ludivinereynaud I have read the raving reviews of the other commenters. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood, or perhaps gangsters movies are just my thing but this one just didn't do it for me.I must admit I initially wanted to see it out of sheer curiosity for Ms Payton -who really held her own in this movie next to James Cagney. Aside from that, I can't put my finger on what exactly made it a tedious watch for me. Let's say that it seemed it overall lacked coherence or direction.

Tweekums This gangster movie opens in a court room where seven people including two police officers, a lawyer and a prison officer are on trial for murder or being accessories to murder; the prosecuting attorney explains that really there should be eight people on trial but the worst of the bunch isn't there. We then flash back to when the story really starts; with the Eighth Man, Ralph Cotter, in a prison farm. He isn't there long though; he escapes and is picked up by the sister of a man he was meant to escape with; she doesn't know it but he killed her brother during the escape.Once away from the prison he doesn't lay low, he robs a store, savagely beating the manager in the process. It looks like he will be quickly caught when the police turn up but it turns out they are as corrupt as he is. They take his cut of the proceeds and tell him to get out of town. He has other ideas and sets about blackmailing them by recording second meeting where he outlines another robbery. He sends one copy of the recording to his brother and plays another to the police; now it seems he can work with impunity so long as the cops get their cut. Things are complicated though as he gets involved with two women; the blonde who helped him get away from prison and a brunette who is the daughter of a wealthy and powerful man… she could be his salvation if he doesn't cross the wrong people.This less well known James Cagney film isn't up to the standards of his better known works like 'White Heat' and 'The Public Enemy' but it is still fairly entertaining. Cagney himself puts in a solid performance as Cotter; the sort of character he has played many times before. Barbara Payton was good enough as blonde Holiday Carleton and Helena Carter was delightful as brunette Margaret Dobson. The rest of the cast were pretty solid. The story was gripping even though anybody familiar with this sort of film will have guessed Cagney's fate long before it happens. For the most part I thought the film had aged well although the scene where Cagney and Helena Carter are shown in separate beds on their wedding night seemed rather silly… if rules of the time forbade them from sharing a bed on screen it would have been better to not show them in bed! Overall I'd say that while this might not be a classic fans of films of this era and particularly fans of Cagney are likely to enjoy it.

Spikeopath Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Harry Brown from the novel by Horace McCoy. It stars James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Luther Adler and Steve Brodie. Music is by Carmen Dragon and photography by J. Peverell Marley. Ralph Cotter (Cagney), career criminal, escapes from prison and crudely murders his partner during the escape. Hooking up with Holiday Carleton (Payton), the oblivious sister of the slain partner, Cotter quickly gets back into a life of crime and violence. But will his evil deed stay a secret? How long can he keep the corrupt coppers under wraps? And is his "other" romantic relationship with Margaret Dobson (Carter) doomed to failure? ……Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, it seems to have been lost in the slipstream of White Heat that was released the previous year. An undoubted classic of the gangster/crime genre, and featuring one of Cagney's greatest acting performances, White Heat has unsurprisingly dwarfed many a poor genre entry. However, while it doesn't equal the searing ferocity of White Heat, both in tone and character performance by Cagney, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a seriously hard movie. Energetic from the off, film is often brutal and cynical and awash with potently memorable scenes, with some deemed as being too much, resulting in the film being banned from theatres in Ohio! Female or a cripple, it matters not to the menacing force of nature that is Ralph Cotter. Gordon Douglas was a multi genre director, unfussy and able to keep things taut, he gets some super performances from the cast while never letting the pace drag. Cagney is a given, give him this sort of character and let him run with it, in fact it is arguably a detriment to the film as a whole, that it can't match Cagney's blood and thunder show? But Bond (big bad corrupt copper), Brodie (Cotter side-kick) and Adler (shifty lawyer) do shine through with imposing turns. Of much interest is the dual lady characters in Cotter's life. Both very different from each other, this gives the film a double whammy of femme fatales in waiting. Payton takes the honours, in what is the best written part in the film. Her Holiday Carleton is a good girl drawn in to a murky life by a bad man, while Carter as bored rich girl Margaret Dobson is the polar opposite, she likes fast cars and dangerous men, allowing the actress to deftly sidle in with impact in the smaller role. Photography isn't out of the ordinary, and the music is standard boom and bluster for a crime picture. But this is about Cagney's performance and the grim thematics contained within, and much like Ralph Cotter, it doesn't pull its punches. Finally sealing the deal with an ending that firmly pulls the movie into the film noir universe. 8/10

alant15 Hi, It's actually a right hand drive car but alas I can't be positive with the identification of it. I too thought it was a Mercedes but now know it probably isn't. It could well be an Hispano Suiza though. If you do an image internet search on this car a very similar one comes up albeit with a spare wheel attached to the door but it wouldn't be unknown for this to be removed by the production company because it got in the way. What I can say though is that it can decelerate from 110mph to 20mph in half a second (ha!)I will watch this with interest.I agree that it is a great film though. Film4 have just shown it for the second time to my knowledge. Hope they show Love Me Or Leave Me soon, a favourite of mine and apparently of Cagney himself. In both these films Cagney was in his early 50s, being born in 1899 but still believable as a character.