| Buy the VHS |   |
| Genre: | Classics |
| Year: | 1931 |
| Rating: | NR |
| Cast: | William Wellman, James Cagney, Edward Woods, Donald Cook |
America's love affair with the cowboys and desperadoes of the Old West -- fodder of so many hits in the silent era -- is transferred to the urban environment for the 1931 classic The Public Enemy. We meet Tom Power (James Cagney) and his pal Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) as Chicago street urchins who grow from young hoodlums to mob enforcers during prohibition. Raised in the school of hard knocks by a fence known as Putty Nose (Murray Kinnell), Matt and Tom hit the big time with bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Swinging into the high society of the criminal element, Tom falls for a beautiful girl named Kitty (Mae Clarke) but can't stay put and quickly moves on to the even greater temptation of Gwen Allen (Jean Harlow). Tom's doting Ma (Beryl Mercer) turns a blind eye to his career, but his war-hero brother Mike (Donald Cook) is furious and sees that nothing good can come of Tom's life. The Public Enemy, directed by William Wellman (The Ox-Bow Incident), is perhaps the best of Hollywood's early celebrations of the criminal entrepreneurial spirit -- and, of course, Mike is there as a one-man banner for American truism. For, ultimately, crime does not pay, but boy all that opulence and gunplay sure is fun for a while! Matthew Johnson
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