Dedicated to his craft, Jimmy Cagney underwent a grueling twelve week training regimen to lose weight and get into shape as a prize fighter. At forty two, his weight had gone up to a hefty one hundred eighty pounds, but his enthusiasm for the film motivated him to drop thirty five pounds for the role. Apparently the film recognized his actual weight in fight posters in which he's listed as a hundred forty five pound welterweight.
"City For Conquest" was one of three pictures teaming Cagney with feisty Ann Sheridan. Both actors are personal favorites of mine, and "Angels With Dirty Faces" earns a spot in my personal Top Ten film list. Like 'Angels' this one will tug at your heartstrings at the finale, although the situations presented are significantly different. Reduced to selling newspapers after a vicious fight in which he loses his eyesight, Danny Kenny (Cagney) is overcome with joy at hearing a symphony his brother (Arthur Kennedy) wrote. Equally moving, Danny is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Peggy (Sheridan).
The picture is non stop in terms of action and dialog. From the opening scenes, there's always a sense of hustle and bustle emanating from the streets and neighborhoods of the picture's locale, New York City. In that respect it's vintage Warner Brothers, brought to life by the crisp black and white photography of James Wong Howe and Sol Polito.
Backing up the principal actors are veteran Warner contract players Donald Crisp and Frank McHugh along with a couple of casting surprises. Anthony Quinn appears as the suave but seedy dance partner who guides Sheridan's character to stardom, and future director Elia Kazan pops up in a small but significant role as one of Danny's friends who goes the gangster route as time goes by. I have to say, his performance seemed pretty natural to me and had he stayed with it, might have made his mark as an actor with the same success he achieved on the other side of the camera.
As good as the film is, and as well as it was received by the public when it was released, this turned out to be a picture Cagney didn't like at all. Part of that stems from his relationship with director Anatole Litvak with whom he argued constantly over the story's interpretation. So much so that he even wrote a letter of apology to Aben Kandel, the writer of the novel on which the film was based. Whether true or not, Cagney swore at the time never to watch another one of his movies. I don't think I would have bet the ranch on that one.
Cagney's last professional work occurred in the 1984 TV movie "Terrible Joe Moran", in which he portrays a retired boxer. That picture offers up a number of scenes in which Cagney is shown mixing it up in the ring and for the longest time I couldn't figure out where the footage came from. Now I know that those clips were inserted from the boxing scenes appearing in "City For Conquest".
"City For Conquest" was one of three pictures teaming Cagney with feisty Ann Sheridan. Both actors are personal favorites of mine, and "Angels With Dirty Faces" earns a spot in my personal Top Ten film list. Like 'Angels' this one will tug at your heartstrings at the finale, although the situations presented are significantly different. Reduced to selling newspapers after a vicious fight in which he loses his eyesight, Danny Kenny (Cagney) is overcome with joy at hearing a symphony his brother (Arthur Kennedy) wrote. Equally moving, Danny is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Peggy (Sheridan).
The picture is non stop in terms of action and dialog. From the opening scenes, there's always a sense of hustle and bustle emanating from the streets and neighborhoods of the picture's locale, New York City. In that respect it's vintage Warner Brothers, brought to life by the crisp black and white photography of James Wong Howe and Sol Polito.
Backing up the principal actors are veteran Warner contract players Donald Crisp and Frank McHugh along with a couple of casting surprises. Anthony Quinn appears as the suave but seedy dance partner who guides Sheridan's character to stardom, and future director Elia Kazan pops up in a small but significant role as one of Danny's friends who goes the gangster route as time goes by. I have to say, his performance seemed pretty natural to me and had he stayed with it, might have made his mark as an actor with the same success he achieved on the other side of the camera.
As good as the film is, and as well as it was received by the public when it was released, this turned out to be a picture Cagney didn't like at all. Part of that stems from his relationship with director Anatole Litvak with whom he argued constantly over the story's interpretation. So much so that he even wrote a letter of apology to Aben Kandel, the writer of the novel on which the film was based. Whether true or not, Cagney swore at the time never to watch another one of his movies. I don't think I would have bet the ranch on that one.
Cagney's last professional work occurred in the 1984 TV movie "Terrible Joe Moran", in which he portrays a retired boxer. That picture offers up a number of scenes in which Cagney is shown mixing it up in the ring and for the longest time I couldn't figure out where the footage came from. Now I know that those clips were inserted from the boxing scenes appearing in "City For Conquest".