Movie Stats:
Released 1931 (USA)
American, in English
Director - William A. Wellman
Stars - James Cagney, Edward Woods, Jean Harlow
Plot Summary:
It’s the story of childhood friends Tom Powers (Cagney) & Matt Doyle (Woods), who begin their life of crime at a young age, eventually graduating to the dangerous world of bootleg liquor during Prohibition. Harlow co-stars as Tom’s love interest, Gwen Allen.
Warnings:
Violence; minor gore; rape (offscreen).
Bad Stuff:
The moralizing is ridiculous. It’s not even that I disagree with it (I consider it best to stay away from a life of crime); it’s just so in-your-face and histrionic. It reminded me of the song “We Both Reached for the Gun” from the musical Chicago, which exhorts people to stay away from “jazz and liquor.”
It felt really disjointed, more like s series of vignettes than a cohesive film.
It’s dull.
Good Stuff:
[BIG SPOILER]
I really admired what it did with the rape. First of all, rape of males is very rarely portrayed in film. Rape of males by females is even more rarely portrayed. (In case you’re wondering: a female character gets Tom drunk & has sex with him even though he says no. He doesn’t remember until she tells him. She doesn’t think she did anything wrong.) And even rarer still, the fact that Tom is horrified by what happened, so horrified that he leaves his hideout, which ultimately leads to both his & Matt’s demise. It was a nice change from the standard societal response of “at least you got laid lololol” to male victims of female sexual aggression.
[SPOILER]
I liked Beryl Mercer as Tom’s mother, Ma, and I really liked her character as well. She behaved the way I would expect a real mother to.
About the Performance:
This was a poor choice for Harlow because, much to my irritated surprise, she’s barely in it. On her IMDB page, it’s her #1 “known for” film! That’s why I chose it! I think she has maybe 10 total minutes of screen time, and she hardly says or does anything in those 10 minutes. I’m frankly shocked she received top billing alongside Cagney, because her character isn’t remotely integral to the plot. That said, what little I saw of her, I didn’t care for. Her performance felt like a performance, and an affected one at that. However, I wasn’t completely turned off. I would like to see something else of hers, to get a better handle on her acting ability (this was my first Harlow film). Side note: she has a truly impressive number of credits (43) for a woman who died at the age of 26.
Other performances of Harlow’s I’ve reviewed: none.
The Verdict:
I didn’t like this film at all. It was a huge disappointment because normally I love old gangster films. For some reason, this one just didn’t do it for me. I thought it was preachy and boring and (as much as I liked Mercer) there weren’t any “wow” performances. Plus, I was really annoyed that Harlow got top billing when she’s hardly in it.
I give it 2.25 stars.
2 comments:
Well that is quite disappointing, and annoying. I can't say I've seen any Jean Harlow films, but I'm going to take a guess that Goldie would be one, as her character's name is Goldie. Who knows though, she could still have 10 minutes of screen time.
Also, bummer of an early death. 26. Sheesh.
Kidney failure! Sounds as though she was in poor health for at least a year, however, perhaps exacerbated by having scarlet fever as a child. If I were going to choose another Harlow film, I might go with Platinum Blonde. I was talking about it with a friend the other week, how I'd been having some choice regret, and she asked if I was going to do more, so it's possible I may go through a second pass, if not for the whole list, for a few of them at least.
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