Prohibition crime-drama full of nervy street-smarts and overheated bravado. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart (making somewhat uneasy screen-partners, particularly in their early scenes) play World War I buddies who meet up again years after returning home; Cagney has become a big-time distributor of bootleg gin, while Bogart, the strong-arm for a racketeer, has the idea that if he and his old pal team up, they'll be unstoppable (there's really no reason for Jimmy to say yes, except for old times' sake). Cagney's character gets the interesting story arc over trigger-happy Bogie, and his loyalty to nice-girl songbird Priscilla Lane and friendship with affable cohort Frank McHugh is rather charming. Some of the rapid-fire dialogue is juicy and a pleasure to listen to but, unfortunately, the characters fall too soon into cliché, and the cynical comedic edge developed in the first-half disappears altogether (most likely due to the myriad of script-writers who worked on the project). Director Raoul Walsh's montages showing the passage of time--and the loss of morals in America--comes off like finger-wagging, shaming the audience for its reckless behavior, which is the last thing you'd expect in a snarling meller from Warners. **1/2 from ****

James Cagney as Boot-Legger kingpin Eddie Bartlett drinks "cow juice" exclusively as he rises to the top of the illegal booze biz, but fuel's his downhill slide with "the hard stuff" when She does him wrong. Priscilla Lane is perfectly cast as Eddie's teasing Femme Fatale Jean, while Humphrey Bogart is not much more than a window dressing piece of furniture only to be used by Jean to flatten her no longer convenient love triangle. Bogart's big moment comes less than five minutes into this ROARING TWENTIES tale, when he gleefully guns down a German teenager three seconds before an Armistice ends WWI. Like many "Great War" heroes, Sgt. Bartlett is all but forced at gunpoint by the U.S. government into a life of crime. As I heard a couple weeks ago on the Coast-to-Coast overnight news program, American President Hoover had future U.S. WWII generals Eisenhower, Patton, and MacArthur expend this country's leftover supply of poison gas to liquidate thousands of WWI vets (plus their wives and kids) when they came to Washington, DC, to lobby for restoration of their pension "guarantees" which Hoover had embezzled. (These were the original "I can't breathe" demonstrations.)

Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn), Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) and George Hally (Humphrey Bogart) are war buddies after falling into the same bomb crater. After the end of WWI, Lloyd goes back to practicing law. It's the start of prohibition. Eddie is out of luck without a job and Danny Green offers him his cab. He goes to see his pen pal Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane) but she turns out to be a school girl. He gets thrown in jail after being tricked into delivering a bottle. Panama Smith (Gladys George) pays the fine to get him out of jail. Eddie soon joins Panama in the business. He becomes successful with a fleet of cabs. He keeps Lloyd as his reluctant lawyer. Then he runs into an older Jean. When he fights another bootlegger, he runs into George who's running liquor for the another guy. George convinces Eddie to join forces.The only problem for this movie is that Bogie doesn't come back until after an hour. So a warning to his fans, this is more a Cagney film. I would have preferred they stay together through the whole movie. That would make any double cross more compelling and any fights more heart breaking. There is singing, and there is gangster violence. It's a nice gangster movie with a couple of big gangster stars.

A battlefield in WWI is the setting for the opening of this story. Three men find shelter in a trench. As it happens, the trio will get involved later on during peace time in ways that will alter their lives. The lives of Eddie Bartlett, George Hally, and Lloyd Hart will keep crossing one another as peace is declared and they go back home to New York....Eddie Bartlett comes home to find out he is unemployed. The position he had as a mechanic is no longer there for him. Remembering his pen pal Jean Sherman, who sent him all sorts of goodies while he was at the front, he decides to meet to thank her for her kindness. His pal, Danny Green, who did not go to war, is happy to take him to Mineola to see this war pal. What he did not realize Jean is a teenager still at school living with her mother in that suburban setting.As Prohibition was enacted, enterprising men like Eddie Bartlett saw a silver lining in the fact they could make a lot of money in making their own booze, distributed in different venues of the city. Eddie became friendly with Panama Smith, a sometime singer who owned a speakeasy. Eddie figured it was the perfect setting in which to sell his merchandise. George Hally came on board to the illegal operation. Lloyd, who was a lawyer, joins the group as Eddie asked him to help Panama beat a charge. As he becomes successful, Eddie discovers Jean again working as a chorus girl in a musical revue. He wants to give her a chance as a singer at Panama's joint. Eventually, George breaks his association with Eddie to go on his own. The two men will become rivals. Eddie, loving Jean, sees her fall in love with Lloyd who could offer her a decent home away from that environment. Panama, who secretly loved Eddie, is the only one that stayed with him when the empire he had built comes crashing down.One of the best films of 1939, this Warner Bros. picture was directed by Raoul Walsh. Based on a story by Mark Hellinger, the screenplay was written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen. Prohibition, as shown in the film brought out the worst in people. An ill conceived law that brought the criminal element to control the illegal liquor, was devastating for the country that was followed by the Great Depression. The film was photographed by one of the best cameramen of the era, Ernest Haller.An inspired James Cagney is a magnetic presence in the film. His Eddie is one of the best roles he played during his distinguished career in the movies. Humphrey Bogart is seen as George Hally in an understated performance. Gladys George made an excellent contribution to the film with her Panama Smith, the tough girl in the illegal booze circuit. Priscilla Lane is seen as Jean, a decent girl out of her league as she became a singer. The great Frank McHugh appeared as Danny Green and Jeffrey Lynn as Lloyd.