WARNER BROS. PICTURES TOUGH GUYS COLLECTION
Warner Home Video, $59.98
In the 1930s, Universal owned the horror franchise, and RKO had Fred Astaire. But Warner Bros. had cock o’ the walk gangster James Cagney, which trumped them both. “Every time I see him work,” commented Will Rogers, “I’m reminded of a whole bunch of firecrackers going off all at once.” Gritty urban melodramas like The Public Enemy introduced a new breed of movie icon – streetwise “tough guys” like Cagney, dapper George Raft, pug-ugly Edward G. Robinson, and up-and-comer Humphrey Bogart (invariably fourth-billed). These weren’t mere actors, they were new American archetypes, with legions of impressionable young boys mimicking their trademark mannerisms and staccato rat-a-tat delivery. But by the mid-Thirties, prohibition was repealed, and the Breen Office was pressuring the studio to set a better example for America’s youth. Nothing can suck the fun out of the Big House faster than a reformed criminal.
A frustrated Cagney left Warner in search of more diverse roles, and when he returned, he got what he wanted – but it wasn’t what moviegoers craved. Audiences preferred Cagney on the wrong side of the law, not playing heroic roles in such schoolmarm morality tales as G Men, Each Dawn I Die (wherein he was paired with his old rival, Raft), and City for Conquest. A law-abiding Cagney was mostly fuse with very little bang. Warner tried to revive the ailing genre by adding romance (usually Ann Sheridan), gauche musical numbers, and comedy. They even mutated the genre in 1938’s A Slight Case of Murder, taking Robinson’s “Little Caesar” persona and casting him into out-and-out farce. After that, what was left but Bugs Bunny parodies? This six-disc box set spotlights the end of an era, an intriguing glimpse into both a studio and society in transition. The main attractions may fire mostly blanks, but the special features pack real heat: Each movie comes with a “Warner Night at the Movies” package, re-creating a typical circa-1930s night out at the movies, complete with period newsreels, cartoons, shorts, and coming attractions. Add to that studio blooper reels, audio commentary, radio broadcasts, and new featurettes, and you have a connoisseur’s dream.
ALSO OUT NOW
Chaplin Mutual Comedies: Restored 90th Anniversary Edition (Image; $59.99): “The happiest years of my life” was how Charles Chaplin described his period at Mutual, and it’s evident in this gloriously restored collection of all 12 shorts from his most inventive period. I’d trade a dozen City Lights for one pristine copy of The Immigrant.
This article appears in July 21 • 2006.