The Public Enemy 1931 Directed by William A. Wellman Warner Bros. B/W

"Half a grapefruit up close and personal"

Oscar nomination...

Best Writing, Original Story ...John Bright, Kubec Glasmon

Arabella's notes.......

How did that tall, dark-haired kid grow down into that cocky, red-headed hellion?
Well, it seems that after the opening scenes were already shot, someone (like the director, maybe?) realized that Jimmy was playing the wrong part. So Jimmy was put in the lead, taking over for Eddie Woods who then took over for Jimmy and..well, you get the point.
And, with Jack Warner's edict that faster and cheaper were better, no one dared re-shoot the opening scenes. And, since we are talking about shooting, those were real bullets they used. They hired a guy named Bailey, a machine gunner from WWI,and gave him his own rat-a-tat and live ammo. Jimmy has good reason to thank the Lord for his fast footwork. A second too late and "curtains!", lace ones. However, in one scene, James wasn't quite fast enough and got a left hook in the kisser. Donald Cook must have been looking at luscious Jean Harlow and forgot to pull the punch. Filming had to be stopped while Jimmy had a tooth repaired. Now I'm not going to tell you the ending but it lent new meaning to "Mummy's home!"

Look for....

...Great performances from the girls, Mae Clark and Jean Harlow. Mae made grapefruit a Domestic Court icon.

....This was the first low-budget film ever to gross over a million dollars.

Oscar Nomination.....
Best Picture

Arabella's notes.....

Jimmy and Pat O'Brien may have been life-long pals off the set but, in this film, they were definitely not palsy-walsy. Pat took a vacation from his usual clerical garb to play Biff Martin, a Chief Petty Officer with a grudge. Jim, as Chester (Chesty) O'Connor didn't make any points when he pursued Biff's sister, either. Then they were both assigned to a lighter-than-air unit (that's dirigibles, folks) and got into more trouble with a rope! Unfortunately the trouble carried from the reel to the real world. A mishap caused both actors severe rope burns on their hands. I think they must have drawn lots on the set as to who'd go tell Jack Warner there would be a delay!
Jimmy treated the girls much better in this film ( probably due to the new edicts handed down by the Legion of Decency). Most fans think this is one of the best Cagney-O'Brien pictures.

Look for....

. Frank McHugh ("Droopy" Mullins)*
. Gloria Stuart (Dot Martin).... she was news lately in "Titanic"
.Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Dance Floor Manager)

* great supporting performances

Oscar nomination.....
Best Actor... James Cagney
Best Director.. Michael Curtiz
Best Writing, Original Story... Rowland Brown

New York Film Critics Circle Award 1938....
Best Actor.... James Cagney

Arabella's Notes......

Jimmy is back to being a hoodlum, and Pat is back in black. They play two street kids who grow up on opposite sides of the law. Unfortunately, to the new kids in the old neighborhood, it's the hoodlum, Rocky Sullivan, that they idolize which makes Father Jerry's job pretty tough. When Rocky shoots it out with his sleazy ex-partner (played extra-sleazy by Humphrey Bogart) Rocky is sent up and sentenced to the "chair". Father Jerry wants him to turn yellow at the final hour so the kids will see the error of his ways. Does he die with attitude intact or does the good father get his miracle? Watch it and see..it's on video.
Meanwhile. back on the set, Jimmy was having a lot of trouble controlling some scene-stealing Dead End Kids. But one eye-ball to eye-ball with Cagney and they quickly settled down. However, they still made things hot for Bogart. They weren't afraid of him! And it was in this movie that Jimmy finally refused to outrun real ammo and insisted they do the scene "in process" (filming Jim, then filming the gunfire and superimposing them). a longer method. When Jimmy checked later, a bullet was where he had been!

Look for...

...Humphrey Bogart (James Frazier)*
...Ann Sheridan (Laury)*
...William Tracy (Jerry as a boy)

The Oklahoma Kid Directed by Lloyd Bacon Warner Bros. B/W

"I'm going after them"

Arabella's notes....

This was Jimmy's first Western and it was originally intended to be a more serious drama about the life of the mountain men..until Warner's gave it the standard studio treatment. Jimmy claimed that the film ended up as just another "oater". I would agree if it weren't for those extra Cagney touches that lifted it out of the ordinary. First, the line "Feel the air...just feel it" complete with gestures (he picked that one up from a friend)! Then the finale where he turns to his girl's father, hands him his hat and then goes into the clinch! But perhaps the best one was when he secretly learned how to lasso a horse with a rope, prempted the wrangler who was supposed to do it, and shocked Ward Bond who was riding the horse at the time.

In the movie Jim is the prodigal son who steps outside the law to avenge his father's death by corrupt town officials. He gets to shoot Bogart again and he gets the girl. But the most poignant moments are the scenes where he sings!..first a lullaby (yep!) in English and Spanish to a baby and then, in a bar scene, he sings Cagney, Sr.'s favorite song "I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard"!

Look for....

...Donald Crisp (Judge Hardwick)*
...Rosemary Lane (Jane Hardwick)*
...Humprey Bogart (Whip McCord)
...Ward Bond (Wes Handley)

*Great supporting performances

Arabella's notes...

As Jimmy so fondly put it, this movie is chock full of "Irish Micks"...himself, Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale, George Brent, and Tommy Dugan. It was a fictional story about a real regiment in WWI, the famous "Fighting Irish" regiment from New York, and Pat played a real priest, Father Duffy. The rest of the story was pure Warner Brothers. Jimmy plays Jerry Plunkett, a cocky, know-it-all rebel ( what else is new?) until he gets a taste of battle and can't handle it. It's Father Duffy to the rescue finally and Jim not only redeems himself but becomes a hero.
This was a highly successful film for Warner and it salved the wounds in the budget office for the high price they paid for those battle scenes. Watch for the scene where Jeffrey Lynn, as poet Joyce Kilmer, makes poetry out of a sloughing march through the mud. It is even more stirring when you consider the real Kilmer never returned from that war.
This was also a milestone for Jimmy Cagney.... the beginning of a new decade free of gangster movies.

Look for...

...George Brent (Wild Bill Donovan)*
...Jeffrey Lynn (Joyce Kilmer)*
...Alan Hale (Sergeant "Big Mike" Wynn)
...Frank McHugh ("Crepe-Hanger" Burke)
...Dennis Morgan (Lt. Ames)
...Dick Foran (John Wynn)
...William Lundigan (Timmy Wynn)
...George Reeves (Jack O'Keefe) the future Superman!

Oscar Award ...............

Best Actor .....James Cagney
Best Score..... Ray Heindorf
                 ......Heinz Roemfeld
Best Sound Recording...... Nathan Levinson

Oscar nominations..............
Best Supporting Actor..... Walter Huston
Best Director .....Michael Curtiz
Best Film Editing..... George Amy
Best Picture..... William Cagney
                    ......Hal B. Wallis
                    ......Jack l. Warner
Best Original Story...... Robert Buckner

New York Film Critics Circle Award (1942)
Best Acto......... James Cagney

Arabella's Notes........

The cameras were ready, the crew was ready and shooting should have started any minute...except everyone was glued to the radio. The President of the United States had just informed the nation that we were at war! It must have been hard to dance and sing under that onus but..it was done and done well. Jimmy got his only Academy Award for this film!
James Cagney was perfect for the role of George M. Cohan. They were about the same size (Jim was 2 inches taller), Jimmy's red hair photographed blonde and they both wore their irish heritage right on their face. Further more, Jimmy said "once a song and dance man, always a song and dance man!". But he faithfully copied George's stiff-legged dancing style. However, there were a few changes. The name "Mary" was given to Cohan's wife (George had two, neither named Mary). Since there was a clause in the contract that said no love scenes (George's idea) Jimmy just sang "Mary" sweetly to his 17-year-old co-star, Joan Leslie. And Jeanne Cagney got to play George's sister Josie.
The heart-wrenching scene was Jimmy weeping at his father's deathbed. More than one take was ruined by sobbing on the set...and once it was the director!

Look for.....

...Walter Huston (Jerry Cohan)*
...Richard Whorf (Sam Harris)
...Rosemary DeCamp (Nellie Cohan)
...George Tobias (Dietz)*
...S.Z.Sakall (Schwab)*
...Douglas Croft (George at 13)*
*great supporting performances

Oscar Nomination............
Best Writing, Motion Picture Story...... Virginia Kellogg

Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination......
.Best Picture....... Ivan Goff
                     .......Virginia Kellogg
                     .......Ben Roberts

Arabella's notes.........

Well, it's back to Warner after seven years, and right back to gangster roles. Jimmy decided to put a twist ( as in twisted) on this one! He plays Cody Jarrett as a sadistic, psychotic killer with jumbo headaches and an attachment to his mother that really chills out Oedipus Rex. More Cagneyisms: the climb up into his mother's lap, and the finale on the oil tank..."Made it, Ma! Top of the world! " But Jimmy wasn't happy. He wanted to do more positive films that families could go to see. Unfortunately for that morale-building idea, the movie was a huge success and Warner Bros. figured if it "ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Look for....

...Virginia Mayo(Verna Jarrett)
...Edmond O'Brien (Vic pardo/Hank Fallon)*
...Margaret Wycherly(Ma Jarrett)*
...Steve Cochran (Big Ed Somers)

Love Me or Leave Me (1955) Directed by Charles Vidor MGM Color

"The Conversation Turned Ugly."

Oscar Award....................
.Best Writing, Motion Picture Story......... Daniel Fuchs

Oscar Nominations..........
.Best Actor...... JamesCagney
Best Score....... Percy Faith
                .........George E. Stoll
Best Song....... "I'll Never Stop Loving You"
                ........Nicholas Brodszky (music)
                ........Sammy Kahn ( lyrics)
Best Sound Recording...... Wesley C, Miller

Best writing of a Screenplay....... Daniel Fuchs
                                             .........Isobel Lennart

Writers Guild of America Award.....
Best Written American Musical....Daniel Fuchs
                                                 .....Isobel Lennart

Arabella's Notes......

Jimmy and Doris day had worked together in "The West Point Story" but neither of them had ever worked for MGM before. Jimmy liked this film from the start. He said it was the first time he had read a "perfect script"! Jimmy was to play the role of Martin "The Gimp" Snyder, mobster manager-husband of jazz age entertainer Ruth Etting. Marty had a decided limp left over from prenatal polio hence the nickname. Jimmy studied the limp from every angle until he could do it effortlessly. Even Marty himself was impressed. The New York Herald Tribune said "In every mannerism - heavy limp, coarse speech, taunting sarcasm, flashes of rage - he molds an obnoxious character who tramples over everybody in his lust for power". ( I bet Marty didn't think that was impressive!)

The movie garnered six Academy award nominations and one Oscar but Jimmy was flabbergasted that none of them were for Doris Day's excellent performance as Ruth Etting. And there is no denying that Cameron Mitchell did a bang-up job (no pun intended) as the pianist shot by Marty in a jealous rage. Jimmy lost out to Ernest Borgnine who won for "Marty", in the Best Actor category.

Look for..........

...Robert Keith (Bernie Loomis)
...Tom Tully (Frobisher)

Mr. Roberts (1955) Directed by John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, Joshua Logan Warner Bros. Color

The Captain versus Ensign Pulver

Oscar Award.....................
Best Actor .......Jack Lemmon
Best Picture....... Leland Hayward
Best Sound Recording...... William A. Mueller

British Academy nomination.....
Best Foreign Actor....... Jack Lemmon

Writer's Guild of America Award ...
Best Written American Comedy........ Joshua Logan
                                                 .........Frank S. Nugent

Arabella's Notes........

Jimmy treated working on this film more like a paid vacation. It was filmed on location on Midway Island and in Hawaii. Jimmy and Bill Powell spent a lot of time beach-bumming it between work calls. It was Jim's first second banana role since before The Public Enemy and he was loving it. He also finally got to meet the young actor he had been trying to sign under the Cagney Productions banner years before...Jack Lemmon.
Cagney was cast as the captain with Henry Fonda in the role of Mr, Roberts, William Powell as Doc and Lemmon as Ensign Pulver. Jimmy had a scene with Lemmon that absolutely cracked him up. Every time he asked Pulver "How long have you been on this ship?" and Pulver answers "Fourteen months" Cagney would start laughing. So finally in desperation he told Lemmon they would have to practice until Jimmy could do it without laughing. It took almost forever but the scene was eventually in the can. But the picture was definitely Jack Lemmon's all the way.

Look for....

...William Powell (Doc)*
...Betsy Palmer ( Lt. Ann Girard)
...Ward Bond (Chief Dowdy)
...Nick Adams (Reber)

Tribute to a Bad Man (1961) Directed by Robert Wise MGM Color

"It's my land and my rules."

Arabella's notes.....

Jimmy is back in the saddle again in this film about an aging land baron, Jeremy Rodock, who gives no quarter and regards hanging as the answer to world peace. And if cattle rustlers think that's bad, he has even nastier things in store for them. Meanwhile back at the ranch, beautiful Irene Pappas is waiting. She loves Jeremy but fears that cruel side of him. And, of course, there's Don Dubbins who would gladly take her away from it all. But Jeremy learns his lesson and goes after her when she leaves. The movie was filmed on location in Colorado. The role of Jeremy was originally given to Spencer Tracy but when Spence fell ill, Jimmy was asked to fill in. It was a good choice.

Look for......

...Stephen McNally (McNulty)
...Vic Morrow (Lars Peterson)
...Royal Dano (Abe)
...Lee Van Cleef (Fat Jones)
...Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Peterson)

Oscar nomination...............
Best Cinematography, Black & White ......Daniel I. Fapp

Laurel Award nomination....
.Top Male Comedy Performance........ James Cagney

Writer's Guild of America nomination....
Best Written American Comedy....... I.A.L. Diamond
                                                  ........Billy Wilder

Arabella's notes.....

This was to be the last film for Jimmy. He retired to the farm and didn't leave it until much later when "Ragtime" came along and he changed his mind.She was in love with a Communist East Berliner (Horst Bucholtz) and secretly marries him putting C.R.'s job in jeopardy. Jimmy calls it a "fast comedy...sixty miles on the curves and a hundred on the straightaway!" But life on the set was not to Jim's liking. He couldn't get along easily with Wilder and was so fed up with Bucholtz he was "going to knock (him) on his ass" at one point. He did like Pamela Tiffin and thought, if she got the right breaks, she would be a star. The movie was made on location in Munich with a mostly European cast. But look for Arlene Francis in the role of Phyllis McNamara.