The Public Enemy

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This article is about the 1931 film. For other uses, see Public enemy.

The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy movie poster
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Written by	Kubec Glasmon John Bright Harvey F. Thew
Starring	James Cagney Jean Harlow Edward Woods Joan Blondell Mae Clarke
Cinematography	Devereaux Jennings
Editing by	Ed McCormick Edward McDermott
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	23 April 1931
Running time	1931 Release: 96 min 1941 Release: 83 min
Language	English
Budget	$151,000^[1]
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Public Enemy is a 1931 crime drama film made in the Pre-Code era in which heroic brother Michael Powers tries to turn his bad brother Tom back onto the good path. It stars James Cagney, Edward Woods, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook and Mae Clarke with William A. Wellman directing. It was based on the story "Beer and Blood" by John Bright.

Aside from the hard-hitting dramatization and social commentary, film critics and contemporary audiences alike have considered the characters among The Public Enemy’s strongest features, including Tom’s girlfriend, Mamie (Joan Blondell), his other girlfriend, Gwen (Jean Harlow), and fellow hoodlum, Putty Nose (Murray Kinnell). Many of the characters in the movie were based on actual people, although currently available copies are from the censored and cut 1949 reissue (from the Hayes Code era) in which the character of real-life gangster Bugs Moran was cut out.^[2] Some very controversial items, like a scene where James Cagney hits his girlfriend with a grapefruit, were left in the re-release.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The opening sequence of The Public Enemy is a montage depicting prohibition – beer parlors closing shop, police raids – before directing the viewer’s attention to two boys growing up with the resultant lure of corruption in 1920s urban America. We get a glimpse into the family life of one of the boys, Tom Powers, comprised of a doting mother and an emotionally absent father, who also happens to be a policeman. The consequence of the father’s distance is revealed in one scene where he attempts to discipline his increasingly delinquent son. This sparks a change in young Tom, which is indicated by his souring expression while being spanked by his father.

After Tom Powers (James Cagney) and the other boy, Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) grow into young adults, they are hired by local bootlegger, Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O’Connor). Tom quickly rises from apprentice to leading gangster by being more vicious and ruthless than his rivals. Needless to say, the bootlegging business becomes an ever more lucrative operation, and Tom and Matt are not shy about flaunting the trappings of gangsterism. Tom does not forget about his more humble origins, and offers support to his pathetically doting, and now widowed, mother. This brings him into conflict with his older brother, Mike (Donald Cook), a shell-shocked war veteran who strongly disapproves of his wayward little brother. Underlying the fraternal conflict is that Tom’s immorality has brought generous material rewards, while the straight and narrow path chosen by his brother has only produced a bitter and crippled casualty of war. Tom considers Mike’s self-righteousness hypocritical, rejoining to his quip that Tom’s success is based on nothing more than “beer and blood” (the title of the original book): “your hands ain't so clean. You kill and like it. You didn't get them medals for holding hands with them Germans.”^[3]

Tom continues his rise in gangland, but eventually his greed catches up with him when he challenges another gang, precipitating a gang war. Arguably, the most famous scene is Tom “getting it” in the end, graphically setting the tone for the “crime doesn’t pay” theme that dominated crime movies for the rest of the decade and beyond. Another notorious scene in which Cagney's character smashes a half grapefruit into the face of one of his girlfriends (Mae Clarke) that stirred controversy and has been considered misogynistic.

[edit] Production

The script was adapted from the story Beer and Blood by John Bright. Principal filming took place between January and February 1931.^[4]

Edward Woods was originally cast in the lead role until director Wellman reviewed the early film of the two actors, and switched them.^[1]^[5] This is why the children's appearances are reversed in the flashback sequences, since those scenes were shot before the switch. Warner Bros. studio promised Woods that they would make it up to him, but then dropped his contract when it expired. One reason for the switch is that the sound technology used in The Public Enemy was far superior to earlier films so that it was no longer imperative to have an actor in the lead role with impeccable enunciation. Although it was still a risk giving Cagney the starring role, his distinctive interpretation of the character, especially his machine-gun speaking style, was now technically feasible. Cagney was also short and uncouth compared to the finesse of an actor like Woods, which helped establish Warner Brothers' reputation for films that explicitly targeted working class audiences during the Great Depression.

[edit] Reception

A controversial scene in which Tom smashes a half grapefruit into his girlfriend's face.

The Public Enemy was the first worldwide box office hit for James Cagney. It forever cast him in the public eye as a "tough guy," an image he was unable to shed despite numerous roles chosen especially to counter that image, including his Oscar-winning role in Yankee Doodle Dandy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story. It was such a smash that it ran 24 hours a day at a theatre in Times Square during its initial release!^[6] The film has also been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has been certified "fresh" with a 100% rating on the Tomatometer.^[7]

The film was avoided by some because of its graphic elements. An example of this is the grapefruit scene. However, the graphic elements also made it more popular. Mae Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed, and would buy a ticket just before that scene went onscreen, go enjoy the scene, leave, then come back during the next show just in time to see only that scene again.^[8]

The film was re-released in 1941 after the Production Code was put into effect. About 12 minutes of the film was cut, including scenes of an apparently gay tailor measuring Tom for a suit, and a scene of Matt and Mamie "rolling around" in bed. Some of this footage was restored for the DVD release, but some is apparently lost.^[5]