The film was selected in 1988 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Starring: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell, Donald Cook, Leslie Fenton, Beryl Mercer, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Murray Kinnell, Mae Clarke, Frank Coghlan Jr., Frankie Darro, Snitz Edwards, Douglas Gerrard, Robert Homans, Eddie Kane, Mia Marvin, Sam McDaniel, Helen Parrish, Lee Phelps, Russ Powell, Purnell Pratt and Lucille Ward.
The screenplay: The screenplay is based on a novel written by two former street thugs, John Bright and Kubec Glasmon, who are said to had witnessed some of Al Capone's murderous gang rivalries in Chicago. The novel was not published and was titled Beer and Blood
Cinematography: Devereaux Jennings
Editing: Ed McCormick
- The editing, like in most black and white films, was subtle and smooth. The jump cuts and fades from one scene to a next were brilliantly done. So well, in fact, that I often didn't notice. It played out like a well written book might.
- The editing, like in most black and white films, was subtle and smooth. The jump cuts and fades from one scene to a next were brilliantly done. So well, in fact, that I often didn't notice. It played out like a well written book might.
Costume: Costume design by Edward Stevenson and Wardrobe department Earl Luick
- The costumes used were a collection of fashionable and regular clothes from the 1917s. The main attention to costume was to the main characters where you judge their lifestyle instantly by the way they are dressed. Firstly, as children, they were wearing worn and tattered clothing, and with the way they spoke and presented themselves told of the middle or lower class upbringing. This was later enhanced by who they hung out with, knew and their family home.
The costumes remain around this state until the character's statuses change and they go 'up in the world', earning money, however illegally it's done, and buying finer clothes whilst hanging around a different class of people.
- The costumes used were a collection of fashionable and regular clothes from the 1917s. The main attention to costume was to the main characters where you judge their lifestyle instantly by the way they are dressed. Firstly, as children, they were wearing worn and tattered clothing, and with the way they spoke and presented themselves told of the middle or lower class upbringing. This was later enhanced by who they hung out with, knew and their family home.
The costumes remain around this state until the character's statuses change and they go 'up in the world', earning money, however illegally it's done, and buying finer clothes whilst hanging around a different class of people.
Visual effects:
Acting performance:
Sound design: David Mendoza
Production design: A lot of the characters shown in the film were based on actual people. Edward Woods was originally cast in the lead until the director decided James Cagney would be more effective and switched the two actors, there was also another reason for the switch and that was because of the sound technology used, it was superior to what had been used in earlier films and made it no longer imperative to have an actor in the lead who had impeccable enunciation. James Cagney was seen as uncouth compared to Edward Woods which helped to target the working class audiences during the Great Depression.
Within the scene where Mike Powers punches his brother Tom, the director privately took Donald Cook aside and explained his desire for authenticity in the reaction and asked the actor to really hit James Cagney. Donald Cook agreed and did as he had been asked, perhaps a little too well, and hit James Cagney so hard that he actually broke one of James Cagney's teeth. In spite of this, James Cagney stayed in character and played the rest of the scene. Another incident well documented was the fact that live ammunition was used in the scene where Tom Powers ducks around a corner of a building to take cover from machine gun fire; the use of live ammunition was common practice at that time. The bullets struck the wall of the building at the position where James Cagney's head had been just a moment prior.
The one thing that remains in my mind from the entire film, is not what most people would pick themselves which would most probably be the grape fruit scene, as it is famous and often talked about. What got stuck in my mind and had me questioning everything the film had shown and was about, was the ending. The ending is so sudden, so shocking, that it both astonished and enraged me. Is Tom dead? What does his death prove or accomplish? Why was his body taken to his mother's house, what does that signify? Was it a statement? Was it meant to give a message? Was the message to the family or to the audience? What will his brother do? The emotions shown on his brother's face when the body was returned, were of panic, sadness, anger, revenge and lastly defeat.
