PAUL MUNI & BETTE DAVIS IN THE PRE-NOIR OF 'BORDERTOWN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU_vmpAz5esDOdEq79i7Zb0NEe2qri_2C69tpBgwmc69P_ETNNpqurCpJxTMgZyalINw3pEDax0VRlr1zn4mNLzLLEtQTuL_XiENSqkPOyKCIyLiVSwUiCDg1KkN64bV9Y7LWB-uL6bxXij6Zg45UXtmr5fYmQuczM1wwvua2A4YEin2Dc8w2Jjc-WQw=s1426" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU_vmpAz5esDOdEq79i7Zb0NEe2qri_2C69tpBgwmc69P_ETNNpqurCpJxTMgZyalINw3pEDax0VRlr1zn4mNLzLLEtQTuL_XiENSqkPOyKCIyLiVSwUiCDg1KkN64bV9Y7LWB-uL6bxXij6Zg45UXtmr5fYmQuczM1wwvua2A4YEin2Dc8w2Jjc-WQw=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BORDERTOWN Year: 1935 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The early Noir THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT starring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart was a remake of the earlier Noir BORDERTOWN starring SCARFACE actor and Gangster-genre pioneer Paul Muni, starting out as a poor lawyer so overly-idealistic he's bound to fail in business, and love...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Herein classy-rich, out-of-his league Margaret Lindsay is the roundabout reason Muni's forced to retire his law practice and, like I AM A FUGITIVE OF A CHAIN-GANG, he wanders montage-style by foot, winding up where most of the programmer's action takes place...</p><p><span></span></p>

bette davis, film noir or melodrama, gangster, margaret lindsay, mexico, paul muni, thirties, warner archives, wrong man

PAUL MUNI & BETTE DAVIS IN THE PRE-NOIR OF 'BORDERTOWN'

Title: BORDERTOWN Year: 1935 Rating: *** The early Noir THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT starring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart was a remake of the ear...

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=s746" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="746" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-52KXpD3y8osOJ2sVhnho3EH5Ora_MwqV0r9cy7K6LOQ8ct7iup3uohpts314obzljRlqXYL4aLWOLZTjf0qTDRaQZaGsxpehViwxwq_OS_ZB07BUWNrF2Hv3BufkmPjNNJHE4JBS-yhT9vFY9QJIafm83wQbKYbZ4EYgtZxXRA1R8A5N7-emZHMvcQ=w400-h271" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he's almost shanghaied in San Fransisco's 19th Century cutthroat/bar-brawling territory, you just know that new-guy-in-town "Bat Morgan" will get his revenge, and then some...</p><p></p><p>And that <i>some</i> is the kind of "let's band together to make one unbreakable monopolizing outfit" that occurs in just about every gangster flick that FRISCO KID is a time-period version of... </p><p>With either extremely shady or friendly characters surrounding our initially sympathetic turned determined casino-owner, from big boss Barton MacClane's hook-hand henchman The Shanghai Duck to gambler Ricardo Cortez as Cagney's backstabbing second to an affable sidekick to classy ingenue Margaret Lindsay flanked by token idealist Donald Woods (foreshadowing THE ROARING TWENTIES Paul Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Patricia Lane and Jeffrey Lynn respectively); the latter a newspaperman ready to stomp the unlawful shenanigans that Cagney's Morgan is only partially responsible for, providing yet another "crime doesn't pay" plot-line that needed more levity climbing to that inevitably unsteady pinnacle... only this time it's all pretty serious business.  </p><p><span></span></p>

action, classic gangster, donald woods, george e. stone, james cagney, margaret lindsay, ricordo cortez, thirties, time period

JAMES CAGNEY IN 'FRISCO KID' WITH MARGARET LINDSAY

Year: 1935 Rating: ***1/2 One of the more severe early James Cagney features features Cagney as a character with a name so tough, once he...

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s1079" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="1079" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-PjgA3mYV5jPxIn_fnZrnop3pdu4MegL-nV2kZexaRe8e8_FiOtClOnTVMk3bvBjCQXaq8BtlVP4TseDOc5Z4ot2xp7sPlyUR1kbF1b4ZMfQlh85lPsWyuFTfGnm2czCRa3TnUsxFyx62s5mQDeBLNsdQJGYaNdcpJC1lGamr3icmXvr23015p1CmAQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie theater, so his character’s already geared towards the lights, camera and especially action (and distraction from the very start. But he’s quickly derailed, conned by PUBLIC ENEMY siren Mae Clarke into a rigged card game involving Douglass Dumbrille and his gang of crooks... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But Cagney's Dan Quigley, after catching on, instead of getting angry, or even, or both, he joins and eventually leads the group into nightclub ownership and then a bigger heist that lands them in real dough, and real trouble...</p><p><span></span></p>

comedy, crime, douglass dumbrille, hollywood satire, james cagney, mae clarke, margaret lindsay, thirties, warner archives

JAMES CAGNEY 'LADY KILLER' MAE CLARKE & MARGARET LINDSAY

Title: LADY KILLER Year: 1933 Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke Rating: **** James Cagney plays a shifty usher at a movie th...