Best movie of this year hands down!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Best movie ever!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

. . . "I'd do my best." This exchange early on between "Jimmy" (James Cagney) and "Mabel" (Alice White) is about as witty as JIMMY THE GENT gets. Since Michael Curtiz directed this rather than IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT's Frank Capra, Jimmy is a gent without a heart. A dishonest current runs through every scene, even when Jimmy and "Joan" (Bette Davis) are together again at last. There may be no honor among thieves, but sometimes there's not much humor, either, as JIMMY THE GENT proves. Perhaps best classified as an early effort at screwball comedy which falls flat, the Warner Bros. funny bone seems broken from the opening montage of this flick, in which five millionaires die without legitimate wills in freak accidents. (This may smack of that old saw, "What do you call 83 Nazis on the bottom of the sea?" "U-Boat 377," but the attempts at humor just get darker from here.) I'm not saying that JIMMY THE GENT is as unpleasant as a root canal, but if you have one of those modern "relaxation" oriented dentists who screen movies during extended procedures, I would NOT recommend this one.

Con man Jimmy Corrigan (James Cagney) runs an agency that finds heirs of those who died without a will and he's not above providing phony heirs in order to collect his fee. His girlfriend (Bette Davis) didn't approve of his underhanded techniques so she left him to go work for his supposedly honest and respectable competitor. In order to win her back, Jimmy tries to prove he can go straight and become a respectable gentleman.Cagney and Davis are both enjoyable in this snappy comedy, each getting plenty of good lines. Cagney, with his bow-tie, crew cut, and nasal accent, is different than most other pictures I've seen him in from this period. Another fine example of what an underrated actor he was, even doing these WB programmers. They're backed up by a fine supporting cast including Allen Jenkins, Arthur Hohl, and Alan Dinehart. A fun one for fans of Jimmy and Bette.

Jimmy the Gent (1934) ** (out of 4) A crooked businessman (James Cagney) pretends to go straight to win back his ex (Bette Davis). Considering the two leads and director Michael Curtiz, this was a major disappointment that really didn't work on any level. The only real reason to watch this is the performance from Cagney as well as his shaved head. Davis is very boring throughout and really brings down the film because she has no chemistry with Cagney.St. Louis Kid, The (1934) *** (out of 4) Exciting Warner Bros. "ripped from the headlines" film has James Cagney playing a truck driver who gets involved in a battle between farmers and the businessmen who aren't paying enough for milk. This is a fast, fun and action packed film, which is what audiences expected from a Cagney film. Cagney is very good in the role of the fast talking, quick to throw punches truck driver and the supporting cast helps him well.

This is slightly superior to Blonde Crazy in that the stars have been given slightly livelier dialogue and that Bette Davis glows as a wise-ass blonde rather than Joan Blondell's put-upon blonde. Both are great, but some of the rip offs in this film are truly great and Allen Jenkins adds ten points to any film he's in. These golden age films have the writers that current day movies lack. No one steams anymore unfortunately. Cagney is a cock rooster and the world's a better place for seeing him go through his paces. I hope dvd brings all these movies back.