James Cagney

Love Me or Leave Me
$19.98
I was not a big fan of Doris Day. I've always appreciated her singing but her sunny-sweet disposition never appealed to me much. As I'm sure it it so with many actresses, if those character-types are all that they're allowed to do, that's all we'll get to see. Fortunately, in Love Me or Leave Me, Doris got the role of a lifetime playing Ruth Etting, in a fictional account of the singers' rise to stardom. Her performance was not only well-acted and beautifully sung, it was enjoyable to see Day's strength as well as her suffering. Day is matched with the incomparable James Cagney as her mentally and physically abusive gangster-husband Marty Snyder. Cagney has such a strong personality and usually dominates any role he plays. He's played gangsters so many times, I half expected his performance to be great with minimal effort. However, Cagney not only respects his fellow actors, but also the actors' process and chose to play Snyder's complexities with incredible delicacy. Snyder is not only vicious and controlling, but he's also desperate, lonely and devoted to Etting. He wants to be needed by her but also wants to pull all the strings. It is this monstrous fragility that makes Etting repulsed and fearful of him, indebted to him, but also unwilling to hurt him even in the final act. I wish Day and Cagney had done more films together (other than West Point Story). Day especially deserved more opportunities to show her worth.

Angels With Dirty Faces
$19.98
James Cagney knew a terrific part when he saw one, with the role of Rocky Sullivan made to order. Directed in rat-a-tat-tat fashion by Michael Curtiz, "Angels With Dirty Faces" (1938) remains the quintessential Cagney gangster movie - an energetic, expressionist fusion of Warner Bros. rowdiness and MGM moralism. Stylistically, the film matches the rhythms and emotions of Cagney's dazzling performance. "Angels With Dirty Faces" pulls out all the stops with classic portrayals by co-stars Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart and the Dead End Kids. The rough harshness of the early gangster dramas has evolved into a slick efficiency.

Man of a Thousand Faces
$19.98
Man Of A Thousand Faces tells the story of the life and times of Lon Chaney, one of the greatest actors of the silent movie era and one of the very few major silent screen stars to ever make a "talkie" as well. The acting is very convincing; and Jimmy Cagney got the opportunity to dance and portray a person who wasn't a gangster for a change! This film also showcases a tour de force by Jimmy Cagney who was truly at the top of his game. The cinematography is excellent and I like the way they organized the crowd scenes for the movie takes.

When the action starts, we see young Lon Chaney (Jimmy Cagney) quitting a vaudeville style show after his overemotional, unstable and even selfish wife Cleva Creighton Chaney (Dorothy Malone) was late for the third time in just one week. Lon quits to show his support for Cleva who then announces to him that she's expecting a baby. At first Lon and Cleva are happy; but trouble starts in quickly. When Lon takes Cleva home to meet his parents at Christmastime, Cleva overreacts--to say the least. Cleva is mortified that Lon's parents are deaf and she's terrified that her unborn child will be deaf, too. She's against having the baby but she goes through with it; and for a while tensions between Lon and Cleva ease after they know that their son can hear normally.

But happiness is elusive. Cleva resents staying home with her son out in the country where Lon could enjoy the peace and quiet; she wants the city life and she has her own desires about stardom. After a few years she decides to take a job as a singer--and Lon begins to notice that she's spending some time with other men, too. Lon wants Cleva home but Cleva wants out--and after a horrible and very public attempt at suicide, Lon and Cleva move to California for a fresh start. Unfortunately, their marriage ends in divorce anyway. Lon wants custody of his son but the court mandates that Lon Chaney, Jr. be placed in a foster home until Lon can prove he has a stable home with gainful employment. Meanwhile, Lon begins to reestablish a friendship with a chorus girl named Hazel Bennett (Jane Greer).

You guessed it! Lon and Hazel marry; they get custody of Lon's son and Lon takes off big time in the movie industry after working like a dog as an extra. Bigger and bigger pictures come his way including projects that were created specifically with Lon Cheney in mind.

Of course, from here the plot can go anywhere--and being that this is a Hollywood biopic, what we get in the way of the story line isn't always truthful, regrettably. Will Lon Chaney, Jr. ever connect with his mother Cleva again? Will he stay with his father or his mother if he does find his mom? What about Lon's marriage to Hazel--how do things work out and what are their issues? Watch and find out!

The DVD comes without extras; that disappoints me but the movie is so well done that I can overlook it.

I highly recommend this for film buffs and especially for people who enjoy silent horror flicks. Of course, people who like biopics and Lon Chaney films will consider this a "must-have" for their collections.

Cagney
$18.95
Excellent BIO learned things about Cagney that I didn't know and found the book very interesting and insightful into the man. A very enjoyable read would recommend to anyone wanting to understand the Great Actor.