ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES is in many ways the best of Warner Bros.'s
gangster melodramas of the 1930s. It boasts every cliché
of such films, but does so with such gusto and conviction you hardly
notice. The Dead End Kids make their second screen appearance
in
their pre-Bowery Boys days, Pat O'Brien plays a priest for the first
time (there was a time when he didn't play a priest?), and Humphrey
Bogart is solid in yet another gangster role essayed during his
pre-stardom period of second leads and odd
character roles. But they're all nearly reduced to window
dressing alongside one of James Cagney's most brilliant and nuanced
performances. Before Cagney's portrayal of Rocky Sullivan,
few
screen gangsters had been presented with so much backstory, or so much
justification for their actions and temperament. As Rocky's
character is transformed by the bitter blows and ironies of life,
Cagney continues to add layers to Rocky's persona and conveys the
weight of Rocky's emotional emotional history in every line he
delivers. Watch THE PUBLIC ENEMY or WHITE HEAT to see what a
great screen personality Cagney was. Watch ANGELS WITH DIRTY
FACES or THE ROARING TWENTIES to see what a great actor he was.
- JL
Also reduced to
window dressing was the lovely and talented Ann Sheridan.
A few years ago, I decided to
have a bunch of
friends sign my acoustic guitar with a Sharpie marker, just to make it
look cool like Willie Nelson's. One of my closest friends, name of
Kevin, prefaced his signature with the phrase "I've been waiting
fifteen years to do this!", a reference to Ann Sheridan's classic
moment when she pulls Rocky Sullivan's hat down over his
forehead. Needless to say, Kevin and I were big Cagney fans,
and
ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES was our favorite Cagney movie. I
don't
know how many times we watched it together, whenever it was on
television, but we had the entire script memorized. Even
today, I
can get a laugh out of him just by saying "And me with dis in me
shoit!" (which is Hollywood New Yawkese for "And me with this in my
shirt!", a line uttered by one of the Dead End Kids in the film).
One time, when Cagney was
still with us in
this world, Kevin and I both sat down and each wrote a letter to him
along with pictures we hoped he would sign. Kevin's began
with
"Dear Mister Cagney: What do you hear, what do you
say?".
Mister Cagney signed the pictures we sent him, and I feel confident
enough to speak for my friend and say that they are the best thing
either of us have in our collection, with the possible exception of a
guitar pick used by Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones, which my
friend Kevin will probably be buried with. I also have
autographs
from tennis legend Steffi Graf (whom I actually named my guitar after),
Velvet Underground founder Lou Reed, Laurel and Hardy producer Hal
Roach and Cagney's fellow Warner Brothers star Ida Lupino, but nothing
tops the thrill of having a Cagney autographed photo hanging on my
wall.
If I haven't got around to
talking about ANGELS
WITH DIRTY FACES, it is probably because the above says it
all:
it is still one of my top ten films, and just writing about it like
this makes me want to see it all over again. - JB
SEQUEL
Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)