) what happened and Harry confesses. The final scene is very revealing Joe starts to take her away, but she sees a big crowd (and of course lots of $$$$$$$$$), and she puts Angel (who she never liked) in charge. I can understand her being angry at Jeannie, for ratting out Harry, but did not let her Good Son Joe run things either. Is this a perfect movie? Not at all. But Cagney, LaVerne and especially Blondell make it work. 8/10 Stars
classicsoncall
Wow - James Cagney's first film role and he pulls it off like a veteran! Though he's third billed behind Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp, it's hard to argue that this isn't Cagney's vehicle all the way, demonstrating a commanding and comfortable presence on the big screen, even though he does go 'over the top' a couple of times. Still, I was impressed with his debut performance, and the story itself was entertaining enough to maintain one's interest for it's dead on one hour run time.The setting is a Coney Island amusement park, but that's just a front for Mitch McKane's (Warren Hymer) booze peddling racket. Cagney's character Harry Delano is one of his underlings and is being groomed to run the operation in case Mitch gets pinched. Instead, Harry guns Mitch down in a shoot first or die situation when confronted over his skimming the operation. Things get further complicated when Harry's sister Jennie (Knapp) witnesses the incident, and Ma Delano (Lucille La Verne) tries to pin it on Jennie's fiancée, giving future mothers-in-law a bad name ever since.Joan Blondell is initially referred to in the story as the 'little happiness girl', presumably for her youthful good looks and an insinuation that she sells kisses at the carnival. Ma's description of Myrtle is a bit more colorful, to her she's a 'gutter floozie' for hooking up with her son. In fact if not for Cagney, this might have been Ma Delano's story for the way she takes over every scene she's in. No political correctness for Ma, when she sends someone out to look for Harry, she suggests they 'try the chink's'.For Cagney and Blondell, this would be their first of seven screen appearances together, all of which were filmed between 1930 and 1934. Cagney would get involved with running booze again in his 1939 team up with Humphrey Bogart for "The Roaring Twenties". Here though, the young James Cagney gives a fine performance in his very first outing, with just the right combination of malice and charm that would make him one of movie history's top gangsters.
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
In 1929, James Cagney and Joan Blondell (neither of them well-known at the time) played supporting roles in a Broadway drama called "Penny Arcade". Warner Brothers bought the film rights and brought Cagney and Blondell to Hollywood to repeat their stage roles in the screen version, retitled "Sinner's Holiday". This was the first movie for both of them. (Blondell's second film, a quickie, was released before "Sinner's Holiday", a more prestigious picture.) The actual star of this film is Grant Withers, playing a gangster who's made a lot of enemies and needs a place to hide before he gets rubbed out. Withers is pretty good, and he deserves to be better known. Cagney's role is much smaller, but he's absolutely electrifying. As soon as he steps on screen, there's no question that he's the best actor in this movie ... one of the best actors in the history of films, in fact.Joan Blondell is boring in this film, as usual. Her appeal has always eluded me. At least in her other films she usually had something to do; here, she doesn't. There are good performances by Lucille LaVerne and Warren Hymer, in his usual typecast role as a dim gangster. Hank Mann, who was one of the original Keystone Cops (and who eventually outlived all the other Keystone Cops), is excellent here in a small role."Sinner's Holiday" suffers from the usual Warner Brothers complaint: low budget-itis. I saw the trailer for this film before I saw the movie itself. The trailer features a shot of amusement park rides in a funfair. This is obviously stock footage, but at least I expected the stock shot to turn up in the movie itself. Surprisingly, it doesn't. There's almost nothing on screen to convince you that this movie takes place in an amusement park. It looks like a stage play recorded on film, rather than a movie in its own right. Still, "Sinner's Holiday" has much to recommend it, and Cagney's performance alone is worth your time. I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10 points, or 7 if you're a Cagney fan. If you're a Joan Blondell fan, I don't want to know about it.
