Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . Warner Bros.' warning to We Americans of the 21st Century about our Deplorable Political Class, as dissected in THE DOORWAY TO HELL. Even copper "Pat O'Grady" admits in the end to the doomed "Louie" that the police of America's then incipient Fat Cat State are as much of a "public menace" as the kid-killing gangs led by "Rocco" and "Midget." As always, Warner's team of alarm-sounding prognosticators serves as Our Extreme Early Warning System, uncannily accurate in throwing Louie's kid brother "Jackie" under the truck to not only advance the plot in THE DOORWAY TO HELL, but also to forecast the plot of Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin's stooges in his Fifth Columnist Fellow-Traveling Pedophiliac Repug Party (aka, The GOOPERS) of actually--in this Our Real Life--throwing 10 MILLION of the USA's Poor Kids under the proverbial bus by eliminating America's long-standing "CHIP" Health Care Program in December, 2017, so that Putin's White House Sock-Puppet-in-Chief Don Juan Rump can send to U.S. taxpayer funds "saved" by these Repug Kid Killings directly to the Kremlin in the form of gold bars from Fort Knox. That the Demo-Rats twiddle their tails while this and countless other outrages are taking place under their snouts is NOT surprising to viewers watching THE DOORWAY TO HELL slam tight shut behind America. This flick shows that that cursed portal is plenty wide enough for ALL the Fat Cat Washington, DC, Gang Bosses to slop through!

MartinHafer This is a very early talkie gangster film. Because it was made only a few years after talking pictures debuted, it suffers from a few defects that were related to the technology--such as an over-reliance on long shots--making the film look a bit "stagy". Additionally, background and incidental music in the film is noticeably absent. You really can't blame the filmmakers, as the technology was new and they still had to work out a few kinks, but it does make the film seem pretty dated and creaky. It wasn't until a year later that these two problems were pretty much eliminated in American films and even better gangster films like PUBLIC ENEMY and LITTLE CAESAR debuted.The story itself is very interesting due to its cast. Lew Ayres, who had just made a name for himself in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, stars as a "nice" and "respectable" mob leader. Only late in the film do we see him unleash a wave of extreme violence. This is actually rather ironic considering that in real life, Ayres was strongly opposed to violence and when drafted in WWII, served as a medic because he was so morally opposed to taking lives! Also, this was only the second film for Jimmy Cagney. Since he wasn't an established star, it's not surprising he plays a supporting role though he already was being cast as a mobster in films.The movie is in some ways a very typical Warner Brothers gangster film, though with one exception. Mob boss Ayres is a supposedly smart man and retires from the mob when he's still very young and able to enjoy the spoils of his work. But, when the gangs start fighting among themselves, he is reluctantly pulled back into the picture--leading to a rather dramatic conclusion. Interestingly, although the movie was pretty violent in spots and probably featured more gunfire than any film of the 30s, some of the key violent scenes are not seen but are only heard. An interesting idea no doubt spurred on by the new sound technology.

gary olszewski A pretty good crime drama of its time, on a par with PUBLIC ENEMY, LITTLE CEASAR, and others of the genre,good acting, too.Excellent acting by a very young Lew Ayres, an up-and-coming yet unknown James Cagney, here listed way down in the cast of players as a secondary, and I particularly enjoyed the fine characterization by pre-Dracula Dwight Frye. Much better than the common, cheesy melodramas of the period,this one holds the interest better due to its inferences and unseen sub-plots, an early gem by director Archie Mayo, ahead of its time for its imaginative storyline, and great scene shots, a captivating film as a whole simply for standing out among the rest! Watch this one, it's very good!!

Dr-Occult Fine early talkie that belongs along side Little Caesar and The Public Enemy as the gangster films that set the rules for the genre. Unlike those films however this film gives us a smart gangster who tries to get out while on top only to be dragged back in.