This was a real pre code surprise. The writers really had some fun at the expense of the gangster genre and the Hollywood studio machine. Cagney looks as if he enjoyed every minute in this film, having as much fun as he did in Footlight Parade. Highlights of this film are the scam that Mae Clark runs - dropping purses to lure men to her apartment. Cagneys bit as an Indian Chief with his Yiddish name. Cagney in bar - looking like he's about to become a lost man. My personal favorite - Cagney writing his own fan mail to get better film parts. You know this bit came from a real story in early Hollywood. Cagney tossing Mae Clark out of his apartment. That was a nice bit of stunt work on her part. The dialogue is fast, the morals loose, and the story improbable. The end is a joke, more like a Keystone Kops crossed with a gangster film. I think that might have been the point too. If it looks and smells like a send up - then it probably is. Why bother with 'reality' TV trash when there are fun films like this to discover.
Review of Lady Killer
