The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Jerry Wald (screenplay) &
Richard Macaulay (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 October 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The land of the free gone wild! The heyday of the hotcha! The shock-crammed days G-men took ten whole years to lick!

Plot:

After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Prohibition | 1920s | Speakeasy | Murder

Cast

James Cagney	...	Eddie Bartlett
Priscilla Lane	...	Jean Sherman
Humphrey Bogart	...	George Hally
Gladys George	...	Panama Smith
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Lloyd Hart
Frank McHugh	...	Danny Green
Paul Kelly	...	Nick Brown
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Sherman (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Edward Keane	...	Henderson (as Ed Keane)
Joe Sawyer	...	The Sergeant
Joseph Crehan	...	Michaels
George Meeker	...	Masters
John Hamilton	...	Judge
Robert Elliott	...	First Detective
Eddy Chandler	...	Second Detective (as Eddie Chandler)

Also Known As:

The World Moves On (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #5576) | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Critics unanimously praised this film. James Francis Crow of the Hollywood Citizen-News opened his review with "This is not just another Warner Brothers gang war drama ..." Sidney Skolsky wrote: "A great hunk of entertainment ..." The Hollywood Reporter said: "The pace is furious ..." Boxoffice wrote: "It will roar its way across showmen's ledgers leaving a trail of black figures and satisfied customers."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the gangsters hurl bombs at a storefront from the car, watch the prop explosives bounce off the building and roll into the street before the blast.

Quotes:

Eddie Bartlett: [Eddie, in his Army uniform, returns to his old place of employment - a garage - seeking to get his job back. He speaks to his former boss] Hello, Mr. Fletcher.
Mr. Fletcher: [Surprised to see Eddie] Why, when did you blow in?
Eddie Bartlett: Just now. Sure good to be back.
Mr. Fletcher: I'll bet it is. What are you gonna' do?
Eddie Bartlett: Oh, rest up a couple of days, see a few of the boys, and then I'm ready to go to work.
Mr. Fletcher: That's fine. Whaddya' gonna' do? Where ya' gonna' work?
Eddie Bartlett: [Confused] Whaddya' mean, "Where am I gonna' work"? I was gonna' come back here.
Mr. Fletcher: Sorry, Eddie, I haven't got anything for you.
Eddie Bartlett: Now wait a minute. Maybe I'm in the wrong garage. What was that line you handed me about my job always waiting for me when I got back?
Mr. Fletcher: Times have changed, Eddie. That boy over there's been working almost two years. Whaddya' want me to do, can him just because you came back?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Crossing Criminal Cultures (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

My Melancholy Baby

My favorite thirties Gangster Film

Most of the famous gangster films were made in the early part of the decade, before the infamous Production Code took all the sex and violence out of the movies, and before they figured out how to make decent movies with sound. The landmark films of the genre like "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy" are actually kind of poorly made, by modern standards.

Not so this entertaining film, it's full of life and energy and great fun to watch. James Cagney gives a wonderful performance as a dynamic and ambitious man who goes from a barely-eating taxi driver to a gang lord, and back again. Humphrey Bogart gives one of his best pre-Casablanca villain performances, and even generic leading lady Priscilla Land is fresh and likeable.

The only quibble I have with this film is it lacks the immediacy of the earlier "ripped from the headlines" films. It's made about days that had since gone by, and owes more to earlier films than the reality of the day (post-modernism in the thirties?). Still, it's great fun, do see it.