115. Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

Directed By Michael Curtiz

Synopsis

Two boys grow up rough in the big city. One of them gets caught and is sent to jail, the other one straightens himself out, and they end up at opposite sides of the tracks. Cagney as the bad boy ends up killed by the same institution that created him, in the electric chair.

Review

This is the second Michael Curtiz film in a row on the list, but contrary to Robin Hood, this is a great film in all aspects. You can really tell that Curtiz felt a lot stronger about the subject of this film than Robin Hood. Then you have a collection of actors that is nothing if not spectacular, James Cagney is brilliant and so is Pat O'Brien. Humphrey Bogart has a small part here as he wasn't a star yet, but each time he shows up he lights up the screen, and then surprisingly for child actors the "Dead End" kids are really good actors as well.

The film is not, however, just a class in acting, it is also a class in directing, from the camera angles to the shadows to the impressive execution scene and the amazing sets, particularly at the beginning of the film, everything here is exquisitely crafted.

Then there's the plot, something which has been done to death after this film, the two kids who grew up to be different people but there is a very strong underlying social message here, at the same time anti-crime but also anti the institutions that try to solve crime, the police is corrupt, prisons are crime schools and the death penalty feels like a cruel and unusal punishment for a character that you learned to love even with all his faults.

An essential film for anyone interested in gangster films, put it on your shelf next to Little Caesar, Scarface, Public Enemy. Get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:


* Warner Brothers created a 1939 cartoon that spoofed the movie called Thugs with Dirty Mugs.

* During the 1950's, three Argentinian footballers - Antonio Angelillo, Enrique Sivori and Humberto Maschio - formed a talented inside forward line for their Country. They acquired the nickname "Angels with Dirty Faces" when they all moved to Italy in the latter part of the decade to play for the likes of Juventus. The name was given on account of their typically South American colour and ability. They were also known as ‘The Trio of Death’ because of their clinical finishing.

* A parody of the film appears in Home Alone as Angels with Filthy Souls. In the parody, Gangster Johnny fires a lengthy machine gun salvo before remarking, "Keep the change, ya filthy animal." In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, we see scenes from a sequel to that film, Angels with Even Filthier Souls. In the sequel, Johnny fires his Tommy gun before saying "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal. And a Happy New Year.". In the two movies, Kevin uses the movies as an illusion to make others think that they were talking to Johnny, and that he was shooting at them. Hardcore band, Angels with Filthy Souls, are named after this reference.

* It's Never Too Late, an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, alludes to Angels by telling the story of the Stromwell brothers, one of whom grows up to be a mob boss, the other a priest.

* The famous Irish bar "Rocky Sullivan's Pub" in New York City was named after Cagney's character.

* Several musical artists, including Sugababes and Tricky, have used the title "Angels with Dirty Faces" as the name of their album. Others, including Sum 41, Sham 69 and Los Lobos, have songs entitled "Angels with Dirty Faces", although Sum 41's version is actually a reference to another band's name.

* In the early 90s an Indian version of the film was made. Called "Raam Janey", it cast Shahrukh Khan in the role of Rocky. The movie was quite faithful to the original (albeit Indianized), but was a box office failure.


Look at how a trailer can give you exactly the wrong image of a film, this whole trailer is cut to make Cagney look really evil, which he then isn't: