The Mayor of Hell

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The Mayor of Hell
movie poster
Directed by	Archie Mayo Michael Curtiz (uncredited)
Written by	Islin Auster (story Reform School) Edward Chodorov
Starring	James Cagney Madge Evans Arthur Byron
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	June 23, 1933 U.S. release
Running time	90 min
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Mayor of Hell (1933) is a Warner Brothers film starring James Cagney. The film was remade in 1938 as Crime School with Humphrey Bogart taking over James Cagney's role and Hell's Kitchen with Ronald Reagan.

[edit] Plot

Racketeer Patsy Gargan is made deputy commissioner of a reform school as a reward from his corrupt political cronies. Initially, he has no interest in the school, but his sympathy for the boys, who are abused and battered by a brutal, heartless warden and his thuggish guards convince him to take the job seriously. As does an attractive resident nurse.

Gagan sends Thompson, the superintendent, on vacation and, while he is gone, puts Dorothy's reform ideas into action. The school is functioning well under a system of self-government when Patsy is called back to the city to take care of some political business. Patsy shoots another man during a fight and has to go into hiding. Thompson returns to the school and convinces the boys that Patsy has abandoned them. He then starts running things the old way and, when Dorothy protests, he fires her. Then one of the boys, Johnny Stone, dies while in solitary confinement and the boys rebel. Dorothy finds Patsy in his hideout and tells him the whole story. Patsy races back to the school to restore order, but the boys have killed Thompson. Then Patsy decides to give up his political career and stay at the school permanently.

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