Nice effects though.

Just perfect...

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Plot-- A youthful gangster consolidates warring mobs in his city, turning them into a single money-making gang. Successful now, he retires with his wife (Mathews) to a golf course in Florida. But can he stay retired when rivalries again break out.Love those head-hugging cloche hats the women wear. Nothing says 20's flappers quite like that fashion. The movie may be an antique, but for a gangster film what it crucially lacks is needed grit. I'm guessing the boyishly handsome Ayers was cast as head gangster because he's supposed to be somewhat sympathetic in a way that the formidable Cagney, for example, wouldn't. Trouble is Ayers is too soft looking to be credible on the ruthless gangster side. Instead, he found his niche as the wholesome Dr. Kildare in that popular movie series.(Can't help noticing Ayers looks facially like his contemporary John Wayne then making oaters for Lone Star. See if you agree.).Except for Cagney, the supporting cast remains obscure, maybe even for that time. Mathews, the feminine lead, hasn't much to do except cuddle covertly with Cagney. In fact, women scarcely appear at all. As a whole the movie's none too convincing, unlike Public Enemy, a year later. However, the script is pre-Code so the line between cops and robbers is none too clear, while Mathews' infidelity goes unpunished. On the other hand, the pacing lacks needed snap in the slower manner of the 20's. Anyway, it's not hard to see why this gangster epic is not grouped with the classics of the day. But it does have its moments, like that deadly underside of a big truck.

This was better than I had expected. Maybe not quite up there with Public Enemy and the original Scarface, but not that far behind.The acting is pretty good for an early talkie. Cagney is great as usual as the head gangster's top henchman. Lew Ayres acts well as the head guy, "the Napoleon of crime", although he's perhaps a little too cleancut looking for the role.The story is good, and rather dark. Mobster Louie Ricarno, after uniting all the gangs in Chicago under one organization, tries to quit crime. But things fall apart in his absence, and he's forced to return for purposes of revenge. The ending is nicely grim and while there might be enough of a "crime doesn't pay" moral to keep the censors happy it doesn't rub it in your face. There's some good gangster violence along the way.- a number of well-done hits, and an over- the-top scene that resembles a full-scale battle.Two other things struck me as memorable: The adulterous relationship between Cagney and his boss' wife. At one point, she takes off her wedding ring, and then they "go somewhere".The police captain, O'Grady, is a rather ruthless character. He blackmails Cagney into a false confession for a crime he didn't commit, by threatening to tell Ayres about his affair with Ayres's wife! Later, he lets Ayres's rivals bump him off, rather than prosecute him and risk an acquittal. It also is implied that O'Grady's rejection of bribes is more the exception than the rule among police officials.It pays to watch this movie closely, as there is a lot that is implied and innuendoed.

The Doorway to Hell is yet another step up the ladder for James Cagney as the Brothers Warner discover that the guy they signed for a one shot deal to repeat his stage role from Penny Arcade was in fact future star material. He was certainly unlike some of the classical emoting stars from the silent period, unlike anything that ever had been on screen before.Lew Ayres is the lead in this film, Cagney's his chief henchman. Ayres is an ambitious guy who's determined to bring a little organization to the bootleg booze business in his city. And then as soon as he gets it going, he quits. He wants to spend time on the golf course and with his new wife. The wife, Dorothy Matthews, is bored with early retirement mainly because she's been two timing Ayres with Cagney and Cagney's not around.The story is pretty silly in any number of ways. First the various mob heads resent Ayres taking over, then they resent when he leaves. Secondly, it's not made clear at all why Cagney isn't capable of running this thing by himself, he sure looks capable enough. And the plot where two of the gangsters have the brilliant idea to kidnap Ayres's little brother from military school to bring him back is frighteningly stupid.Ayres, Cagney, Matthews and the rest muddle through this dumb mess. Ayres was already a star due to All Quiet on the Western Front. And Cagney you had no doubt was going to be a star if the right vehicle was found for him. Even if Cagney had been in Ayres's role, I'm not sure The Doorway To Hell would have been it.

To see this movie on the Big Screen(like my Father,his uncles, and my Grandfathers did)would have been a treat. Well,not in my Dad's instance,because when my Dad saw the film on the Screen, it was shortly after Bogart's death and Cagney was already a long since established star.But still a treat nonetheless. Anyway for the Old oldtimers,they had to have the attitude:"This Cagney guy is gonna be around. Can't wait to see him again." Cagney always made his surroundings crackle with anticipation and uncertainty. You never really knew what was gonna happen. Doorway to Hell took risks. Real life gangsters dared Hollywood to make this movie because it hit close to home, for them. It's an interesting film to watch because of the miscasting. A thing William Wellman took note of during the filming of "Public Enemy", and had Cagney and the Lew Ayres clone "switch roles"...because "this Cagney guy has that gutter quality that this story needs to become effective". A must see movie.Especially for the buffs.